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Equal Rights for Women & Social Issues
March provides schools with an opportunity to celebrate both Women's History Month and International Women's Day
(March 8). March 22 is also the 36th anniversary (1972) of the Equal Rights Amendment that legislates many of the
gender rights that U.S. women enjoy today.
Many women from a younger generation feel that "all the battles have been won for women." Today, we have women
as CEOs of major corporations, female astronauts, presidents of major universities, governors, and Congressional
leaders. And for the first time in history, a woman, Hillary Clinton, has a great chance to become the next president of
the United States.
But, despite these gains, many feminists from the 1970s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of
patriarchy in our society. Unfortunately, the facts reveal that women still do not receive paychecks equal to their male
counterparts, and are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics.
Activity
The lack of equal rights for women is often the cause of many other problems in our society: ongoing poverty,
the growth of single parent families, violence against women and children, and unequal health care for too many
women and their children. How do these problems relate to unequal rights for women?
Students can explore several Leading Issues to learn more about how gender inequality contributes to many current
societal problems. Each of the following Leading Issues provides students with an opportunity to show how lack of
gender equity provides significant causation for that specific issue.
Pathfinders: Click the More Issues link in the Pro vs. Con section, and then choose two of the following (you can omit
issues or add other issues):
- Birth Control
- Child Abuse
- Health Care Reform
- Divorce
- Family Violence
- Welfare
Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking in a report of about 200 words on two of
the topics listed above:
- How is the issue related to lack of gender equity in our society?
- How would greater gender equity help to reduce this problem?
- What are the obstacles to greater gender equity and how can we overcome these?
ProQuest also provides four unique report and presentation models for students to use, specifically tailored to the
five-step format of each Leading Issue. To access these, click the Educator Resources link at the top of the Search
page.
- Writing a Research Paper
- Writing a Mini-Research Paper (student and teacher management versions)
- Creating a PowerPoint Presentation
- Creating a Mini-Debate (student and teacher management versions)
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