Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 305.409172 SHA | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
As the old axiom goes: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." But teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats for a lifetime. In this firsthand account, Ritu Sharma shares how women can, and are, overcoming the forces that keep them in poverty. She chronicles her travels through four countries--Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Honduras, and Nicaragua--and the intimate interactions she had with the women living there. Sharma's story not only details her experiences, but also looks at the broader systems that prevent women from leaving poverty behind. From lack of property rights and government corruption to the scarcity of basic infrastructure like roads, these women are restricted by the external limitations placed upon them. Sharma draws from her experiences to frame a larger exploration of how Americans can be instrumental in helping women break free of restrictive systems and begin to facilitate women's upward mobility. Written in her engaging personal voice, Teach a Woman to Fish provides an insider's look at women in poverty, how Washington works, and how change really happens--from the United States to the rest of the world.
Author Notes
Ritu Sharma is a leading voice on international women's issues and US foreign policy. She is co-founder of Women Thrive Worldwide, a non-profit that places the concerns of women and girls living in poverty at the forefront of US international assistance. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sharma, cofounder of Women Thrive Worldwide ("a small but feisty group that advocates for the priorities of women and families who live on less than a dollar a day") reports on her travels through Sri Lanka, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Burkina Faso as she surveys, serves, and advocates for women, focusing by turns on manufacturing, agriculture, and education. Overcoming the forces that keep women poor, she persuasively argues, has global effect. Sure to appeal to activists, the book offers an on-the-ground account of one organization's efforts and its strategies for instituting change. The more abstract role of governments and corporations, the labyrinthine process of legislation, and a plethora of acronyms gain immediacy through Sharma's experiences and the accounts of the women she serves. In reporting on "exploitation and abuse" endured in the workplace, on the farm, and in seeking schooling, she wants to provoke positive change; thus, she concludes each segment with "What You Can Do For" each of the four communities. 3 photo inserts. Agent: Joelle Delbourgo, Joelle Delbourgo Assoc. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
An international women's issues advocate tells the story of how females all over the developing world are seeking to improve their economic prospects and create better futures for themselves and their families.Women Thrive Worldwide founder Sharma traveled to three regions in the developing worldSoutheast Asia, Central America and West Africato see how everyday women dealt with poverty. Her goal was to not just understand what it meant to live on $1 or less per day like the estimated 1.3 billion people in the world who do so. It was also to see the specific social, political and economic forces that kept women, who are primary caregivers and important breadwinners for their families throughout the developing world, down. In Sri Lanka, Sharma witnessed the informal economic system that allowed women to work from home while also ruthlessly exploiting them. At the same time, she also saw individual companies that treated women workers fairly and created hope for thousands of people. In Honduras, she observed how a farm association that pledged to support peasant women had taken advantage of them. With Sharma's help, these females fought back and won. In Burkina Faso, she watched as women struggled against institutionalized sexism to create some of the most progressive national gender policies anywhere in the developing world. Sharma also listened to stories from courageous women who faced violence, humiliation and domestic abuse but had nevertheless managed to survive and even thrive. No matter where in the world poor women lived, they all shared one desire: that their children receive the education they did not have "to live welland be free from the illiteracy, deprivation and suffering they have endured."Sharma's experiences not only support the idea that "when you teach a woman to fish, everyone eats," but also serve as an aggressive call to action for anyone who cares about ending global poverty. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments | p. ix |
Introduction | p. xi |
Part 1 Sri Lanka | |
1 Tsunami Morning | p. 4 |
2 After the Waves | p. 9 |
3 Fair Share for Women | p. 14 |
4 Upali | p. 19 |
5 Irangani | p. 24 |
6 Home Made | p. 28 |
7 The Maid Trade | p. 34 |
8 The Rule of Men | p. 38 |
9 Proud to Be an American | p. 40 |
10 The Tsunami Women's Network | p. 43 |
11 Show Me the Money | p. 48 |
12 Two Cups of D | p. 50 |
13 The Women's Empowerment Principles | p. 56 |
14 Life in the Zone | p. 61 |
15 Mr. Bush Goes to Washington | p. 68 |
16 What Women Want | p. 72 |
17 CEO, Poverty Reduction, Inc. | p. 79 |
18 The Gender Policy | p. 32 |
19 Pulling the Plug | p. 86 |
20 Living on a Dollar a Day in Sri Lanka | p. 89 |
21 What You Can Do for Sri Lanka | p. 100 |
Part 2 Honduras and Nicaragua | |
22 Smell the Coffee | p. 110 |
23 What's in Your Coffee? | p. 115 |
24 Uphill Climb | p. 118 |
25 Fools No More | p. 122 |
26 Taste of Victory | p. 127 |
27 The Farmer and Her Husband | p. 130 |
28 Purchase for Progress | p. 135 |
29 Helping Women, One Million at a Time | p. 141 |
30 Sylvia | p. 144 |
31 Beautiful Cheese | p. 151 |
32 Carmen | p. 154 |
33 Facing the Facts | p. 159 |
34 Bigger and Better-The International Violence Against Women Act | p. 166 |
35 Legislative Labyrinth | p. 170 |
36 Turning Tables | p. 173 |
37 Good Always Triumphs | p. 175 |
38 New Life | p. 178 |
39 Living on a Dollar a Day in Nicaragua | p. 180 |
40 What You Can Do for Honduras and Nicaragua | p. 187 |
Part 3 Burkina Faso | |
41 School Girls | p. 195 |
42 Red Dire | p. 199 |
43 A BRIGHT Idea | p. 202 |
44 Food First | p. 206 |
45 Penny Wise and Ton Foolish | p. 209 |
46 Kaya Girls Center | p. 212 |
47 The Girl in the Red Shirt | p. 216 |
48 MCA 3.0 | p. 218 |
49 Law Zero-Three-Four | p. 222 |
50 Devilish Details | p. 224 |
51 Marry Me | p. 228 |
52 USAID Forward | p. 230 |
53 Living on a Dollar a Day in Burkina Faso | p. 234 |
54 Celebration | p. 246 |
55 What You Can Do for Burkina Faso | p. 255 |
Notes | p. 257 |
Index | p. 263 |