New York Times Columnist Speaks On Gender Rights

By: Stephanie Turaj
Posted In: News

With all of the problems in today’s world, it can be easy to become discouraged. However, nine students and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies Dr. Inglish Morgan-Gardner were reminded that it is both possible, and important, to make a difference in the world.

The group attended a luncheon and lecture by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who spoke about gender rights and sex slavery. The lecture was held at the Rhode Island Convention Center on Dec. 10, 2009. The lecture was sponsored by Day One, A Sexual Assault and Trauma Resource Center of Rhode Island.

In his speech, Kristof promoted his new book, “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” which includes stories of women and girls from Africa to Asia, and the oppression they face.

“In this century, the cause of our time, the central moral issue for this century, is going to be gender inequity around the globe,” said Kristof.

Every 20 seconds a woman is raped. Additionally, one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused, said Jim Taricani, of WJAR TV, who introduced the lecture.

Kristof shared pictures of his travels. One photo was of Dai Manju, a sixth grader in China who dropped out of school because her parents did not want to pay the $13 in annual school fees, he said.

The brightest children often drop out of school, Kristof explained, and those children were almost always girls.

After his wife and he wrote an article about Dai Manju for the New York Times, they received many checks to help Dai Manju return to school. The money was given to the principal of the school.

“For the first time in this area, your academic level of achievement would be a function not of your chromosomes, but your intellectual capacity,” said Kristof.

He also told the story of a girl who was kidnapped at age 13 and sold to a brothel. Because she was seen as resisting, she had her eye gouged out by the brothel owner.

“A question I get about ‘Why should I care?’ One answer to that is if you see a thirteen year old girl with her eye gauged out, you don’t ask that question,” said Kristoff. “Another is. groups engaging in some cause.they found that it was so fulfilling, so enriching, it gave such meaning to their own lives.”

Kristof shared how he made a difference by buying the freedom of two Cambodian girls from their brothels. He explained that on a previous trip to Cambodia, he had been writing about child prostitution.

“I was blown away by what I found,” Kristof said. “Young girls locked up in this village and auctioned to the highest bidder. I walked out of that brothel with real doubts about my own role. I had got what I think would be a great front page story, and these two girls we central to that. And I felt exploitative of them.”

He said on his next return to Cambodia, he bought the girls he wrote his columns about. He paid $150 for one girl and just over $200 for the other. He got receipts for his purchase.

“When you get receipts for a human being, the closest thing for a legal title over a human being, that should be a disgrace on a century,” said Kristof.

He explained that in the nineteenth century, slaves were protected by their value. Slave owners did not want slaves to die because they were worth about $40,000. In contrast, a girl worth $200 today is disposable.

“If you think about sex trafficking, these are hard problems,” Kristof said. “But one truly can chip away at them, and make a difference for some individuals.”

Kristof advised college students that want to make a difference to consider volunteering or travelling with a volunteer organization over the summer.

“You might not solve the whole problem, but you really are making a difference to some of these individuals here, and more power to you,” said Kristof.

Kristof has been a columnist for The New York Times since 2001, and writes op-ed columns that appear twice a week. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College, and studied law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, graduating with first class honors.

“When you do win that lottery of birth, you do have the responsibility as well,” concluded Kristof in his lecture.