“Half the Sky” is an informative documentary about the suffrage of women in countries worldwide. However, before it ever hit television screens, it was a book.

On Mar. 30, UNC Wilmington’s Lumina Theater hosted a free screening of this film, sponsored by the National Panhellenic Council.

The authors of “Half the Sky” are a married couple, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn. Kristof has been a columnist for The New York Times since 2001. Wudunn works in the business industry but is also a best selling author. Together, the couple won the Pulitzer Prize for the outstanding novel.

“The authors handle this grim material by telling us just a handful of horrible stories at a time, based on their own extensive interviews,” said Carolyn See, writer for the Washington Post.

The movie entails grueling details about the daily lives of women, including child prostitution, gang rape, being beat until cooperating, and  even fatal situations.  Accounts of these atrocities captivated viewers.

The film stars well-known female actress activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde. 

A story of a girl who lived in Ethiopia encompassed a sad fate many women suffer from, about how easily preventative  treatments could help save hundreds of women during childbirth. Unfortunately, the resources are unavailable.

“They describe how families and states fail to invest in education and healthcare for women,” said Roihini Pande, writer for the Harvard Magazine, “so that girls who could be an economic asset to their families and country instead end up controlled by and dependent on male relatives, undernourished and often dead at a young age from preventable diseases, or African women who suffer fistulas in childbirth (a painful, embarrassing condition, but curable by a simple operation) are abandoned to die on the edges of villages.”

Those who watch the film often describe themselves as completely shocked by what they do not know, and have an epiphany on their views of their own freedom.

“I knew that women were more oppressed in other countries besides the United States,” said UNCW student Chloe Kennedy, who attended the film screening on campus, “but I never realized how bad it actually was. For example the statistic that 200 million girls are missing from their countries census was more than eye-opening,” said Kennedy.

Half the Sky Movement is a Non-Profit Organization that raises awareness of through educating people everywhere. In addition, there is also over 1,500 university ambassadors who work with their school to educate students. In addition, they also have raised 5 million dollars to help women worldwide and give them better opportunities.