P illars for the Sky Rosa M. Cordova
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Chinese proverb that states, “Women hold up Half the Sky.” It is a known fact that roughly three billion of the six billion human inhabitants of the earth are female. These women make up one half of every class level, yet women comprise 70 percent of the world’s poorest people.1 Why is this the case and what can we do (we, being the privileged members of the world’s wealthiest society)? What is our responsibility as the privileged few to these women and to their families? The problem may seem too vast, too overwhelming, yet we have the resources, the money, and the time to reach out to those who are often cast aside by those pursuing capitalist ventures and gains. The problem with those of us who are privileged members of the hegemonic power of the world is that we have a sense of entitlement. We forget to ask what we can do for them. We think we know the best solution to their problems as a result of our status, but we are not the ones who struggle to here is a
find food every day. We are not the ones who watch our children die of malaria, and we are not the ones who are ignored by the leaders of society. No country can get ahead if it leaves half of its population behind. Many women in the poorest societies in the world work hard for their families to keep their children safe. They give birth in terrible conditions, starve so their child is fed, and often work while taking care of more than one ailing child. These women are undervalued and their work is dismissed because it does not seem to make a vast improvement in the economic conditions of their substantially struggling financial system; however, for every dollar a woman earns, she invests 80 cents in her family.2 According to the book Half the Sky, “often women are the breadwinners in the family; therefore mothers are the key to get the society out of poverty.” Imagine the difference in the lives of these women if we enabled them through education and career training as well as something
1. Kristoff, Nicholas & WuDunn, Sheryll. Half The Sky. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 2. Ibid.
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