Social Change:  Gender Roles in Society

Introduction
In the past century there have been many elements of social change that have affected the perception of gender roles within society / culture.  How have these roles evolved and changed?  What has triggered these changes?  How have these changes impacted the various institutions and policies within society?  What stereotypes and forms of discrimination and gender bias still exist? 

Task
In small groups, students will examine a specific theme related to gender roles in society.   Groups will research and create a photostory to present to the class.  Students will then discuss and analyze various themes of gender roles in society and its impact in the 21st century.

 

Themes

Theme

Students

Gender Roles in Television Shows

 

 

Gender Roles in Music / Music Videos

 

 

Gender Roles in Sports

 

 

Gender Roles in Marriage and Family

 

 

Gender Roles in Workplace

 

 

Gender Roles in Media (news-radio) / Advertising

 

 

Gender Roles in Politics

 

 

Gender Roles in War

 

 

Gender Roles in Crime / Violence

 

 

Gender Roles in Education

 

 

Gender Roles in Body Image

 

 

Gender Roles in Abuse (physical and emotional)

 

 

Other:  teacher approved

 

Step 1:  Gender Roles Survey (Personal View)

1. Below is a list of common jobs or roles.  On the space provided indicate what percent (%) of doing the job or taking the role you believe should be assigned to a female? Male? Percents can range from 0% to 100%, but must total 100%.

Female %

Male %

Job/Role

 

Female %

Male %

Job/Role

 

 

Family Income

 

 

 

Driving Children to School

 

 

House Cleaning

 

 

 

Picking Out Toys for Girls

 

 

Car Maintenance

 

 

 

Doing the Dishes

 

 

Making the Decisions for the Family

 

 

 

Driver of Car When Both are There

 

 

Attending Children's Teacher Conferences

 

 

 

Staying Home From Work to Care for Sick Child

 

 

Washing Clothes

 

 

 

Asking a Person Out on a Date

 

 

Mowing the Lawn

 

 

 

Putting Children to Bed

 

 

Cooking

 

 

 

Participating in Any Sport

 

 

Discipline of Children

 

 

 

Paying the Bills

 

 

Opening Door

 

 

 

Grocery Shopping

 

 

Selecting What to Watch on TV

 

 

 

Driving Children to Lessons

 

 

Going Back to College for a Degree or Another Degree

 

 

 

Obtaining a Job Promotion When Equally Qualified

 

 

Leaving Work to Pick-Up Sick Child From School

 

 

 

Paying For Social Events (i.e. movies, dinner out, tickets)

2.  Upload your survey to Moodle.  I will be collaborating the surveys for a class discussion on perceived gender roles. 

3.  Give this same survey to a male friend and a female friend and a female adult and male adult.  What are similarities / differences between male and female surveys?  What are similarities between these surveys and the ones completed by adults of a different generation?  What conclusions can be drawn regarding gender roles and gender bias?   

 

 

Step 2:  Research, Photostory and Presentation

In your groups, students will research, create  and present a Photostory presentation that focuses on their selected THEME that contains the following criteria:

a)   a timeline that showcases the progression / evolvement of gender roles (in your theme) from 20th century to present day
b)  describe key features of major theories and schools of thought from anthropology (e.g., cultural materialism, functionalism, structuralism), psychology (e.g., behaviouralism, psychoanalytic theory, learning theory), and sociology (e.g., symbolic interactionism, feminism, Marxism) to your theme of gender roles
c)  describe and apply to real-life contexts the impact and effects of changing gender roles (in your theme) on society
d)  analyze the effects of stereotypes / gender bias / discrimination in gender roles that may still exist (according to your theme)
e)  other interesting facts  (ie. experiments / statistics / studies  / real events) that relate to your theme


Note: 
* photostory should be approximately 5-8 minutes in length.
*photostory should include images, video / audio clips, text, music and narration
* photostory should tell a story- plan out the order, script etc so it is logical, progressive and organized and has a clear introduction and conclusion.


Step 3:   Reflective Response:  Analyzing Gender Roles

Consider the information that has been presented on the various themes of gender roles.  Use this information to compose a reflective response approximately 1-2 pages in length (double spaced).

Reflective Questions

1.      Compare your theme in gender roles to two other themes.  How are the themes different? How are they similar?

2.      Consider which theme discussed still holds the most bias, stereotypes and discrimination.  How does this relate  to explain modern social situations? Give examples to support your response.


RUBRIC:  Social Change- Gender Roles in Society

Criteria

Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

A. Research & Content

Knowledge / Understanding

 

- Exceptional research / content  that is detailed, critical and contains all required criteria under the selected theme of gender roles

-solid  research that is has good details and contains most of the required criteria under the selected theme of gender roles

- adequate  research that is has some detail and gives preliminary information of the selected gender role theme with all criteria

- research lacks depth. Did not extend past a cursory level of research.

B. Reflective Response

Thinking Inquiry/
Communication

 

- exceptional written summary / comparison/ reflection three themes of gender roles with excellent comparisons, analysis and applications to modern social trends / gender bias / stereotypes

- well written summary / comparison/ reflection three themes of gender roles  with solid comparisons, analysis and applications to modern social trends/ gender bias / stereotypes


- adequate written summary / comparison/ reflection three themes of gender roles  but more critical  comparisons, analysis and applications to modern social trends/ gender bias / stereotypes

- poorly written summary / comparison/ reflection on the three themes of gender roles
-lack of  comparisons, analysis and applications to modern social trends/ gender bias / stereotypes

C. Presentation (photostory)

Application

 

- A superb blend of text, narration, music, images and design that intricately tells a story and is exceptionally organized and logical
-photostory is very creative and effectively showcases the various themes in gender roles

 - Good blend of text, narration, music, images and design that tells a story and is very organized and logical

-photostory is  creative and showcases the various themes in gender roles

- The presentation has some unorganized elements
 - Lack of balance between text, narration, music and images.
- Appears elementary
-photostory is somewhat creative and attempts to showcase the theme in gender roles

- The presentation is disorganized.
 - All elements not apparent
- Information is lost in a poor design.
-photostory lacks creativity and planning