On Thursday night in the Mandel Center for the Humanities, Brandeis' Poverty Action Coalition screened 40 minutes of the four-hour long Public Broadcasting Station documentary based on Nicholas Kristof's book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The film follows Kristof, his wife, Sheryl WuDunn and various other American celebrities through Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia as they talk with locals and professionals about women's oppression in these areas. The film discussed issues such as human trafficking, female genital mutilation and the general lack of education for women.

As WuDunn says, these issues constitute the "moral challenge of this century" and after seeing the film, it is hard to argue with her. Girls in Somalia, Thailand, Cambodia, Kenya and other countries are sold into sex slavery at a very young age without power to do anything about it. The film is full of the heartbreaking stories of such girls, once in sex slavery, who have turned their lives around with the help of various organizations.

One story followed Kristof, WuDunn and the actress Meg Ryan to Cambodia where they met a woman, Long Pross, who was trafficked at age 10. At 12 she got pregnant and was forced to abort the baby. The afternoon after her abortion, she was expected to take on a client. When she refused, the brothel owner gauged her eye out. Long has since been rescued from the brothel and has changed her name to Semana, or "forgiveness." Semana now works to provide health checks for women in brothels and to teach men about sexual safety.

Kristof and WuDunn, traveling with another actress Olivia Wilde, uncovered a similar heart wrenching, yet inspiring story in Kenya. Jane, a former prostitute, contracted HIV while working on the street. Since then, she has left the sex trade business and has started a dressmaking business, sewing old material into new dresses and selling them at a local outdoor market. Jane was happy to talk to Wilde about her experience, but she became ecstatic when she saw Kristof. She told him that she is reading his book and loves it. Jane is now trying to give her children a better life but finds that it is not easy. She struggles to put her four children through school. In order to raise the money, she tells Wilde that she may need to go on a fast. Jane tells Kristof that she hopes she can keep her children in school as her son is number one in his class and her daughter is usually number two or three.

The screening was followed by a discussion, led by Aditya Sanyal '13 and other members of the Poverty Action Coalition. The group asked why people in the United States are not very aware of these major global issues. Answers encompassed everything from the fact that these countries are not powerful enough to be recognized to the idea that sex is an uncomfortable subject to the notion that if we did discuss these issues, there might be a tendency to put the blame on the victim.

The group talked about micro-lending programs such as Kiva, a program in which a person loans as little as $20 to an entrepreneur in one of these struggling countries and helps her start her own business. Because business is money and money is power, women are able to become a powerful force in their communities, changing their own lives as well as the prospects of their communities. 

The event, as serious as it was, made an effort to put an action-based spin on the subject. Attendees were encouraged to write letters to Congress, encouraging them to pass legislation to help sex trafficking victims around the world. There were also bracelets for sale that were made by women previously in the sex trade who are trying to rebuild their lives. The problem of human trafficking and the general abuse of women is not an easy topic to discuss or think about. 

Because of this difficulty, it is crucial that we make a conscious effort to address these problems and think about ways in which we can help. To start with, we can all help by liking Half the Sky's Facebook, following Nicolas Kristof on Twitter and by going to halftheskymovement.org in order to educate ourselves on this crucial topic and learn what we can do.