Kristof begins by discussing how the problem of the 20th century was slavery and gender inequity is the major problem of the 21st. He and WuDunn then launched into a long-ranging discussion about their observations from global conflict zones. Celebrities like Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Demi Moore, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also did segments for the show.

While the effort was wonderful for consciousness raising, some issues felt as though they were glossed over. For one thing, images of suffering women were shown often - but where were those who inflicted the suffering? A warlord was featured at the beginning of the show, but perpetrators were conspicuously absent from this narrative. Where were the pimps? Former sex slave Long Pross was stabbed in the eye by a female pimp - but this was barely touched upon. In the clip above, Kristof also brings up how the owner for one of the brothels is also an employee of the local police force.

Watching the segment reminded me of the frustration many activists felt when reading The Woman's Crusade article in the Saving The World's Women issue in the NY Times magazine. As Melissa over at Shakesville wrote:

If I'm not mistaken, I just read seven pages that are the philosophical equivalent of "She got raped." Passive. Rape is something that happens to women. Something that gets done to them.

So, apparently, is worldwide institutional oppression.

I don't guess I need to say that I am all for giving women around the world every tool, every resource, every dollar and dinar, every bit of choice and opportunity and access, everything possible to lift themselves up and achieve everything they could want or imagine.

But how can we talk about lifting women up without a serious discussion of, no less without more than the merest passing reference to, who and what has been keeping them down?

The segment focused on women's oppression, but glossed over other complicating factors. For example, Kristof actually purchased two girls from sexual slavery and returned them to their villages. One girl remained in her village and wed - the other went back to the brothels, presumably in search of drugs. Kristof mentioned that this made him understand that "freeing" someone is "more than just opening a door" - but that type of analysis was lacking in the articles and segments that Kristof appeared on. Instead, the focus was on feel-good narratives and painful images of poverty and suffering.

On Oprah's website, she has a registry sub-site set up to help.

The various ways to assist (financial and awareness-based) are helpful, but is human intervention enough in the face of structural and societal problems of this magnitude?

George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Demi Moore And Hillary Clinton [Oprah]

Related: Half The Sky Movement [Official Site]

The Women's Crusade [NY Times]
Here's Your Big Chance To Ask: What About The Men? [Shakesville]

[West Hollywood, October 27. Image via Getty]

Kristof and WuDunn (the first married couple in history to win the Pulitzer Prize) argue that the "sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape" of women around the world constitute not just a humanitarian crisis, but a major source of "global poverty and extremism." We ignore the murder, abuse, and marginalization of women at our peril, they argue, because providing women with education and safety will not only improve gender equality but solve a variety of seemingly non-gender-related problems, like economic underdevelopment and terrorist violence. They make a compelling case, but it's not without its problems.

Though they've clearly done their homework, conducting in-depth interviews with women in India, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe, Kristof and WuDunn can seem paternalistic at times. Especially odd is their analysis of gender and spending habits in the world. On "the dirty little secret of global poverty," they write,

[S]ome of the most wretched suffering is caused not just by low incomes but also by unwise spending by the poor - especially by men. Surprisingly frequently, we've come across a mother mourning a child who has just died of malaria for want of a $5 mosquito bed net; the mother says that the family couldn't afford a bed net and she means it, but then we find the father at a nearby bar. He goes three evenings a week to the bar, spending $5 each week.

They add that the world's poorest families spend ten times as much on "alcohol, prostitution, candy, sugary drinks and lavish feasts" as they do on education, and that "if poor families spent only as much on educating their children as they do on beer and prostitutes, there would be a breakthrough in the prospects of poor countries." Their solution — focusing economic development efforts on women, who apparently tend to spend more money on education and nourishing food for their children — may be an effective one, but their statements about supposedly spendthrift men are still somewhat troubling. Is it really their place to determine what spending is wise or unwise? Might men be spending more money on alcohol than education because they don't see benefits from schooling — and might this situation be remedied by improving education and public awareness of educational opportunities, rather than cutting men out of the equation? I'm perfectly willing to believe that women in developing countries spend a larger percentage of their income on children than men are, and that this makes them a more effective vector for helping families. But the idea of selecting the "wisest" spenders, by Western standards, and then directing aid their way has a whiff of moral judgment and social engineering — it recalls the centuries-old notion of the "deserving poor." This is compounded by the suggestion that women are more docile than men, less likely to rock the boat. Kristof and WuDunn write,

It has long been known that a risk factor for turbulence and violence is the share of a country's population made up of young people. Now it is emerging that male domination of society is also a risk factor; the reasons aren't fully understood, but it may be that when women are marginalized the nation takes on the testosterone-laden culture of a military camp or a high-school boys' locker room. [...] Indeed, some scholars say they believe the reason Muslim countries have been disproportionately afflicted by terrorism is not Islamic teachings about infidels or violence but rather the low levels of female education and participation in the labor force.

It may be true that a society is more peaceful when women are empowered, but the idea of promoting women's equality in order to reduce terrorism is still problematic. First, as WuDunn and Kristof are no doubt aware, there are plenty of examples of female terrorists. But the very idea of helping women because they behave the way we want — not drinking, whoring, or planting bombs — implies that we have a certain ideal of how developing countries should operate, and we want to shape them according to that ideal. It's also not necessarily good for women, who must continue to behave well in order to retain their status as model recipients of aid.

This is not to say that the kind of aid Kristof and WuDunn propose — mostly microlending, which helps women become economically self-sufficient — necessarily shackles families to Western benefactors. In fact, microlending can empower women to make their own choices and assert their autonomy within families. WuDunn and Kristof tell the story of Saima Muhammad (pictured), who started a successful embroidery business with a small loan from a microfinance organization. She's now the undisputed head of her household, and no longer has any problems with her once-abusive husband. Her children, too, are doing well, bearing out Kristof and WuDunn's claim that economic independence for women is often good for kids.

Indeed, all the programs the authors support — from improving girls' education to reducing sex trafficking to repairing obstetric fistulas — are good ones. But their central thesis — that we should help women because it will reduce poverty and violence — is flawed. It relies on the notion that women are deserving of economic and social power because they are good citizens, not simply because they are human. What happens if women decide to spend their newly earned money on alcohol instead of their children's education? What if they spend it on weapons? And what if, even though they spend it on all the "right" things, their countries still fail to develop economically? Treating women as agents of social change risks leaving them out in the cold if they don't effect the change we want.

The reason WuDunn and Kristof structure their argument the way they do isn't because they don't care about women's rights. Their description of their emerging awareness of violence against women and girls — both in the Times Magazine and in a Glamour interview — shows they are passionate about women's equality. However, they write,

Traditionally, the status of women was seen as a "soft" issue - worthy but marginal. We initially reflected that view ourselves in our work as journalists. We preferred to focus instead on the "serious" international issues, like trade disputes or arms proliferation.

This perception still exists, and WuDunn and Kristof's approach seems, in part, like an attempt to turn a "soft" issue into a "serious" one. By linking the persecution of women to global poverty and violence, they may be hoping to reach people who might not otherwise care about women's rights. They may succeed — and again, their practical recommendations sound solid. But there's a problem with treating the empowerment of women as a means rather than an end — what happens if women, once empowered, pursue ends we don't like?

Image via New York Times Magazine.

The Women's Crusade [New York Times Magazine]
Women's Issues: How Helping Women Will Change the World [Glamour]

• So much Oscar gossip! For instance:

Amanda Seyfried got her heel caught in a stocking during the song and dance number. Zac Efron's microphone got tangled in his bow tie. We'll never be invited back," Zac joked. Alicia Keys broke a heel; Goldie Hawn snuck in the back where "no one's screaming." Jennifer Aniston was heard whispering to John Mayer: "I really love you, every part of you." [AP]

• On the red carpet, Mickey Rourke told a reporter: "I said to myself, 'I would rather have Loki for another two years than have an Oscar,' and I told her that, you know. But she stayed as long as she could." [E!]
• Mickey Rourke maybe tried to grope Jessica Alba, who "jumped back and made a disgusted face." [Gatecrasher]
• On the red carpet, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt snubbed Ryan Seacrest. Again. [NY Daily News]
• Kate Winslet on the red carpet: "I said to my daughter, 'If I did win the big prize, what do you think I should say?' And she said, 'I just think you should be really crazy and emotional'. I thought, 'You're no good.'" [E!]
• Kate Winslet doesn't want to see Angelina Jolie naked. [E!]
• Robert Pattinson on the red carpet: "I did a rehearsal and messed it up. I am probably going to be the letdown of the entire show." Uh, yeah. You're the let down of the entire show. The Oscars hinge on a sparkly vampire. [E!]
• Did you know that Oscar winners are obliged to sign winners' agreements? The agreements say if they or their heirs ever decide to part ways with their Oscars, they must offer to sell the awards back to the Academy for $1 each. Matilda Ledger will have to sign this when she turns 18, apparently. [E!]
• A review of the show: "Hugh Jackman a winner but production was a lost cause." [NY Daily News]
• Harvey Weinstein had a party Saturday night and everyone was there: Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, and Miss Lindsay Lohan, who showed up with a guy who owns local luxury car dealerships. [Fox 411]
• Katie "Jordan" Price attended Elton John's Oscar party, and her "rival," Victoria Beckham, was there. No showcase showdown occurred. [Daily Mail]
• An insider on Rachel Zoe: "Her television career is interfering with her styling work. Clients are getting very upset." This is why she was seen "flipping out over the phone and screaming at the top of her lungs" at the Weinstein pre-Oscar party. [Page Six]
• Blind item! "Which married Oscar nominee has been cheating on his wife with a hard-partying starlet?" [Gatecrasher]
• Jennifer Aniston didn't run into Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the Dreamworks Oscar bash — because they didn't show up! [Gatecrasher]
• Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise did run into each other at an Oscar party. "Penelope tapped him on the shoulder and timidly asked, 'Tom?' Tom turned around, got visibly flustered and awkwardly said, 'Oh, hey. Hi,' and gave her a small, distant hug before turning back around to his friends. It was weird." [Perez]
• Here's a rundown of all the Oscar winners. [NY Post]
• Meanwhile, Chris Brown called Rihanna to wish her a happy birthday. He also sent her a diamond bracelet and necklace, as well as an iPod Touch. Friday night, Rihanna had a birthday party that was Blackjack-themed (Chris was not there) and then jetted off to Barbados. [Gatecrasher]
• What the fuck is up with CNN anchor Kiran Chetry saying that Rihanna will have to deal with the "stigma" of being an abuse victim? Writes Barbara Morrill: "Do we use such terminology about victims in a robbery? When a man beats up another man?" Some dude says, "She'll be remembered for this, rather than her own talents." This is not right. [Daily Kos]
• Amy Winehouse stays busy: Now she's accused of splitting up a lesbian couple. An unnamed woman claims she found her girlfriend in bed with Amy Winehouse, and that Amy asked if she wanted to join. This woman changed her MySpace profile to read: "Amy Winehouse asked me for a threesome and I said no, no, no." [Mirror]
• George Clooney is in Darfur, but the United Nations is pulling his security escort, since he has been speaking out on the troubles in the area. Please Cloons, be careful! [Daily Express]
• Nicholas Kristof says he and George Clooney are bunking in a tiny room in a guest house and "George's side of the room has a big splotch of something that sure looks like blood." [NY Times]
• Speaking of putting yourself in harm's way, T-Pain has canceled a concert in Guyana after "credible death and kidnapping threats." Someone doesn't like Auto-Tune! [E!]
• Oooh, will Michelle Obama be on the first non-Oprah cover of O magazine? [Liz Smith]
• Harlow Madden will be a big sister! Nicole Richie is pregnant again. [ONTD]
• Guy Ritchie might be dating a film producer on his Sherlock Holmes film, or just, you know, hanging out with a coworker. [Daily Mail]
• Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony threw a birthday party for their 1-year-old twins on Saturday in the backyard at their home in Bel Air. A clown was involved. [People]
• Cruz Beckham's birthday looks awesome: He turned four, while dressed as Wolverine, at the Xtreme Martial Arts World Headquarters in Hollywood. Eva Longoria and nieces attended! [Daily Mail]
• During his speech at the Independent Spirit Awards, Mickey Rourke said Eric Roberts "is the fucking man and he deserves another chance." No one seems sure why he felt the need to make this point. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Prince Harry and Natalie Imbruglia: Flirting via text message? [Daily Mail]
• Meanwhile, in a new documentary, a journalist says of Prince William: "He's doing almost nothing. I'm sorry, but as second in line of succession to the throne, he really should be doing more." [Telegraph]
• In this video, Rosario Dawson talks about her mother licking her in public. Yeah. She's traumatized by spit. There's more, about lesbians/sex/virginity. [NY Times]
• Slade Smiley, from Real Housewives Of Orange County, has been arrested. It's a civil contempt charge. [UPI]
• Al Pacino will play Salvador Dali in a new film; but not the same one in which Antonio Banderas will play Dali or the one in which Robert Pattinson plays Dali. Who will be more surreal? [Daily Express]
• Freida Pinto's ex is still talking about how Slumdog Millionaire wrecked their relationship, and how upset he is that Freida is getting close to Dev Patel: "Now everywhere I go I see them on billboards. I am devastated." This is from the paper that loves to shame women, don't forget. [Daily Mail]
• By the by, Salman Rushdie hated Slumdog, saying it "piles impossibility on impossibility." [AP]
• Bruce Springsteen will headline this summer's Glastonbury festival, bringing "Born In The USA" to the UK. [Telegraph]
• Is Michael Jackson making a comeback? He's reportedly in talks to do 30 live shows in London or Las Vegas later this year. Then again, a couple of weeks ago, he was reportedly dying. [NY Daily News]
• In this Q&A, Matt Groening talks about changing the main titles of The Simpsons: "We're always throwing in what we call Black Bart gags, where Bart is writing on the blackboard, and we switch little things around. Lisa's saxophone solo switches." [NY Post]
• Richard Gere and his wife have opened up an inn. They are innkeepers now. Do with this what you will. [NY Mag]
• The creative director and global business strategist of INXS, Chris Murphy, swears they did not dump their lead singer JD Fortune from the band in the middle of a busy airport. [News.com.au]
• Debbie Gibson's house in the Hollywood Hills is for sale and photos reveal that there is a mirrored piano in the living room and a 7-up can by the bathroom sink. [The Real Estalker]
• Charlie Sheen and wife Brooke had a sports-themed baby shower, if you care. [People]
• "I've been through a lot. I can't sleep, sometimes I wake up at night. I still see him." — Housekeeper Teresa Solomon, who found Heath Ledger dead more than a year ago. [News.com.au]
• "My intention is to be Prime Minister of Canada, not Governor General, which is mainly a ceremonial position." — William Shatner. [PR-Inside]
• "Some beautiful women are passive in the bedroom. They're gorgeous, they know they're gorgeous and they don't feel the need to do anything beyond being gorgeous. Elizabeth Taylor was not one of those women. Being with her was like sticking an eggbeater in your brain." — from an essay by Robert Wagner. [Daily Mail]
• "There's a lot of gay people that dress better than me… No, I just think it's a stereotype that all gay people dress good, and then it's also a stereotype that if you dress good, you're gay." — Kanye West. [NY Mag]
• "I think about it; because I am effeminate I've always thought about it, 'Am I gay?' And then, I so love being with women, and I so love women's bodies and all that. I think, well no, I can't be. But sometimes I think it would just be simpler if I was, because everyone thinks I am. I'm quite camp, but no, I don't think I am. If I was gay, I would just get on with it. But definitely I love women, I love being around women, I find them incredible and intoxicating, and I've never had that feeling I get with women with a man." — David Walliams of Little Britain. [Guardian]
• "From the first day I met her, she said, 'I want us to be friends and I want you to know that you are a huge part of our family and are welcome any time.' She has been as good as her word. Dad and I have had our ups and downs over the years but Catherine is someone who has cemented the family together. She and Dad were in Los Angeles two weeks ago because he got some sort of lifetime achievement award and we all went out to dinner. I've never seen my father as happy as he is with her. It's cool to see." — Cameron Douglas on Catherine Zeta-Jones being good for his dad, Michael Douglas. [Daily Mail]
• "It's always great to rehearse on a plane, because people think you're mad… Emotionality is really easy for me. My father always said that Fondas can cry at a good steak. And so on a personal and professional level it's great for me not to have to do that." — Jane Fonda , 71 (?!?) on her role in Broadway show 33 Variations. (The show is being protested by Vietnam vets.) [NY Times, UPI]
• "I have decided to freeze myself when I die. You know, cryonics. You pay a lot of money and you get stuck in a deep freeze once you've been declared dead. Medical science is bound to work out a way of bringing us back to life in the next century or so, and I want to be available when they do. I would be doing the nation an invaluable service." — Simon Cowell. [Daily Mail]
• "[Partying] is what I do for a living. I get paid to go to events and parties, and it's fun." — Paris Hilton. [Gatecrasher]

Kristof continues:

In Darfur and eastern Chad, you can randomly approach any group of people and find heartbreaking stories. Mr. Clooney was clowning around with a group of boys bathing in the river - taking their photo and showing it to them digitally - and that's when we met the 13-year-old boy with the bullet in his knee.

[NY Times]

Yesterday, as I searched in vain for news that didn't make me want to tell stupid people to shut the fuck up, I found out from Nicholas Kristof both that he's part of a video game about women in the developing world (yes, I follow him on Twitter) and that Senator Barbara Boxer will be chairing a new subcommittee on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee specifically charged with women's issues. Can we all just love Nick Kristof and Barbara Boxer a little this morning? Thanks.

Anyway, onto the dirty news of the day. The U.S. economy shed more than half a million jobs in January, more American soldiers committed suicide than were killed in combat that same month, and it's entirely possible that one of the damns China built recently was the proximate cause of the earthquake that killed so many people last year. But, hey, don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain; Eliot Spitzer liked to fuck prostitutes without condoms and is a whiny little bitch.

In the mean time, the "negotiators" for Hamas who went to Egypt, it turns out, weren't really there to negotiate as much as launder some money which, due to Egyptian interference, they didn't quite manage to accomplish. Larry Summers is having as much trouble negotiating interpersonal relations as Hamas, as he's busy thinking of ways to dick over and lock out Paul Volcker. Who knew he was Dick Cheney 2.0 (without the bum ticker)? And Cheney may have found his next move, if he wants to go work for yet another evil organization — Ticket Master probably needs a new spokeshenchman after they dicked over Bruce Springsteen and all his fans buy buying up the tickets to his event and then reselling them above face value on their own reselling site. But, no worries, there are cute mammals roaming the White House grounds!

In Administration news, CIA director nominee Leon Panetta is feeling less torture-iffic than his predecessors, Obama went and ralled his troops on the stimulus package and he's having the Census Director report to Rahm Emanuel rather than the incoming Commerce Secretary, Judd Gregg, who, incidentally, tried to defund the department and politicize its functions. That sort of begs the question of why you'd nominate a guy you don't fucking trust to do his fucking job, but maybe that's just 'cause I ain't had my Kool-Aid this morning. Anyway, Congress is delaying both the switch over to digital television signals because it's even more of a clusterfuck than anyone imagined and Hilda Solis' confirmation hearing because Republicans are still quaking in their expensive leather boots at the thought of Wal-Mart workers unionizing. But, hey, I was right and it turns out that Bush did go jacketless in his Oval Office despite all the carping from the former Bushies about Obama not being formal enough. So, I guess they can all shut the fuck up now. Oops, I did it again.

Buying cheap clothes from foreign factories actually helps the workers.

MICHAEL S. JEFFRIES, 62, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, ABERCROMBIE & FITCH CO. Total value: $26.2 million Base salary: $1.5 million; Bonus: NA; Stock and options awards: $14.1 million; Other: $10.6 million

PAUL MARCIANO, 55, CEO AND VICE CHAIRMAN, GUESS INC. Total value: $17.1 million Base salary: $1 million; Bonus: $0; Stock and options awards: $603,532; Other: $15.5 million

BRAD MARTIN, 55, CHAIRMAN, SAKS INC. Total value: $12.9 million Base salary: $1 million; Bonus: $0; Stock and options awards: $9 million; Other: $2.8 million

True, there are problems with the fact that buying cheap clothes from foreign factories helps white guys not smart enough to succeed in any other industry a lot more, but whatevs. We need to just chill.

The Money List [WWD]
Related: Seven Things You Can Stop Worrying About Right Now! ['O' The Oprah Magazine]