About ten years ago I read an article (I think it was in The Economist) that said the 21st Century might eventually be called the Century of the Woman. The gist of the article is that the increasing role of women in all aspects of society is going to have a profound impact on the world. This would be especially true in places where oppression of women is common today.

This book, “Half the Sky”, is a perfect companion to that article and completes the idea with excellent research and a balanced understanding of the world. In the best effort I’ve seen yet, it pulls together all the issues and lays them out in a compelling way.

The subtitle for this book, Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, is a perfect description. Kristof and WuDunn hit on the major issues impacting women in developing countries, but they do so in a way that offers hope for the future. This is not a doom and gloom book. Sure, the issues they describe are often horrific and the scale of the problems are immense. But Kristof and WuDunn have written a book that not only tells us why change is necessary, but how that change makes a huge difference, and why it must happen for both ethical and economic reasons.

I could quibble with some things in the book. The authors sometimes generalize, and they sometimes take small anecdotal points and create a corresponding reality that is really more conjecture. But even here they admit they are doing it, and they humbly point out that the complexity of social issues makes it hard to draw direct “cause and effect” lines between action and results. Fair enough. Another quibble might be their incomplete response to critics of foreign aid … but then that’s not the purpose of this book.

One thing I greatly appreciate is the even handedness of the book. The authors do not attack either the liberals or the conservatives on such issues as abortion or sex education. They instead point to real results done by all types of groups, and stay very analytical in their approach. They call for more cooperation between various organizations, and give kudos to to those who are making real progress in many areas. I especially enjoyed their subtle jabs at some relief organizations that have, “a million dollars in SUV’s parked by office buildings in the big cities”. Then the authors point out that most of the problems exist in rural areas where “no matter where we go, we find Evangelical Conservatives on the front lines”. Those aren’t exact quotes, but close enough, and they convey the spirit of this book: stay real, get the job done, and set aside our differences to focus on achievements. I appreciate that.

D’Aun read this book before going to Thailand with The SOLD Project (www.thesoldproject.org) and told me how glad she was for having read it. It helped her better understand the issues women — and ever more frequently girls — face around the world. For me, the major themes of the book were already part of my worldview, but the details (from statistics to stories to people involved) help round out and deepen my knowledge.

If you want to understand how to combat poverty, increase personal liberties, expand economies, stomp out evil, and make a real difference in the world … read this book.