This week I attended a talk with Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author. His talk was about the welfare of women and girls. He touched on topics such as education and human trafficking.

This talk made me realize how in access to education and human trafficking of women and girls creates and generates inequality. Mr. Kristof’s story about a Chinese girl who, due to donations from being the subject of his New York Times article, was able to receive an education and benefited her entire rural community, displays the value of girl’s educations. When girls are educated, they not only become leaders in their families, but also in their communities. As the first person to be educated in her family, she lifted up her whole family’s position on the income ladder. Education can help people become economically and socially mobile. Kristof’s story demonstrates the concepts about social and economic mobility I learned about in a course I am taking this semester, just in a more global perspective.

The pictures Nicholas Kristof took of the women and girls were the most impactful for me. The youth of the victims of human trafficking was very emotionally devastating. An interesting fact he stated was that many of the pimps who sold these girls into slavery were never arrested by the police, but many of the underage girls were arrested and returned back to the criminals. This also demonstrates the ineffectiveness of law enforcement in combatting inequality. Instead, they perpetuate it.

I was convinced by the arguments Nicholas Kristof presented. He was very convincing because he was so passionate about his work. He has been to so many places around the world, so he has a global understanding about the oppression of women and girls. I think what he says is true, governments need to do more about the oppression of women and girls because that is a big way to combat inequality in the world.