Video produced by Lawson Kurtz and Chase Olivieri/The Chronicle.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof told a packed Page Auditorium that women’s rights is the issue of the 21st century Sept. 17. His visit to the University was the first stop on his tour to promote his new book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.”
Unequal access to health care, food and education has crippled developing countries and left the world short of about 100 million women, Kristof said.
Telling stories of sex trafficking, physical abuse and mental neglect, Kristof illustrated his emotional and often disturbing anecdotes with photographs of the women of whom he spoke.
Kristof followed his lecture with a question and answer session and a book signing. The first 200 audience members to arrive received free copies of his book, and more were available for purchase.
New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof will speak at Duke next Fall, Colleen Scott, associate director of the Baldwin Scholars program confirmed Thursday.
“He’s the big voice in the world and he’s using his voice to highlight the issues the people in WISER are passionate about,” said Sheryl Broverman, associate professor of the practice of biology and co-founder and NGO chair of the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research. “We hope it’ll kick off discussion on campus about the role gender plays in international development.”
She added that Kristof’s speech will help WISER move forward, beyond fundraising and toward more education about the pivotal role women play in global economic development. The event will be hosted by the Baldwin Scholars program, WISER and other campus organizations.
Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer prize winner and has been a New York Times columnist since November 2001. He is largely known for bringing to light human rights issues in third-world countries such as the genocide in Darfur.
