Nicholas Kristof shares with Weber

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was almost not able to speak at Weber State University on Tuesday, Oct. 13 because of travel issues.
Kristof was scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. in the Shepherd Union Wildcat Theater about his new book, “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.” However, after a mechanical issue with the plane at the Bozeman, Montana Airport, Kristof’s flight was cancelled and so was the convocations lecture.
According to Bill Fruth, Shepherd Union Building Director, organizers had to wait until Kristof was able to successfully board another plane later in the day before they would know if they could at least plan on the speaker for the evening panel discussion. Despite travel problems, Kristof was still able to speak at a small honors program gathering in the Social Science Building at 2 p.m., have a formal discussion at 6:30 p.m. and hold a book signing later that evening.
Fruth said he was disappointed that things came up, but was pleased Kristof was at least able to make it for the planned evening discussion, because of Kristof’s desire to speak with students. 
“When you have a speaker like that who is willing to engage (with students) and likes that, you want to take full advantage of it,” Fruth said.
During the 2 p.m. meeting Kristof shared what inspired him to write “Half the Sky.”
He said while being assigned to various countries for stories he had many experiences that led him to write his book based on gender issues. There were three main elements that Krisof said prompted him to write his book: a realization of how bad discrimination was, understanding the capability to educate women and get them into the workforce and lastly, seeing the reality of sex slavery. He said he was “blown away” by how bad it was. His experiences led him to begin the journey that ended up developing Half the Sky.
“Once we began to look through that prism of gender, all kinds of things became evident,” Kristof said. “One of those was around 100 million woman missing in Asia and 30 million in China because of different kinds of discrimination.”
A question-and-answer discussion took place between students, professors and Kristof about his book and gender issues. During the conversation about what could be done to help in other countries, Kristof said there isn’t one simple answer.
“One of the problems in development has been the search for a magic bullet, there aren’t any,” he said.
However, Kristoff said from his experiences he has seen education to be the best solution for poverty and gender issues in underdeveloped countries.
“I think education is the best antidote to (help),” Kristof said. “But it doesn’t work perfectly and it takes time.”
Kristof spoke of a courageous woman he wrote about in his book who lived in Pakistan.
The woman was gang-raped by some men after a disagreement between families in the village. Kristof said many women kill themselves after being raped, because of shame. However, the woman’s parents and friends pleaded with her not to end her life and tried to convince her she had done nothing wrong. Over time the woman became less humiliated and decided to actually prosecute those who raped her, something that was not a current practice. He said the woman was able to have her attackers sent to prison and she received compensation money from the president of Pakistan. She used that money to build schools, because she believed the attitudes that led to her being raped happened because of a lack of education.
Since the woman’s initial efforts, she has gone on to build “an empire in middle of nowhere,” according to Kristof. The woman now is in charge of three schools, has developed a 24/7 hotline for victims, owns a law library and even has a legal consultation office. From that office she helps other women find prosecution for their attackers.
“It has truly made a difference,” Kristof said. “(Attackers) really do now have a disincentive and as a result, there are many fewer rapes in that area.”
The change was all led by a woman who Kristof said doesn’t even know how old she is. All she could tell Kristof was “all her mother knows is that she was born in the spring after a particularly cold winter.”
Kristof said educated women like her are the ones truly making the change in countries like Pakistan.
“She is really kind of an extraordinary force,” Kristof said. “I have just been so awed to watch her as she has fought it out.”
A WSU Amnesty International member found Kristof’s discussion to give perspective.
“One thing that struck me the most is when (Kristof) was talking about when people try to go out and do large things to attack the problem,” said Lehi Duarte, a WSU senior and political science major.
Duarte said he learned focusing on smaller things can make a difference.
“Being the most educated country (we need) to help educate other countries on issues such as education for women that will help future countries,” Duarte said.
STAND President Cameron Morgan said Kristof’s dialogue on campus gave greater meaning to the club’s purpose on campus.
“It was a great honor to have him here on campus,” Morgan said. “It adds legitimacy to our arguments and our events and our wish in wanting to spread awareness on these atrocities.”
Morgan said he thinks “Kristof is a human rights champion” and that he mentioned some good points on getting involved practically in smaller issues, so change can be seen more immediately.