Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is a nonfiction book by husband and wife team Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, published by Knopf in September 2009.

The book argues that the oppression of women worldwide is "the paramount moral challenge" of the present era, much as the fight against slavery was in the past.

[2] The title comes from a famous Mao Zedong quote "women hold up half the sky", although the authors cite it only as a "Chinese proverb".

Half the Sky focuses on prostitution, rape, education, maternal mortality, genital mutilation, micro-credit, and solutions in developing countries.

Due to the lack of prenatal care and few hospitals in some third world countries, many women, and sometimes their babies as well, die.

They also talk about modern soap operas that portray women as independents and when seen by patriarchal husbands and affected wives can change household dynamics.

Using Chandra Talpade Mohanty's conceptualisation of discursive colonialism, Sophia Chong (2014) argues that WuDunn and Kristoff are de-emphasising the agency of women in the Global South, and portraying societies in which they exist as absolutely dystopic.

"[8] In October 2012, the PBS television series Independent Lens presented a four-hour documentary based on the book as a two-night special.

[9] The film follows the book's authors and celebrity advocates America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde to ten countries: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kenya, India, Liberia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Vietnam and the US.

Their stories expose the blight caused by sex trafficking, forced prostitution, maternal mortality, and gender-based violence as the authors propose that micro-finance and female education can help.

[10] Throughout the documentary it is evident how men in women's lives always have the upper-hand, whether it is shown through support from the community towards them or the corrupt legal system in these countries.

Moreover, Nicholas Kristof mentioned that the international Labour Organization estimates that at any one time there are 12.3 million people engaged in forced labor of all kinds, not just sexual servitude.

The birth attendants, in the documentary, told Kristof that once they know the practice would risk women's health and bodies, so they stop exercising it.

For instance, in India, many children are treated as child labor and girls are obliged to take clients at a young age.

Urmi, who works with the New Light Program, encourages them to obtain education and assists them to fight for their opportunities to speak for themselves.

In other case, Amie, who works with International Rescue Committee, creates the “Rainbo Center” and helps victims escape from the tragedy of rape.