Half The Sky: Stories Of Women Around The World

'I want to talk about a particular area where you can, you should, and you must make a difference . . . And that is the plight of women and girls around the world . . . I have concluded after traveling many miles and visiting many places in the last decade that talent is universally distributed, but opportunity is not. The futures of these women and girls will affect yours and mine, and therefore it is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing." Hillary Clinton

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide premieres on PBS October 1 and 2 at 9pm/8pm CT. A four-hour documentary series based on the bestselling book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, it follows Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde as they travel throughout the developing world to introduce women and girls who are living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable—and fighting bravely to change them.

Women hold up half the sky,” is a Chinese saying made popular by Mao. In the 21st  century, the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings,  and mass rape is unprecedented. Yet if women were given the opportunities to thrive, the economic windfall to the world is huge.