Description

In the continuation of building awareness and learning about oppression and opportunity for girls and women globally, this lesson is a follow-up to Lesson 1 - The Power of the Girl Child. Through the exploration of various organizations and issue specific videos students will further their understanding of the factors that surround gender oppression and the indicatives that are already in place to alleviate it. LESSON: 1) In groups of three to five to share your assignment, ‘The Telling of a Girl’. Identify and discuss any common themes found in all of your reports. 2) As a class, brainstorm and record any/all local and global issues that surround the female gender. 3) Watch the following short videos to continue with the learning and awareness building of gender issues that are present globally, have students view four short videos. Each video will focus on a specific issue that may be prevalent in a particular part(s) of the world but are seen to have permeating effects globally. VIDEOS: Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls Documentary Film - Trailer (6:56) A short trailer for the documentary ‘Petals In The Dust : The Endangered Indian Girls’ which “is a documentary film that interweaves stories of girls and women who are victims of discrimination, violence and "gendercide" in India. It also highlights women who have fought to keep their daughters alive and activists and grassroots organizations that are working to empower girls and women and end the cycle of violence.” Somaly Mam: Survivor, UN ambassador, freedom fighter, abolitionist, mother, teacher, humanitarian (4:25) This short video introduces Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Somaly now fights to save millions of girls sold into the billion dollar sexual slavery industry. The media's manipulative influence over your morals The media's manipulative influence over your morals (8.52) A short video that highlights the misrepresentation of women in today’s media saturated world and criticizes its impact on women and girls. National Geographic Live! : Too Young to Wed (20:53) Journalists discuss their encounters with child marriage, explaining the experiences they have witnessed. They speak to the reasons of child marriage and the negative impacts it has on girls around the world.

Task

In groups of 5 or so, discuss the videos you watched. You have 10 minutes to do so. In your discussion, answer the following questions: 1) What might be some of the common factors and reasons for the oppression of women - locally and globally? 2) What are the core factor(s) that need to be addressed to alleviate the oppression of women globally? In your groups explore some organizations that specialize in supporting women around the world. You are encouraged to find organizations that are not on this list. Websites to explore: Petals In The Dust http://www.petalsinthedust.com/ Women for Women International http://www.womenforwomen.org/ Equality Now | End violence and discrimination against women http://www.equalitynow.org/ Global Fund for Women www.globalfundforwomen.org/ The Global Girls Fund www.theglobalgirlsfund.com/ Because I Am A Girl – Empowering Girls and Women Worldwide https://becauseiamagirl.ca/ CAMFED www.camfed.org/ Vital Voices vitalvoices.org/ In your group, pick an organization to reflect upon in detail. Make sure that you outline the following information about the organization: 1) The organizations mandate and mission statement 2) Programs (for short and long-term goals) 3) Education and Outreach activities 4) The publicity campaign in use - how are they informing the public about their organization 5) An analysis of the organization success.

Continue to Lesson 3: Empowering Girls and Women »