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Gender
Contacts
Planning
Grid Questions
Teaching
and Learning Activities
Overview
School is seen as a powerful
agent in providing students with the
opportunity to read their own culture. SOSE is the learning area that
unravels the ways in which social and institutional structures maintain
gender inequality in society and encourages students to reflect and
take action to redress any imbalance.
Inclusive curriculum requires
that gender issues be addressed in three key ways. The first is the
way in which the classroom is organised. This requires sensitivity to
the needs of all students. The second is the way in which the teaching
and learning program is designed. This implies a need to incorporate
inclusive teaching strategies such as cooperative learning.
The third is in the issues that are chosen for study, from within our
own culture as well as across cultures.
Students can study their society,
their present and future roles in society, the functioning of society
and the value systems that have allowed inequities to develop and continue.
Opportunities should be provided for students to critically examine
the extent to which socially constructed ideas of what is masculine
and what is feminine shape their own and others’ attitudes and experiences.
Researchers and practitioners
in Gender Equity have used four perspectives to facilitate social justice
for both girls and boys.
- The first perspective
examines the issue of Access and Equity: provision of resources such
as teacher time, space and equipment, rather than the simple opportunity
of access. Sexist language, texts
and resources are critically examined, as are limited stereotypical
post-school options for girls and boys.
- The second perspective
strives to revalue the behaviours and knowledge traditionally associated
with being female or feminine,
by designing curriculum which acknowledges women's contributions and
family responsibilities and recognises the different skills of females,
based on lived experience.
- The third perspective
acknowledges differences among girls.
Ethnicity, class and race influence understandings of gender
and learning styles in significant and powerful ways. The fourth
perspective critically examines social structures. Types of
knowledge that are privileged and rewarded over others are considered.
Different forms of power, including violence and
sex-based harassment, are challenged as ways of exercising
control and limiting expressions of individuality.
Gender inclusiveness is a criterion
which teachers can use for selecting areas of study, materials and visual
resources. It is critical to learn about the past and present experiences
of females and some groups of men and to consider why their achievements
are undervalued in many societies. In this learning area there are opportunities
to explore and recognise the particular contributions to Australian society
made by women.
The emphasis on citizenship in SOSE is particularly relevant to teaching
girls and boys to be active, informed critical and visionary advocates
for the rights of women and men in paid and unpaid work. There is an opportunity
for teachers and students to place an emphasis on activities that explore
the redistribution of household, family and emotional work.
Teachers' work in this
area will be informed and supported by the national document Gender
Equity: A Framework for Australian Schools, 1996 and Gender Equity:
Tasmanian Support Materials (1997) (See Resources) -
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The
Gender Organiser as depicted on the SOSE Planning Grid
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Strand
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Gender
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Time,
Continuity and Change
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Key ideas to be developed
- ways of organising
and recording time
- patterns of
change
- evolution and
revolution
- heritage
- the nature of
change
- predicted and unpredicted
- intended and
unintended
- cause and effect
continuity, change and discontinuity
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- In what ways
have "What is masculine?" and "What is feminine?" changed
over time?
- In what ways have
the variables of race, ethnicity, social class, marital status
and sexual preference affected women's and men's experiences
at different times in history?
- Why have some
people's stories not been told in history texts?
- Consider whether
representations of women in texts have changed over time.
If so, why have they changed?
- Which futures
are most likely to achieve equity for women and men?
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Place
and Space
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Key
ideas to be developed
- spatial patterns
- reason for location
and distribution
- interaction between
features or components of places
- valuing places
- interdependence
within and between natural
and built spaces
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- Why are some private
and public spaces considered to belong more to males or females?
- In what ways does
gender influence people's access to and use of private and
public spaces?
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| Culture |
Key
ideas to be developed
- construction of
personal and group identity
- diversity within
and
between cultures
- nature and purpose
of cohesion
- development and
consequences of belief
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- In what ways
are "What is masculine?" and "What is feminine?" defined differently
in different cultures?
- In what ways do
language and the media construct and confirm dominant views
of gender roles?
- In what ways are
the construction of gender and the acquisition of power connected?
- In what ways does
being male or female affect students' own lives and cultures?
- What is the family's
role in the transmission of culture?
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| Resources |
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Key
ideas to be developed
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- Why is unpaid
work often not considered to be work?
- In what ways has
women's participation in the labour force changed?
- What are the barriers
to women participating in the paid labour force or to men
in the unpaid labour force?
- How can inequalities
in access to paid work be addressed?
- Which resources
do women control? Which resources do men control?
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Systems
- Natural, Legal, Political
and Economic
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Key ideas to be developed
- human community
systems
- decision-making
and conflict resolution systems
- interrelationships
and integration of all systems
- power and authority
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- What knowledge
and skills are necessary to change discriminatory practices?
- What are the formal
and informal structures of decision-making? How can women
access these structures?
- How have women
brought about change both in the past and in contemporary
society?
- What are the differences
in the economic and political power of men and women?
- What images and
stories do the media use to represent what it means to be
male and female?
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Teaching
and Learning Activities
Why
are some women's stories not told in history books?
A unit for Grade 7 and 8.
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