The Flow of Women's Work
Description
Water provides an excellent lens for understanding gender roles. In this unit, students compare the division of labor in water-related work in rural Lesotho with their own households. By doing this, they will gain an understanding of the multiple factors that influence how gender roles are established in different societies. This unit culminates with students writing letters in the voice of visitors to the United States from Lesotho.
Time Frame
Five 45-minute class periods
Curricular Areas
Geography, language arts
Grades
6–8
Essential Questions
Is there such a thing as women's work?
Is equality between men and women possible? Is it desirable?
Materials
Lesotho photos and captions from Water in Africa
Stories about managing water and daily usage in Lesotho
Viewing Lesotho (PDF or RTF) worksheet
Looking Homeward (PDF or RTF) worksheet
A Look at Basotho Culture (graphic organizer) (PDF or RTF)
Stories From Lesotho (PDF or RTF)
Evaluation Rubric: Letter to Lesotho (PDF or RTF)
World Map
Map of Africa
Background information about Lesotho from the Internet or print resources (top of page)
Standards
Geography Standard 18—Understands global development and environmental issues
Benchmark—Understands why different points of view exist regarding contemporary geographic issues
Language Arts Standard 1—Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process.
Benchmark—Uses style and structure appropriate for specific audiences (e.g., public, private) and purposes (e.g., to entertain, to influence, to inform)
Language Arts Standard 2—Demonstrates competence in the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
Benchmark—Uses descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas (e.g., establishes tone and mood, uses figurative language)
Language Arts Standard 4—Gathers and uses information for research purposes
Benchmark—Uses a variety of resource materials to gather information for research topics
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Objectives
Students will
- View photographs, read, and reflect on their own environments to gather information about gender roles in Lesotho and the United States.
- Recognize that geography, economics, traditions, and biology all influence gender roles.
- Demonstrate through writing that they understand that people around the world have different attitudes about gender roles.
Procedure
Day 1
- Pose the first essential questions listed above: Is there such a thing as women's work? Ask students to tell their initial responses to the questions to a partner and then have several pairs report their ideas to the class.
- Tell students they will be viewing some photographs taken in Lesotho, a country in southern Africa, as a way to investigate the differences between men's and women's roles in a society different from their own. Indicate Lesotho's location on a map and explain that more than 80 percent of the people in Lesotho belong to the Basotho ethnic group. Distribute the worksheet Viewing Lesotho (PDF or RTF). Ask the students to record the types of work they see being done and whether the person doing the work is male or female. Show the following photos from the Water in Africa resources:
- Ask students to predict why they saw so much more water-related work being done by women than by men. Show the students the Lesotho Daily Usage stories or distribute the Stories from Lesotho (PDF or RTF) readings. Have the students read the anecdotal comments from the Peace Corps Volunteers.
- Ask students to share what they discovered about the reasons most water-related work is done by women. Ask them to determine whether their answers have to do with differences based on sex (a biological characteristic), gender (a socially constructed set of expectations and roles), or a combination of the two. Answers to be elicited include:
- Tradition dictates that village women, rather than men, collect water. Explain that in rural African societies such as those in which the photographs were taken, there tends to be a sharp division between what is considered appropriate work for each gender.
- Most able-bodied men from Lesotho spend much of the year working in mines in South Africa because of Lesotho's relative lack of economic development. This means that women do much of the farming and other work requiring strength and endurance.
- Some water-related work, such as bathing children, may be related to women's biological role in giving birth to and nurturing children.
- For homework, ask students to fill out the Looking Homeward (PDF or RTF) worksheet.
Day 2
- Divide students into groups of three or four. Ask them to make up two or three generalizations about gender roles and water-related work in the United States based on their responses on the Looking Homeward worksheet.
- Have groups report their generalizations to the class. Generate discussion by asking leading questions such as:
- How are gender roles in the United States similar to those in Lesotho? How are they different?
- What things influence the division of labor between men and women in the U.S.?
- What are some points of comparison between gender roles in the developed and the developing world?
- How does the relative level of prosperity and development in the United States influence gender role formation in this country?
- What are some advantages and disadvantages to living in a society with sharply delineated gender roles?
- Tell students they will be role-playing to try to understand that people in rural villages of Lesotho tend to have different perspectives about gender roles than people living in a developed nation. Ask student volunteers to play out the following scenarios, based on what they have learned about Basotho culture.
- A male Peace Corps Volunteer who is new to a village gets in line with village women to wait for water from the well. The women try to convince him that he should not be doing this type of work.
- A family of American tourists visits a Basotho village. A girl in the family requests that she be able to spend the afternoon herding animals with the Basotho boys. The Basotho host family explains why this would not be proper.
- Explain the assessment by sharing the evaluation rubric and going over it.
- For homework, ask students to write a reflective piece in which they respond to the essential questions.
Day 3
Work with students so they gather information about the Basotho culture from a variety of Internet and print resources. They should pay particular attention to details related to gender roles. The information gathered should be used to help lend authenticity to the letter they will write as an assessment.
A section of a site created by returned Peace Corps Volunteers from Lesotho: http://friendsoflesotho.org/
State Department country profile on Lesotho at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2831.htm.
Contains general background information about the history and economy of Lesotho.
News from Africa at http://www.newsfromafrica.org/.
Find current information on women and gender issues in Africa.
Culturgrams, published by Millenial Star Network, contains a great deal of information about the Basotho culture, including gestures, greetings, dress, eating habits.
Day 4
- After students have completed their research, ask them to write letters in which they assume the voice of a man or woman from a village in Lesotho visiting the United States. They should imagine that their family is hosting this Basotho visitor. Based on their research about Lesotho, they will create a viable reason for this person coming to the United States. Students will write letters home in the voice of the visitor in which he or she shares observations and opinions about gender roles in the United States. The letter should focus on the division of labor in water-related work in the American household.
- Give the students the evaluation rubric (PDF or RTF) and make sure they understand the quality of writing that is expected of them.
- When students have completed the final draft of their letters, have them share them with other class members. If desired, conduct peer review of the letters, using the same rubric with which you will evaluate them.
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About the Author
Amy Cohen teaches seventh grade world geography at Abington Junior High School in Abington, Pennsylvania. She piloted this lesson with a group of ESOL students from diverse backgrounds and says of the experience, "I am sure that the lesson 'worked' differently than it would have in my suburban classroom, but I think the students did get a new lens for viewing cultures—both the one they find at home and the one they encounter in American society at large."
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