&ldquo;A woman should know her limits, and if not then it&rsquo;s her husband&rsquo;s right to beat her.&rdquo; </p><p>If the fellow that said this would please step forward now, the women of the world have a little something for him. </p><p>Except that the speaker wasn&rsquo;t a man. These were the words of a Pakistani mother-in-law who looked on as her son battered his wife, Saima, daily. When Saima delivered another daughter, the mother-in-law suggested that her son take on the expense of a second wife who might have better luck at birthing a boy.</p><p>Beyond distraught, Saima took out a $65 micro-credit loan from a foundation, started an embroidery business and soon became the richest woman in the neighborhood. Now the unemployed husband answers to her, and the mother-in-law adds, &ldquo;But if a woman earns more than her husband, it&rsquo;s difficult for him to discipline her.&rdquo; </p><p>Minimized, marginalized and intellectually underutilized, the world&rsquo;s women are a vast, largely untapped economic resource, say the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of &ldquo;Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.&rdquo; Sharing incredible stories of horror and hope, authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn paint today&rsquo;s abuses of women around the globe in shades of bondage and misogyny, barbarism and war. </p><p>Chronicling their visits from one developing country to another, Kristof and WuDunn, a married couple who both write for The New York Times, found that for all our best intentions, policies handed down from afar often fail to grapple with the roots of the problem.</p><p>School is a biggie here. In many developing cultures, because women are not seen as financial contributors and most families have more children than they can afford, priorities on education often go to the sons, and struggling parents marry their daughters off young.</p><p>Thanks to poor medical and maternity care and high rates of infant and child mortality, families have more and more babies both in pursuit of the cherished Y chromosome and in the hopes that a few of those boys will make it to adulthood. And the cycle of poverty begins anew. </p><p>Countries that have really put a focus on educating girls, however, have enjoyed considerable economic rewards. Keeping girls in school longer gives their parents a good reason not to marry them off so soon, reduces the number of babies and improves each woman&rsquo;s ability to contribute to the local economy.</p><p>Better economies spawn better health care, and with fewer children born to each family, parents are better able to afford schooling for their girls. </p><p>Kristof and WuDunn point out that while keeping girls in school is sometimes as simple as providing them with a new uniform every year, it can be tricky to accomplish, and getting the job done usually demands an insider&rsquo;s understanding and commitment.</p><p>Cultural taboos associated with menstruation, for example, are often the culprit for high drop-out rates among early teenage girls. Curing students of intestinal worms has also been shown to significantly increase attendance.</p><p>Often it is the girls who manage to exceed their pre-determined fates who find a way to give others a boost. &ldquo;Half the Sky&rdquo; is a collection of their stories.</p><p>If you&rsquo;re looking to wind down your day with a relaxing read, this isn&rsquo;t it. Several chapters are devoted to discussions of obstetric fistulas (holes), institutionalized rape and sex trafficking that are shockingly graphic and likely to leave even the most jaded reader white-knuckled. But a claw-marked book is nothing next to the stories of these many women who&rsquo;ve scraped their way up from hell.</p><p>In these times of burgeoning skepticism of international aid, WuDunn and Kristof steer clear of pious nagging about what we should be doing and instead take the inspiring tack of proving that there really is hope, that we really can do something. </p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong>Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide</strong>, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (320 pages; Knopf; $27.95)</p><p></div>