Perempuan Menjunjung Separuh Langit

I had this book for quite some time before I actually crack the cover to read it. I followed Kristof's blog and I know that I'll learn new stuff from it. But the Indonesian subtitle was just too grisly, bombastic, and eventually, off-putting: “Kisah Kekerasan Paling Kejam Terhadap Perempuan di Abad Ini”–the century's most heinous crimes against women.

With that subtitle, one can't help but think that one must muster an adequate level inner strength to read about assault against women. One can't help but think that this is a book that will bring you nightmare if you dare to read it before you sleep.

So I brought this book when I sailed to Komodo Islands. I thought, this will keep me from being overtly giddy with the clear cloudless sky, the magnificent rolling hills of Nusa Tenggara, and the graceful swaying of corals beneath the surface of the sea.

And boy, this book can be grim. Women tricked into human trafficking and sex slavery, women enduring physical abuses from their husbands and mothers-in-law, women had their genital mutilated, women being gang-raped by war militia, women belittled, demeaned, debased, subjugated at the cost of their sights, agencies, sanity, and lives. I actually flinched at the picture of a woman who lost an eye because her husband stick an iron bar to her right eye, and decided that I had read enough misery for the day that I'd better go back to the sea and snorkel with bright gay fishes before I continue reading.

But, you know, don't let the first impression and the cover fools you. It's actually a very optimistic book. Fifty pages in, I started to think that the original subtitle fits better with this book: “Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide”.

This book is a wake up call to alert us that there are still many injustice committed against women. But at the same time, this book is a celebration of women's hardiness and their ability to better their world. Some women in this book were victims of the most horrible crimes, but they ended up being the agent of change for their community, their family, and themselves. They rise against a culture of unfair discrimination and entrenched norms of subordination to men to fight for a better livelihood, protection and education for their children, for a more equal standing, too. Their stories were uplifting, and you'll find yourself wondering if there's anything that you can do to help. It's a good thing that Kristof listed so many resources for an interested reader to start educating themselves further, and connect with other interested individuals to support a cause, donate, etc.

What bothers me about reading it in Indonesian is that the translation can be quite clunky and over literal. There are also typos littered around the book. Lowering the readability even further, the spacing between words are questionably too tight for several paragraphs. This book also needs updating, praises for Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea should be taken with a pinch of salt. Kristof himself wrote a column about it after Jon Krakauer exposed fictionalisations of Mortenson's charity work in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On the other hand, I liked the way Kristof weaved evidence in the narrative of the story. Some of it are from J-PAL and IPA's researches, too: distribution of school uniforms, “sugar daddy talk”, and many more. I think it helped to show that actions can have impacts.

Overall, this is a very accessible primer on the subject, and I think it will be worth your time reading it.