PBS’s Independent Lens series is going to be showing a special presentation of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Based on the book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the presentation follows the lives of women in 10 different countries and features celebrity activists.
The presentation is going to be shown this coming Monday, October 1, and Tuesday, October 2 at 9 p.m. Eastern / 8 p.m. Central time. Tune in!
I will likely post a response some time next week.
Femme Vitale 
The Independent Lens programs are worth watching, but the book is so much richer in examples and detail than the television segments, and more likely to encourage people to do something. The television segments seem so invasive at times, and heartbreaking too like the book, but the book emphasizes so well the even partial successes, and you are left with the impression that if people mired in poverty and oppression can fight at great personal danger, surely we can manage to do something. Perhaps the celebrities will bring “Half the Sky” more attention, but the real celebrities are the women (and sometimes men) who have fought back, plus of course Kristof and WuDunn who have brought so much more attention to these problems.