ACTIVITY ONE: EXPLORING THIRD-WORLD ISSUES
The purpose of this activity is for students to deepen their
understanding of the issues that inspire women’s efforts
to better the world.
1. Divide the class into small groups. Each group will be responsible
for researching a women’s rights issue in a country other
than the United States. The following sites are good places
to begin research:
http://women3rdworld.miningco.com/newsissues/women3rdworld/
http://www.theglassceiling.com/resources/history.htm
http://www.wlo.org/intl/
http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/ww2000/hr2000.htm
2. Have each small group create a presentation depicting their
findings. This may be in the form of a poster, a skit, an essay,
a poem or any other artistic rendering.
3. After the presentations, create a class map that depicts
the commonalities and differences in issues that are important
to women world-wide based on the students’ research.
4. Share students’ presentations with other classes, if
possible.
ACTIVITY TWO: WHAT ARE BASIC RIGHTS?
The purpose of this activity is to increase students’
understanding of what constitutes “women’s issues”
and to increase their awareness of the societal and cultural
challenges that women face in the world.
1. Visit the following site, which contains a Girl’s Bill
of Rights at http://www.girlsinc.org/gc/page.php?id=9.
2. Divide the class into three groups. Ask one group to create
a Female Bill of Rights; ask the second group to create a Human
Bill of Rights; and ask the third group to create a Male Bill
of Rights. Have each group read their work aloud to the class.
3. Create a chart that highlights the differences and similarities
of the three bills of rights. Have a discussion using the following
questions as a guide:
• Are women’s rights fundamentally different from
human rights?
• What is the most important similarity among the three?
• What surprised you the most in this exercise?
• What are the critical differences (if any) among the
three?
• What characterizes the issues that pertain to women’s
rights?
4. Compare the lists the class generated with that of the United
Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China September
1995. Find this list at http://womensissues.about.com/newsissues/womensissues/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http
%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fwomenwatch%2Fdaw%2Fbeijing%2Fplatform%2F.
Discuss the similarities and differences.
5. Visit the following Web sites which have divided women’s
issues by race and ethnicity:
• Latina women’s issues http://latinoculture.about.com/culture/latinoculture/msub18.htm
• Black women’s issues http://afroamculture.about.com/culture/afroamculture/cs/womensissues/index.htm
• Asian women’s issues http://asianamculture.about.com/culture/asianamculture/msub17.htm
6. Answer the following questions:
• Why are these issues categorized differently than
general women’s issues?
• What are the similarities or differences among the
three sites?
• Do you think that dividing women’s issues by
ethnicity is useful? Why or why not?
ACTIVITY THREE: ACTIVE WOMEN
The purpose of this activity is to encourage students to
examine how myths about women’s roles pervade our culture
and influence our thinking.
1. Have students work in small groups and choose (a) or (b)
below. They should create a presentation to share what they
have learned with the class.
(a) Read about the life of Rigoberta Menchu, human rights
activist at
http://www.worldtrek.org/odyssey/latinamerica/rigoberta/rigobertastory.html.
b) Visit http://women3rdworld.miningco.com/newsissues/women3rdworld/library/bio/blwleaders.htm.
and choose one of the women from this list then research
her efforts.
2. Combine individual group efforts to create a Women’s
Hall of Fame to share with the larger school and community.
This may be done in the form of a Web age. The following site
describes how to create one:
http://www.smplanet.com/webpage/webpage.html.
ACTIVITY FOUR: TAKING ACTION
The purpose of this activity is to show how women take
initiative in dealing with societal problems that affect humanity.
Please note: This activity touches on sensitive subjects
that may make some students uncomfortable. Create a safer environment
by creating or revisiting any ground rules you have established
with the class.
Divide the class into small groups. Give each group one of
the imaginary scenarios below and ask the group to find solutions
to it.
Group One: Your friend tells you she was raped by her
date.
Group Two: You hear the sounds of a child being abused
in the apartment next door to yours.
Group Three: A neighborhood child tells you there is
no food in her house.
Group Four: A woman you work with tells you her husband
isn’t paying child support.
Group Five: Your friend tells you she is being sexually
harassed at work.
The following are some good Web sites for beginning research:
National Clearinghouse on Marital and Date Rape at http://members.aol.com/ncmdr/
Prevent Child Abuse America http://www.preventchildabuse.org/
National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse & Neglect http://www.calib.com/nccanch/
Food Stamps
http://cgibin.erols.com/fpwin/food.htm
Organization List http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Issues_and_Causes/Poverty/Hunger/Organizations/
Child Support
http://www.childsupport-aces.org/
US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html
1. Have the small groups share their solutions with the larger
class.
ACTIVITY FIVE: CONFRONTING MYTHS
1. Read the following article by Gloria Steinem: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/aims/.
Divide the class into small groups to identify and discuss
the key myths Steinem describes in the article and their reactions
to them. Each group should answer the following questions:
• What is the origin or underlying assumption each myth
is based on?
• Do you agree with Steinem?
• In what ways are the myths Steinem discusses relevant
to women in 2001?
Group One: Myth One Women are biologically inferior
to men.
Group Two: Myth Two Women are already being treated
equally in this society.
Group Three: Myth Three Children must have full-time
mothers, and liberated women make bad ones.
Group Four: Myth Four Women are more moral than men
are.
2. Discuss the following questions:
• How are myths born?
• How do they die?
• What responsibilities does a person have to dispel
myths?
• What effect do myths have on children?
3. Ask the students to make a poster that illustrates a common
pervasive myth regarding women and a way to debunk it.
ACTIVITY SIX: WOMEN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The purpose of this activity is to further students’
understanding of how women have reacted to injustice and participated
in social change. The activity focuses on the ways in which
the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Movement were inter-related.
Beginning with a brief overview of the 1960s from varied perspectives.
1. Share the following Web site with the class: http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/decade60.html#music.
Create a class list of events that may have contributed to the
development of the Women’s Movement.
2. Divide the class into small research groups to read about
the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Group One http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/3515/montg.html
Group Two http://www.core-online.org/History/montgomery%20boycott.htm
Group Three http://www.boggscenter.org/rosaparks.htm
Group Four http://ns1.netphoria.com/wort/thisweek/news/buzzcomm/buzz062600.htm
Group Five http://www.theglassceiling.com/biographies/bio26.htm
3. Have the class create and perform a re-enactment of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott. It should be designed to explain the
boycott to an audience of students in grades 3 and 4. Use skits,
props, music and dialogue in this dramatic rendering. If possible,
present this to younger students.
4. If a re-enactment is performed for younger students, allow
the younger students to ask questions after the performance,
then discuss women’s roles and the impact of the boycott
on society.
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