© 2000, Mariana Mincheva-Rizova, Ilian Rizov,  MODELS FOR TEACHING THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (I-IV grade)

SOME IDEAS FOR TEACHING THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

(8) TOPIC:

DIFFERENCE AND EQUALITY: GIRLS - BOYS

“For the purposes of the present Convention* the concept “discrimination in respect to women” means any difference, exception or limitation on the basis of gender which tends to weaken or diminish to minimum the recognition, the utilisation or self - actualisation of women, irrespective of their marital status, on the basis of equality between men and women, on human rights and basic freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural , citizenship or any other sphere.”
(Article 1 from ”The Convention for abolishing all forms of discrimination in respect to women” from 1979)

ACTIVITY

“Appropriate and inappropriate kind of job”

Aims:

  • The pupils will analyse different gender related roles from the point of view of the correlation rational - irrational.

Materials:

  • flipcharts paper ( for each group 2 sheets of flipchart paper) and felt-tips

Procedure:

Offer the students to divide into two groups according to their sex and to go to two opposite ends of the room. Hand out 2 sheets of flipchart paper to each group. Display on a flipchart or (on the blackboard) the following sample list of activities:

Washing dishes

Shopping

Doing scientific research

Flying a plane

Car repairing

Throwing the garbage

Computer programming

Educating children in a nursery school

Dusting a carpet

Making a bed

Working in a hospital as a surgeon

Working in court as a judge

Cooking

Putting up wallpaper

Training football

Constructing planes

Washing

Growing flowers

Designing buildings

Working as a DJ

 

( Participants can add other activities to the list if they wish to do so)

Set the following task to the students: discuss in small groups which of these activities are more appropriate primarily for men and which - primarily for women. Then they should write on top of the two lists of activities: ”Job appropriate primarily for women” and the other: ”Job appropriate primarily for men” and to write on them the distribution of the activities according to the group decision.

As an end result each group has to present two sheets of flipchart paper -one about the activities appropriate for men and the other - with the activities appropriate for women. The group spokespersons have to express the opinion of the representatives of both sexes in the class and explain what they mean by gender division in jobs.

While presenting the results from the work it will turn out that some of the activities which the boys think will be more appropriate for men, the girls in their turn will have pointed out as appropriate for women. Focus the pupils’ attention on these debatable activities /jobs and ask them to give their reasons. In this way you will provoke a discussion which can be continued with the help of the following questions:

  • Why some kind of work is considered “man’s” and another “woman’s”? In which cases this is good both for men and women and in which it isn’t?
  • Is it good for some professions, the work to be divided into “man’s” and “woman’s”? (Is it good for those who do that kind of work? What about the customers/clients who benefit from the results of their labour?)
  • What is the attitude towards those men who do “women’s” jobs and towards the women who do “men’s” jobs? Which of the two is more acceptable?
  • If you have to choose a profession typical for the opposite sex what will that profession be?

 

Previous Contents Next