The New Abolitionists (Half the Sky Chap. 3) #sjbc

This post is part of the April Social Justice Book Club. This week we are discussing Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

The above video is about the New Abolitionist Movement student group at the University of Dayton.

Conversation Questions for Chapter Three:

The reign of terror in Kasturba Nagar by Akku Yadav is almost unbearable to read. It is hard to imagine this type of abuse of an entire community in our day and time. Discuss the solution that the women came up with to handle the matter. What factors do you consider when deciding if their actions were right or wrong?

“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or to teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”
Why do the authors speak so highly of the social entrepreneur as opposed to large bureaucratic entities?

“Education and empowerment training can show girls that femininity does not entail docility, and can nurture assertiveness so that girls and women stand up for themselves.”

As Westerners, we have been encouraged in recent years to not judge other cultures by our own standards. Is nurturing assertiveness in the women and girls of developing countries offering Western solutions/values? Is assertiveness in women and girls a universal value or culturally relative?

Source: The above questions come from the organization Global Women.

Can New Abolitionist groups like the one formed at the University of Dayton be formed in communities like mine and yours? What stops us from starting such groups? What would it take for us to make them happen?

Please share with us your responses to the questions above or any thoughts or questions you have about speaking up against sex-slavery in the comments section below.

The Social Justice Book Club is a project of Independence Rock Group: Center for Faith, Ethics, and Social Justice. Please consider supporting the Social Justice Book Club and our other projects. Find other posts about the Book Club and Half the Sky here.