Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia - October 6, 2009

Authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

The oppression of women and girls in the developing world is one of our era’s most pervasive human rights violations and one of the more challenging obstacles to achieving economic progress in these countries. Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, who have traveled through Asia and Africa documenting the experiences of women whose lives have been marked by cruelty, anger and sadness, joined the Council on Monday, October 6, 2009 at the Radisson-Warwick Hotel to discuss their newest book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Drawing on their extraordinary reporting experience over several decades, the authors gave voice to these women and explored the circumstances under which they struggle. Asserting that the key to economic progress in the developing world lies in unleashing women’s potential, Kristof and WuDunn highlighted the efforts of a growing number of social entrepreneurs who have helped transform societies around them.