NY Times writer calls city’s attention to women’s rights

Nicholas Kristof began his career backpacking around Africa and Asia as a student, writing articles when he needed money. Since then, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and New York Times columnist has done things for his job most people wouldn't consider.

Kristof toured the Middle East, covered the genocide in Darfur and even bought two girls from a brothel for one controversial 2004 piece on the sex-trade.


Now the Oregon native is back in the Northwest to kick off a series of events focused on global health and development issues. His issue this time: 
How women's equality is necessary for a successful worldwide economy.


"In this century, the paramount moral challenge is going to be gender equity throughout the world," Kristof said.

The series, started by the World Affairs Council of Seattle, will include high-profile speakers open to the public as well as community programming.


"Our goal is to bring in as many authentic voices as possible–leaders or heads of state from particular countries or people who are doing work on the ground," said Autumn Lerner, vice president of the World Affairs Council of Seattle.

The series was kicked off Thursday night with a special lecture and Q&A session with the man many leaders say is the moral conscience of the current generation of journalists. Kristof's columns focus on issues of poverty, global health and human rights in the developing world.


Although he is an American journalist, Kristof has done much of his reporting on the ground overseas. He's reported on six continents, lived on four, reported in six and traveled to more than 140 countries, all 50 states, every Chinese province and every main Japanese island.


While in Seattle, Kristof met exclusively with 60 local high school teachers as part of the World Affairs Council of Seattle's Global Classroom Program, speaking about his experiences in Darfur and Sudan. The program was created to encourage integration of international issues into curricula.


"That fills a gap in Washington education," Lerner said.


Even though Seattle is a very international community, the state education has been criticized for not being international enough.


Kristof's Thursday night lecture focused specifically on how issues of women's empowerment affect economic and social development on the whole.


His recent book written with wife Sheryl WuDunn, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," tells stories of women in the developing world who have survived childbirth complications, sex slavery, having acid thrown on their faces and other dramatic, all-too-common experiences.


Kristof argues in his book that women empowerment is not only important for the progress of human rights but also essential to economic progress, citing the recent rise of women working in factories in China (as opposed to not working at all) as one case that has led to greater economic prosperity.

"The question is not whether we can afford to educate girls but whether we can afford not to," he said.


Indeed, Kristof emphasized opportunities to take action, not only among people in developing nations themselves but in more privileged nations.


"If the U.S. also made clear that trafficking in India was a problem," he said. "We can raise the salience of these issues," he said.


He said study abroad was one opportunity for students to better understand global issues and encouraged students to travel to less popular host countries.

"A weakness in the American university system is not encouraging students to experience these things," he said. "Hordes of students flock to Italy [for study abroad]."


In spite of the emotional and critical nature of Kristof's talk, audience members responded with feelings of hope and inspiration.


"I walked away feeling incredibly hopeful about the future of the world," said Cally Hennig, senior political science major, "but also with a grave understanding of how much work there is to be done. We take that for granted in a country where women do have equal rights and nearly equal access to the opportunities that men do."

Hennig said she was inspired by Kristof's work and lecture and that the topics of the night struck her as particularly important.

"When you're looking at issues like femicide or sex trafficking, that's what it is," Hennig said. "It's a justice issue, not just a women's issue."