Half the Sky, a documentary about the oppression of women, just aired the first night of its 2-night run on PBS (the second part will air Tues Oct 2nd at 9pm-you can find additional air times on your local PBS affiliate, as it was one of their Independent Lens series). As an American woman, it's easy to take the every day things for granted. Most of us go to work, or take care of our kids, are able to check Facebook on the smartphones we pay for and are able to come home and complain about having to cook an entire meal out of the food that could feed a family for a week in other parts of the world, and it's so very easy to be distracted and forget that out in the world, at that moment, some girl is being trafficked across a border to be forced to live a life none of us can imagine. Remembering all of that is overwhelming, so it's easier to forget and move on to the things we can control. Reliant on a discussion about the heavy issues (genital mutilation, sex trafficking, rape) this film can be a little overwhelming, but just remember part of working towards a solution to any problem is education and in a year where American women have been told that there is such a thing as "legitimate rape", I think the main point of this documentary, and the main thing that parents and young women should take away from this, is that educating yourself is the most important first step, so do yourself a favor and educate yourself about these women's stories. So if you're a woman, or you know a woman, which should pretty much cover every one on this planet, this should be a "must see". I'm always easily susceptible to films that inspire me to want to abandon my job and go out and change the world, so it's not surprising that this one struck a chord with me, but the fact that these are just a few of the millions of stories from around the world that finally have a voice, well, it's certainly food for thought, and like I said, watching is the least we can do:
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