Richard Nixon once famously declared, “We are all Keynesians now.” Is it time for a new formulation—that we are all feminists now? In light of nearly three decades of research on women in development—some of which is echoed in Half the Sky, the new book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn—and in the wake of the recent financial crisis and global economic recession (caused in part by the hyper-masculinity of the corporate world, with its rogue traders, reckless speculators, aggressive financiers, and hostile takeovers, as well as the intrinsic contradictions of capitalism), the answer may be obvious. Ignoring women and their contributions is unwise at any time, but now may be an especially propitious time to reconsider the effects of women's exclusion from decision making, whether in politics or the corporate domain.

In the past two decades, a consensus has emerged among international policymakers concerning the importance of integrating gender analysis in development planning and recognizing the contributions that women make to household welfare, national development, and economic growth. As Rae Lesser Blumberg has argued, attention to women and gender may be regarded as the “magic potion” of development.Footnote ¹ International NGOs, donor agencies, multilateral agencies, and intergovernmental organizations have thus turned to gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting, gender audits, and the like to convey their commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment and to ensure that development goals are reached.

This consensus is, to some extent, the result of transnational feminist advocacy. Since the 1970s, women's rights activists have engaged with decision makers at national and international levels, increasing awareness of women's concerns and pushing for legal and policy changes.Footnote ² But it is also the result of feminist scholarship, especially from within the women in development (WID) or gender and development (GAD) community. WID/GAD research, which has combined a critical perspective with what we might call “evidence-based research,” has drawn attention to male bias, gender-differentiated outcomes, and persistent inequalities.Footnote ³ And this same literature has demonstrated the private and social returns to investments on women and girls, and the ways that women have contributed to political and cultural change.

Other studies, some of which are cited in Half the Sky, demonstrate the benefits of increasing girls' schooling, women's educational attainment, and female labor force participation; of improving maternal health and extending reproductive rights; of providing greater credits and loans to poor women; and of encouraging women's involvement in the political process. This is why the third goal of the eight Millennium Development Goals seeks to end gender inequality, especially in schooling and political representation.

And yet, we continue to see the forms of oppression that are described in Half the Sky: prostitution and trafficking, maternal mortality, and gender-based violence. Why? Can gender-based inequalities and injustices at the local level be connected to inequalities and injustices at the macro level? What of the role of state policies, international relations, and the global economy?

Half the Sky is passionate, engaging, and powerfully written with a tone of moral outrage at the injustices, oppressions, and exclusions that women face across the globe. The authors are to be commended for their obviously genuine commitment to women's well being and for the research they put into their book. Kristof and WuDunn frequently refer to the international movement for “turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide” as a moral movement, much like the abolitionist movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There is much admiration for social movement–type activism; the authors prefer “grassroots projects” driven by “social entrepreneurs” that “sometimes resemble social or religious movements” rather than traditional aid projects (p. 229). And instead of government action, the authors prefer small-scale local projects implemented by NGOs.

Indeed, the book evinces a marked preference for free-market policies and local actions that bypass the state. For example, they write that the Indian state of Kerala—which they earlier praise for its gender-egalitarian policies—“was held back by its anti-market economic policies” (p. 170). And although low-income Kerala is hailed in the development literature for its progressive social outcomes, the authors write that they are “disappointed with its economic mismanagement and market-unfriendly investment climate” (p. 271). Poor Kerala! At least we can't blame its government for the global financial crisis. Occasionally, though, Kristof and WuDunn acknowledge positive outcomes of state action and even of non-market systems: Chinese women, they note, progressed under communism (see p. 207).

The book's compelling vignettes are complemented by insights and some sound recommendations. The authors make reference to the critique of sweatshops but point out that income under a woman's control has huge personal and household benefits (this has long been Blumberg's argument). Against advocates of “sex work,” they argue that factory work is preferable, and I can only agree. But why stop there? Why not also call for the expansion and implementation of International Labor Organization conventions and recommendations on workers' rights? And what about increased levels of aid in support of women's well being? Here the authors show some ambivalence. On the one hand, they cite various critiques of aid (see p. 176); on the other hand, the activist NGOs and local charitable activities that they endorse typically rely on donor funding to implement their projects. What is more, Kristof and WuDunn are in favor of a big UN agency devoted exclusively to women, and they call for billion-dollar investments in women's health, education, and micro-lending.

Half the Sky refers in passing to war, insecurity, and terrorism; population pressures, environmental strains, and climate change; poverty and income gaps. “For all these diverse problems,” they write, “empowering women is part of the answer” (p. 238). But what is the other part? And how to empower women under a global system prone to economic crisis, massive inequalities, and frequent development setbacks?

In neglecting macroeconomics and the international state system, Kristof and WuDunn have missed the forest for the trees. Their emphasis on individual action, local efforts, and small-scale activities motivated by moral outrage or solidarity makes them overlook the larger, structural, systemic dynamics that prevent poverty eradication, stall or set back development efforts, and perpetuate or create gross inequalities within and across countries. These include the debt crisis and structural adjustment policies that gave the 1980s the epithet “the lost development decade”; the periodic financial crises and recessions since the 1970s (including the most recent); the economic transition in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union that created, among other things, a generation of sex workers; the ups and downs of commodities prices; and a global trade regime that remains dysfunctional (or non-functional, or biased in favor of the rich countries, depending on your perspective).

There is no doubt that many of the injustices women experience across the globe are a function of patriarchy, including traditional practices and reactionary concepts of male privilege and female subordination. But inequalities and injustices at the level of the household or community are also a reflection of inequalities and injustices inherent in a capitalist world system that is especially injurious to peripheral countries. For example, Kristof and WuDunn write at length about the sufferings of women in Cambodia, but what about the years that the U.S. preferred to tolerate the murderous Khmer Rouge—in exile along the Cambodia-Thailand border after being chased away by the Vietnamese—rather than the Cambodian government? What of U.S. support for the Islamist Mujahedeen of Afghanistan, who were opposed to girls' schooling, or U.S. hostility to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, which had a progressive social program?

Kristof and WuDunn rightly point out that Rwanda has made strides in women's empowerment (at least in terms of women's parliamentary representation), and they praise President Paul Kagame, who runs “one of the least corrupt, fastest-growing, and best-governed countries in Africa” (p. 212). It is true that Rwanda today is a darling of Western donors. But its president and government have been complicit in the rebellion in eastern DRC, which has resulted in the massive and horrific rapes of women in that benighted region.

Today, international policymakers are concerned that the Millennium Development Goals will not be met for a large number of countries, or that in particular countries, certain of the goals will not be reached by the 2015 target date. Could it be that neoliberalism has failed to live up to its promise of prosperity through privatization? That need and greed cause the conflicts and strife that harm women disproportionately? That increased international aid may have better global outcomes than increased military spending? Surely it is time to call for an end to business as usual, and to insist on better terms of trade, the 20/20 social compact, a tax on financial transactions, a cap on corporate pay, enforcement of labor standards, and decision-making roles for feminist organizations and trade unions.

Would I assign Half the Sky in my political economy or sociology of developing countries courses? Yes, but as an example of a particular point of view—and then supplemented by readings on the world economy and the international state system, along with critiques penned by transnational feminist networks. For while the book paints a disturbing portrait and offers some sensitive and insightful commentaries, it lacks the kind of structurally oriented political perspective necessary to really comprehend and grapple with the sources of women's oppression today.