Credit chance, destiny, divine intervention, or just good marketing, but I have been bumping into the topic of human rights for women time and again over the last few months.  I have always had an interest in the topic, but the issue is no longer one where  I can  bury my head in the sand and tell myself that there is nothing I can do.

It all began this last August when I came across a link to an article about Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book called, Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The book highlights human rights issues that women face in Africa and Asia. Also highlighted is the premise that by educating and giving these women microloans, they can then run businesses and earn money, most of which is reinvested back into their families.

According to the fact sheet downloadable from The Girl Effect website, when women earn income they reinvest 90 percent of their earnings back into their families. Whereas, sorry guys, men only reinvest 30-40 percent. For each additional year of primary education received, women’s eventual earnings went up 10-20 percent, and an educated mother’s children also appear to benefit from better health.  (Again, check out The Girl Effect website for more sources on this information. Also, the Half The Sky Movement website is a great resource. )  I remember being highly interested in the article I read, but, as is common with Twitter, I was quickly inundated with a hundred million other interesting things. I got busy and distracted, and I did nothing.

A few weeks later, in early September, a friend on Facebook sent me a message telling me that she was reading “Do They Hear You When You Cry,” because I had recommended it in one of those My Favorite Books of All Time memes. We started messaging back and forth about it, and I began to recall all of the heartbreaking feelings and emotions about the subject that I had upon my first read.

If you have read this book, you already know that it is the story of a woman named Fauziya Kassindja from Africa who got on a plane and came to the United States to avoid female circumcision. I read it around 1997, when it was first published. It truly altered my perspective on female roles in the world, asylum, and the justice system in the United States. I was seventeen at the time, and it left an indelible impression on me. But, again, soon after my little Facebook chat, I forgot about it. I got busy and distracted, and I did nothing.

A few weeks later, I was feeling a little down about a class I’m taking, and for a little diversion, I headed over to one of my new favorite sites called My Inspiration Lounge where I came across these videos put out by The Girl Effect, a program sponsored in part by The Nike Foundation.  Check out the videos below, and then continue reading below.

These videos touched my heart deeply. I added them to my favs and sent them to a few friends.  And then I, again, got busy and distracted, and I did nothing.

Not more than a week later, I came across a post on my university’s home page saying that Kristof would be speaking at my school the next week. I attended last night. His speech was eloquent, and I enjoyed it very much, despite the difficult topics discussed.

I am a firm believer in women’s rights in the world. I believe that topics such as lack of education for women, female genitalia mutilation, acid attacks, and sex slavery need to be discussed more, not less. The more we bring these things to light, the better we are able to find ways to help and improve the lives of not only women, but everyone.

Credit what or whom you will: chance, destiny, divine intervention, or just good marketing. But this time, I listened, and I’m doing something. I write this post in the hopes that it reaches more people like me. People who are no longer willing to just say that is sad, but there is nothing I can do.

I am adding “Half The Sky” to my reading list, and when I am done I will be writing a review about it and sharing it with as many people as I can. I will continue sharing these videos and trying to get the word out. I’m also going to look into some sites that give microloans to women like Global Giving, Heifer, and Kiva.

I have decided that for Christmas gifts this year, I will be gifting donations to one of these organizations for a microloan to improve the life of a woman. I was so impressed by what the Nike Foundation is doing with The Girl Effect that I’ve also decided the next pair of tennis shoes I buy will be Nikes. I guess there are things that I can do after all.

How about you?

My Prison, My Home: One Woman’s Story of Captivity in Iran
By Haleh Esfandiari
Publisher: HarperCollins

Yesterday morning, while getting ready for school, I was listening to Susan Page interview an Iranian-American woman named Haleh Esfandiari on the Diane Rehm Show. In 2007, Esfandiari went to Tehran to visit her Mother. As she was headed to the airport to go home, she was robbed and her passports were taken. Esfandiari could not leave the country. When she then applied for new passports, the Iranian authorities became suspicious. They subjected her to long interrogations, and eventually, she was put into solitary confinement at Evin Prison for nearly four months. Esfandiari has written a book about her ordeal titled “My Prison, My Home,” and it was released today.

In the interview, Esfandiari spoke of her first thoughts upon entering into solitary confinement. “When they put me into Evin,” she said, “and they took me to that cell and closed the iron door behind me, and I heard the door being locked. I looked around, and I said, ‘this is going to be my home for the next God knows how long, but it’s also my prison.’”

Esfandiari recalled telling herself constantly that they could take away her freedom, but they couldn’t take away her past. “That gave me a lot of courage,” she said.

The most interesting thing I gleaned from listening to the interview was not the horrific ordeal of being robbed, interrogated for hours, and forced into solitary confinement, but instead was Esfandiari’s response to it all. She told how she spent seven to eight hours each day exercising and walking in her cell to keep her spirits from falling into deep despair. While she walked, she wrote two books in her head. One book was a children’s story for her grandchildren, the other was about her paternal grandmother.

“She was a woman who had a lot of influence on me,” Esfandiari said of her grandmother,” so I wrote her biography in my mind. I would move chapters, paragraphs, edit and do all these things, which was quite time consuming.”

As a writer, I try to imagine having enough solitude to write and edit a book completely in my head. It’s difficult to comprehend in today’s environment with our cell phones, blackberries, families, computers, Twitter, Facebook, and television. When I finally became serious about my writing, I knew I had to find some way to find or create some solitude. At home, I’ve changed an upstairs bedroom into a personal office where I’m surrounded by my books and my thoughts. I sit at an old, but beloved desk that my late grandmother refurbished. And on days when I can no longer handle sitting at a desk, I move over to a comfy sofa chair I have placed in the corner. A far cry from a prison cell, to be sure.

In the last two weeks, my life has been in total upheaval, as I went back to school to finish my last year of college. Many things seem out of my control right now, and solitude is difficult to come by—especially when I cannot be at home typing away in my office. But then, I think about Esfandiari, and I am reminded how she made the best out of her circumstances and events that were beyond her control. Inspired by her, I’m now trying to do the same. Yesterday, when I had a spare moment in between classes, I stole away to a quiet corner where I could hear my thoughts and quickly scribble them down. I’m not quite up to writing and editing in my head just yet, but it’s a start.

I’m excited to read and review this book on WinterWrite. It has been added to my reading list. Until then, I’d love to read your comments.

Where is your favorite place to write? Do you like to write in long stretches or a little bit here and there?