Redlands woman's group part of Pulitzer-winner's book

REDLANDS, Aug 28, 2009 (Redlands Daily Facts - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- RBOB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Jane Roberts' historic Redlands home is filled with books, on shelves and stacked on any available space, and she is the author of one herself.

Now, the organization Roberts co-founded will be part of a chapter in a new book by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof.

Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, are releasing "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," on Sept. 8. Half of Chapter 8 is dedicated to Roberts and 34 Million Friends, a women's global equality grassroots movement that supports the United Nations Population Fund.

"This is wonderful -- they'll probably sell a million copies throughout the entire world," said Roberts, who published "34 Million Friends of the Women of the World" in 2005.

Roberts said she knew about being included in the book for the past year. She said Kristof had written about 34 Million Friends before. She said she has not met him but has met WuDunn.

"I tend to think that the great injustices of the kind we write about in 'Half the Sky' will involve not only leadership from the White House and the UN but also from citizens like Jane Roberts in places like Redlands," Kristof wrote in an e-mail.

Kristof is a columnist for The New York Times. He and WuDunn won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement last week for "chronicling human rights in Asia, Africa, and the developing world."

"To get somebody

like that looking at your work, it's a big boost," said Nelda Stuck, longtime Our Town editor for the Daily Facts who has written about Roberts' work. "Can you imagine a national columnist taking up your cause?"

"It's a commendation for the work Jane is doing on behalf of these voiceless women," said Abubakar Dungus, spokesman for the United Nations Population Fund in New York.

Roberts' organization is listed first in the book's appendix of 45 organizations that serve women around the world.

"34 Million Friends is first on the list, so that's cool," Roberts said.

Roberts, co-founder Lois Abraham and 34 Million Friends were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 as part of the 1,000 Peace Women Project.

Roberts is writing a review on "Half the Sky" for the Global Health Council's magazine next month. The book has been endorsed by Anne Rice, Tom Brokaw, Angelina Jolie and "Kite Runner" author Khaled Hosseini.

"There's a very big movement to get this book into the hands of ordinary Americans," Roberts said.

Roberts, a retired French and tennis teacher, has traveled around the country to speak. She has four engagements in the San Luis Obispo area in mid September.

"I just think what she's done is just marvelous and for her to retire and care about women worldwide and to up and do that in Redlands is great," Stuck said.

"Gender inequality is the moral scourge of the age and people don't know the price we are paying in people, the planet and peace," Roberts said.

Roberts also became the legal advocacy chair for the American Association of University Women this year.

"Half the Sky" is available for pre-order on www.amazon.com and www.bn.com

E-mail Staff Writer Joy Juedes at jjuedes@redlandsdailyfacts.com

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