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Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide: Complete Educator Guide

LE S S ON PLAN S

Economic Empowerment

Gender-Based Violence

Education

Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational Prostitution Maternal Mortality

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/

Community [email protected]/Educators

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Table of ContentsWelcome Letter 01

How to Use This Guide 02

About the Filmmakers 03

About the Curriculum Writer 04

About the Documentary 05

Lesson Plan Summaries 08

Film Module Summaries 09

LE S S ON PLAN S:

Maternal Mortality and The Global Health Divide 10

Education For All 40

Gender-Based Violence: Challenging Impunity 58

Breaking the Chains of Modern Slavery: Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational Prostitution 79

Women’s Economic Empowerment 105

Purchasing the Full-Length Film 124

Purchasing the Book 124

Credits 125

mailto:[email protected]

http://itvs.org/educators/collections

01

Welcome to Community Classroom!The Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide resource you have before you combines short film modules from the PBS documentary series with standards-aligned lesson plans. It will give you everything you need to help older teens and young adults better understand why we believe the oppression of women and girls world-wide is the greatest moral challenge of our time.

Through the stories of women acting as agents of change — from Vietnam to Somalia, India to Kenya — students will discover the work being done (and still left to be done) to reduce maternal mortality, gender-based violence, and sex trafficking. They will learn how economic empowerment and education can break the cycle of poverty. These lesson plans also encourage young men to see how helping women and girls helps an entire community, and to take on an active role in making this happen.

We hope you will join the thousands of teachers who have already tapped the growing Women and Girls Lead resource collection offered by ITVS’s Community Classroom pro-gram. We hope this will help male and female students alike develop into engaged citizens, and we look forward to hearing stories of successes in your classrooms.

Best of luck and thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Nicholas Kristof Sheryl WuDunn

02

This Educator Guide may be used to support viewing of the documentary film series Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The five lesson plans contained in this guide are paired with specially edited ten-minute edu-cational film modules adapted from the broadcast version of the film. The discussion questions and activities are designed to engage mature students in discussions about social change and social justice, gender equity, civic engagement, organizing strate-gies, and the contributions of men and women to all of these issues. The activities can encourage students to learn and understand international struggles and take an active role in addressing local concerns.

Grade Levels:9-12, College

Subject Areas: Social Studies, Women’s Studies, Global Studies, Civics, Media Studies, English Language Arts, Education Studies, Economics, Government, Political Science, Peace Studies, Sociology, World History, Human Geography, Primary Resources

See individual lesson plans for additional subject areas.

Lesson Plans: The activities target students at the upper high school level, but can be scaffolded to accommodate the college classroom, as well as informal classrooms: after-school pro-grams, clubs and youth training programs. All content aligns with national standards. Each of the activities is designed to last one traditional class period (50-60 minutes total, plus assignments), but include a variety of extensions that can deepen the learning as time permits. All activities aim to incorporate educational content and themes that can be integrated into your existing curriculum.

Film Modules:With this Educator Guide, you can build a unit around the entire documentary and/or one or more of the Community Classroom film modules. The module lengths are noted, aver-aging ten minutes each.

Stream the Film Modules Online:Community Classroom film modules are available in streaming video format at itvs.org/educators.

Get the Film Modules on DVD:Educators may order free DVDs of Community Classroom film modules and activities at itvs.org/educators. DVD quantities are limited.

COMMUNITY CLASSROOM strongly encourages educators to use this resource as a complement to watching the full-length version of Half the Sky Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Purchase information is included towards the end of this guide (see Table of Contents).

How to Use This Guide


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Maro ChermayeffExecutive Producer and Director

Maro Chermayeff is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, director, author and former television executive at A&E/AETN. She is Founder and Chair of the MFA program in Social Documentary at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and partner in the production company Show of Force. Some of her extensive credits include: 6x series Circus (PBS, 2010), Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (HBO, 2012), Mann v. Ford (HBO, 2011), Parasomnia (France 2, 2010), the Emmy Award-winning 10x series Carrier (PBS/Nat Geo International, 2008), the 6x series Frontier House (PBS, 2002), American Masters: Julliard (PBS, 2003), The Kindness of Strangers (HBO, 1999), Role Reversal (A&E 2002), Trauma, Life in the ER (TLC, 2001), and over 15 specials for Charlie Rose. Represented by CAA, Chermayeff is a principal of Show of Force, the production entity for the Half the Sky Movement. She is an Executive Producer of Half the Sky Movement’s Facebook Game and 3x Mobile Games with Games for Change.

Mikaela BeardsleyExecutive Producer and NGO Videos Director

Working in close collaboration with the authors, Mikaela Beardsley originated the Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide project after producing the Emmy-nominated Reporter, a film with Nicholas D. Kristof. She has worked in film and television production since 1993, and has made films with Alex Gibney, Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders. Beardsley began her television career at WGBH in Boston, and holds a B.A. in comparative literature from Princeton University.

Jamie GordonExecutive Producer

Jamie Gordon co-founded Fugitive Films in 2005. Her company produced Coach starring Hugh Dancy and the comedy Wedding Daze starring Jason Biggs. Among other projects, she is developing Grlzradio, a TV project about girls’ empowerment. Previously, Gordon was the Head of Development for GreeneStreet Films, working on In the Bedroom, and worked as a story editor for producer Wendy Finerman where she worked on Forrest Gump. Gordon has produced independent features including swimfan, Pinero, Chicago Cab and Certain Guys. She graduated with a B.A. in history from Princeton University.

Jeff DupreExecutive Producer

Jeff Dupre has been producing and directing documentary films for over 15 years. Together with Show of Force partner Maro Chermayeff, Dupre is director, creator and executive producer of Circus, a six-part documentary series that premiered on PBS. He conceived and is producer and co-director of Marina Abramovi: The Artist is Present. He is a pro-ducer of Carrier and Michael Kantor’s Broadway: The American Musical. Dupre’s directo-rial debut, Out of the Past, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, among other awards.

About the Filmmakers

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Allison Milewski Allison Milewski is an educator and curriculum designer with over ten years’ experience in arts and media education. She has developed art integration programs, professional development workshops, and arts and media curricula for organizations such as ITVS, Tribeca Film Institute, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and Urban Arts Partnership and managed arts-based enrichment programs for over 20 New York City public schools. Allison’s professional experience also includes over 15 years of program management and administration with domestic and international NGOs such as PCI-Media Impact, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Goods for Good, and the Union Square Awards for Grassroots Activism. Allison is the Founder of PhotoForward, which she launched in 2004 to empower young artists to tell their own stories through photography, visual arts, and creative writing and engage with their communities as citizen artists.

About the Curriculum Writer

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About the DocumentaryIn 2006, Pulitzer Prize winning-journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published a ground-breaking book about the oppression of women and girls worldwide.

That book was Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide — an instant bestseller that immediately catalyzed an already burgeoning movement to eradicate gender inequality. The landmark PBS documentary series aims to amplify the central message of the book — that women are not the problem, but the solu-tion — and to bolster the broad and growing movement for change. With the story of the book and its impact as a launch pad, the film zeroes in on the lives of women and girls in some of the countries around the world where gender inequality is at its most extreme, and explores the very real ways in which their oppression can be turned to opportunity.

Featuring six celebrated American actresses and the commentary of the world’s lead-ing advocates for gender equality, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is a passionate call-to-arms — urging us to not only bear witness to the plight of the world’s women, but to help to decisively transform their oppression into opportunity.

Episode OneIn Episode One we follow Nicholas Kristof and three American actresses to developing countries where gender-discrimination is at it’s most extreme. We explore the shocking extent of gender-based violence in Sierra Leone with Eva Mendes, the global crisis of sex trafficking as experienced by women and girls in Cambodia with Meg Ryan, and the need for and power of educating girls in Vietnam with Gabrielle Union, where she visits an innovative education program that is transforming, not only the lives of the country’s poor-est and most vulnerable girls, but also the futures of their families and their communities. Featuring commentary from Sheryl WuDunn and interviews with some of the world’s lead-ing advocates for gender equality — including Hillary Clinton, Michelle Bachelet, and Gloria Steinem — Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide: Episode One offers a nuanced and moving account of this century’s most pressing prob-lems, and an uplifting, actionable blueprint for change

Gender-Based ViolenceOur first stop is Sierra Leone, a country recovering from years of colonial oppression and a terrible civil war and which is still suffering from rampant gender-based violence. Guided by Amie Kandeh, the passionate and dedicated coordinator of the International Rescue Committee’s Women’s Protection and Empowerment Program, Nicholas Kristof and actress Eva Mendes come face-to-face with the enormous challenges women and girls face in a country where rape is practically the norm — challenges embodied by Fulamatu, a buoyant 14-year-old who hopes one day to become a bank manager. When we meet Fulumatu she was raped repeatedly by a family friend and local church pastor who is close enough to be officially considered her uncle. She had risked the shame of telling her parents and the ridicule of her community to break her silence and press charges against the perpetrator. The outcome is a sobering object lesson in the insidious effects of gender-based violence, and the urgent need to end impunity for the violators.

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About the DocumentarySex TraffickingAs interviews with Sheryl WuDunn and some of the world’s lead-ing advocates for gender equality explain, in many parts of the world cultural attitudes and traditions are used to justify the low status of girls, rendering them vulnerable to all manner of exploita-tion and abuse. This is nowhere more evident than in Cambodia, where the pernicious global problem of sex trafficking is perhaps at its worst. Actress Meg Ryan joins Nicholas in Phnom Penh as he catches up with Somaly Mam, one of the women profiled in the book Half the Sky — a woman who was herself a child sex slave and who now has dedicated her life to rescuing and rehabil-itating others. As Somaly’s story merges and mingles with those of the girls in her charge, the horrors of sex trafficking are writ large — so too is the awesome resilience of the human spirit and the vast, untapped potential that resides in each and every one of the young women and children that Somaly’s programs support.

Girl’s EducationThat potential, WuDunn and our luminary advocates tell us, is the key to bettering our world: tap into those girls and they will change the future. The clarity of that equation, the elegant cause-and-effect of it, animates Episode One’s final sequence, in Vietnam, where former Microsoft executive John Wood’s orga-nization Room to Read is transforming the lives of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable girls. Hosted by Bich Thi Vu, Director of Room to Read’s Girl’s Education Program, Nicholas and actress Gabrielle Union get to know a few of the program’s stars and encounter firsthand the incredible obstacles which stand between them and their bright futures. Still, these girls are almost miraculously undaunted — and fiercely determined to change both their circumstances and those of their families. The ripple effect of their education even now is making itself felt — and there is no doubt that with a little bit of help, a little encouragement and sup-port, these girls and the tens of millions of others like them in the developing world will be a powerful army for change.

Combining vivid, visceral on-the-ground stories with the com-mentary of a vast and impressive roster of experts, advocates, and agents of change, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide: Episode One takes us deep into the lives of girls in the developing world and makes us wit-ness to their seemingly impossible struggles — at once challenging and inspiring us to be a part of the vital, urgent project to empow-er them once and for all.

Episode TwoEpisode Two continues our journey to the hot-spots of gender oppression around the world, and highlights the courageous work of some of the extraordinary women and men who are taking a stand in the face of incredible odds. This episode focuses out attention on the role of women in their families and their communi-ties — examining the fundamental obstacles that hinder their poten-tial, and charting the ripple effect that results when that potential is harnessed

Veteran journalist and Half the Sky co-author Nicholas Kristof is once again accompanied by a three celebrated of American actresses who offer fresh and personal perspective on the issues in each country. Kristof travels to Somaliland with Diana Lane to examine maternal mortality and female genital mutilation; to India with America Ferrera to explore intergenerational prostitution; and, with Olivia Wilde, to Kenya, where the transformative power of women’s economic empowerment is changing women’s lives and is laying the groundwork for the next generation. In the process, the program considers the central role of women in the health and stability of their families and communities, and establishes their critical role in the global efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve peace. Featuring on-camera commentary from Sheryl WuDunn and some of the world’s most respected and outspoken advocates for gender equality — including Melanne Verveer, Zainab Salbi, and Desmond Tutu — Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide: Episode Two underscores the fundamental obstacles to women’s progress and prosperity, and celebrates their boundless capacity to better our world.

Maternal MortalityThe episode begins in Somaliland — an unrecognized country, pop-ulated mainly by nomads, where the average woman today has a one-in-twelve chance of dying in childbirth. Joined by actress Diane Lane, Nicholas reconnects with Edna Adan, founder of the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa. A spry 70-something woman often and rightly described as a “force of nature,” Edna is almost single-handedly revolutionizing the experience of childbirth in her country — providing medical care to women who would oth-erwise have none, training midwives, and fighting tirelessly against female genital mutilation — a traditional practice, still common in much of Africa (and elsewhere), which severely compromises a woman’s ability to deliver a child. In Somaliland, the challenges women face in the developing world are starkly apparent: poverty and tradition conspire to undermine a woman’s health, directly threatening her life, and having a lasting impact on her children’s survival and ability to thrive.

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About the DocumentaryIntergenerational ProstitutionAs Sheryl WuDunn and our cast of gender equality advocates argues, tradition is, in many ways, the greater evil. In too many places in the world, tradition still is used to marginalize women, to keep them down and in their place. This vicious cycle repeats itself generation after generation, damaging and ending lives and undermining the ability of thousands of women improve their quality of life and live their full potential. The key — as Nicholas and actress America Ferrera discover in India — is intervention by someone from the inside, someone in fact, very like Urmi Basu. A social worker and an educated, middle-class Bengali, Urmi has dedicated her life to stopping the cycle of intergenerational prostitution in India, where 90 percent of girls born to sex workers follow in their mother’s footsteps. What she is up against is neatly illustrated by one of the young girls in her care, Monisha, who is on the brink of being wrenched out of school and likely sold to a brothel by her own family — a family that belongs to a sub-caste of sex workers. What keeps Urmi going is girls like Sushmita — and more to the point, women like Sushmita’s mother, Shoma, who has lived the utter brutality and desolation of prostitution every day of her life and desperately wants a different fate for her daughter. Shoma’s hope for her child is the seed of real and last-ing change.

Economic EmpowermentWhen women have equal control over their finances and the financial decision-making on the personal, community, and national level, everyone benefits. Sheryl WuDunn and the many contributors who lent their voices and considerable expertise to Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide all stress that putting money in the hands of a poor woman changes everything. On their visit to Kenya, Nicholas and actress Olivia Wilde witness the impact of the economic empow-erment of women first-hand. In this episode’s final segment, they explore the impact and challenges of microfinance and the ways ii iis transforming the lives of women and those around them. We begin with Jane Ngoiri, a former sex worker-turned-dressmaker who is now able to send her four children to school, where they are each at the top of their class, and end with Rebecca Lollosoli, a Samburu woman who built a safe haven for women on the slen-der thread of a jewelry-making business. Nicholas and Olivia see for themselves the dramatic and tangible transformation that can be set in motion by a woman with a little bit of money of her own and a system of support to help her make the best use of her financial and personal resources. Replicate the experiment several million times, and the world will be an entirely different place.

The episode — and the series — ends with an urgent call to action, an invitation to the viewer to take up the central moral challenge of our time, and to join a movement that will tap the immense potential represented by women to create a more peaceful and more prosperous world for us all.

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Lesson Plan SummariesMaternal Mortality and The Global Health DivideMaternal mortality has been identified as a global crisis and the greatest health inequity of the Twenty-first century. Ninety-nine percent of deaths occur in developing countries with more than half in sub-Saharan Africa and almost one-third in South Asia, but even within industrialized countries there is a disparity between maternal mortality rates for women in different communities. A high maternal death rate indicates not only that a country’s health-care system is inadequate, but also that the fundamental rights to life and health for women are being violated.

Through the lens of the maternal mortality crisis in Somaliland, students will examine the social, economic, and cultural factors that contribute to the differences in healthcare — both between and within countries, including the United States — and the impor-tance of maternal health in their own communities.

Gender-Based Violence: Challenging ImpunityViolence against women and girls is a global crisis that impacts most communities regardless of race, class, country, religion, or economic status, but it often goes unreported and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. Factors such as fear of retribution, shame, stigma, lack of economic resources, inadequate social services, and ineffective legal systems impede women and girls’ ability to access the legal and social supports they need. As a result, survivors of violence are left vulnerable to further abuse from the systems and institutions that are meant to protect them, and the perpetrators are often left unpunished and free to con-tinue perpetrating violence.

Students will follow the journey of Fulamatu, a fourteen-year old rape survivor in Sierra Leone, as she bravely takes a stand and attempts to bring her perpetrator to justice. Through her story, students will examine the culture of impunity that enables gender-based violence to flourish, and the impact this issue has on our own communities. Students will also be challenged to consider the factors that contribute to violence against women and girls, and how they can contribute to local and international efforts to eradicate it.

Education For AllAccess to education is recognized as a basic human right and a significant factor in breaking the cycle of poverty and improving quality of life for children, communities, and countries. Despite this, millions of girls and women around the world are disproportionately denied the opportunity to attend school and pursue education and training outside the home.

Students will meet Nhi and Phung, two students in the Room to Read program in Vietnam, and learn about their struggles and successes as they doggedly pursue their education against all the odds. The activities in the lesson will also engage students in a conversation about the value and meaning of education in their own lives and the impact of the gender imbalance in education on the lives of individual girls around the world and our communities at home.

Breaking The Chains Of Modern Slavery: Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational ProstitutionModern-day slavery is relatively unknown, in part, because it does not fit our historic image of slavery, but trafficking of human beings is tied with arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world. Contemporary human slavery can take many forms, including forced labor, debt bondage, child marriage, and commercial sexual slavery, and women and children constitute the vast majority of the estimated two million people sold into sex slavery around the world every year.

This lesson will examine the global trafficking crisis through the lens of sexual slavery in Cambodia and intergenerational prostitu-tion in India. Through this lesson students will learn that there are more people living in slavery today then at any time in history and consider the causes and consequences for women and children who are disproportionately victimized by the global commercial sex trade.

Women’s Economic EmpowermentWomen and girls play a vital role in the economic prosperity of their families, communities, and countries, yet in every part of the world, women often work longer hours than men, are paid less for their work, are at a higher risk of unemployment, and are far more likely to live in poverty. A growing body of research shows that enhancing women’s and girl’s economic opportunities plays a critical role in poverty reduction and helps to reduce gender-based discrimination and violence while improving women and girls’ access to education and civic participation and raising the quality of life for future generations.

This lesson will demonstrate how the economic empowerment of women in Kenya and Liberia has improved the lives of the individual women and their families and communities for generations to come. Through the activities, students will explore what life is like for millions of people around the world and in the United States who are struggling to live on two dollars a day, and what choices and sacrifices they would have to make in the same situation. They will also consider how and why women and girls around the world are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty and will examine the ripple effects of women’s economic empowerment on individuals, families, communities, and societies.

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Film Module SummariesMaternal Mortality in Somaliland (9:45)The module begins in Somaliland — an unrecognized country, populated mainly by nomads, where the average woman today has a one-in-twelve chance of dying in childbirth. Joined by actress Diane Lane, Nicholas reconnects with Edna Adan, founder of the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa. Edna is almost single-handedly revolutionizing the experience of childbirth in her country — providing medical care to women who would otherwise have none, and training a new generation of midwives. In Somaliland, the challenges women face in the developing world are starkly apparent: poverty and tradition conspire to undermine a woman’s health, directly threatening her life, and having a lasting impact on her children’s survival and ability to thrive.

Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone (9:45)The module takes students to Sierra Leone, a country recover-ing from years of colonial oppression and a terrible civil war and which is still suffering from rampant gender-based violence. Guided by Amie Kandeh, the passionate and dedicated coordina-tor of the International Rescue Committee’s Women’s Protection and Empowerment Program, Nicholas Kristof and actress Eva Mendes come face-to-face with the enormous challenges women and girls face in a country where rape is practically the norm — challenges embodied by Fulamatu, a buoyant 14-year-old. When we meet Fulumatu she was raped repeatedly by a family friend and local church pastor who is close enough to be officially considered her uncle. She had risked the shame of telling her parents and the ridicule of her community to break her silence and press charges against the perpetrator. The outcome is a sobering object lesson in the insidious effects of gender-based violence, and the urgent need to end impunity for the violators.

Education in Vietnam (10:38)This module takes place in Vietnam, where former Microsoft executive John Wood’s organization Room to Read is trans-forming the lives of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable girls. Hosted by Bich Thi Vu, Director of Room to Read’s Girl’s Education Program, Nicholas and actress Gabrielle Union get to know two of the program’s stars and encounter firsthand the incredible obstacles which stand between them and their bright futures. Still, these girls are almost miraculously undaunted — and fiercely determined to change both their circumstances and those of their families. The ripple effect of their education even now is making itself felt — and there is no doubt that with a little bit of help, a little encouragement and support, these girls and the tens of millions of others like them in the developing world will be a powerful army for change.

Intergenerational Prostitution in India (10:44)This module takes place in the slums of Kolkata, India, where Nicholas Kristoff travels with actress America Ferrera to meet Urmi Basu and to witness the work of her organization, New Light Foundation. A social worker and an educated, middle-class Bengali, Urmi has dedicated her life to stopping the cycle of inter-generational prostitution in India, where 90 percent of girls born to sex workers follow in their mother’s footsteps. What keeps Urmi going is girls like Sushmita — and more to the point, women like Sushmita’s mother, Shoma, who has lived the utter brutality and desolation of prostitution every day of her life and desperately wants a different fate for her daughter. Shoma’s hope for her child is the seed of real and lasting change.

Sex Trafficking in Cambodia (10:11)This module takes place in Cambodia, where the pernicious global problem of sex trafficking is perhaps at its worst. Actress Meg Ryan joins Nicholas Kristof in Phnom Penh as he catches up with Somaly Mam — a woman who was herself a child sex slave and who now has dedicated her life to rescuing and rehabilitating others. As Somaly’s story merges and mingles with those of the girls in her charge, the horrors of sex trafficking are writ large — so too is the awesome resilience of the human spirit and the vast, untapped potential that resides in each and every one of the young women and children that Somaly’s programs support.

Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kenya (10:41)This module takes students along for a visit to Kenya, Nicholas Kristof and actress Olivia Wilde witness the impact of the economic empowerment of women first-hand. They explore the impact and challenges of microfinance and the ways it is transforming the lives of women and those around them. We meet Jane Ngoiri, a former sex worker-turned-dressmaker who is now able to send her four children to school. Nicholas and Olivia see for themselves the dramatic and tangible transformation that can be set in motion by a woman with a little bit of money of her own and a system of support to help her make the best use of her financial and personal resources.

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Maternal Mortality and The Global Health Divide

Purpose of the Lesson

Maternal mortality has been identified as a global crisis and the greatest health inequity of the 21st century. Ninety-nine percent of deaths occur in developing countries, with more than half in sub-Saharan Africa and almost one-third in South Asia. Underlying the medical causes of maternal death is a complex web of social, political, and economic forces that undermines women’s access to essential maternal healthcare and reproductive health information. A high maternal death rate indicates not only a country’s inadequate healthcare system, but also a violation of women’s fundamental rights to life and health.

Even within industrialized countries a disparity exists between maternal mortality rates for women in different communities. The health divide is especially apparent in the United States, where African-American women are almost four times more likely to die during or soon after childbirth than Caucasian women. As a result, the United States’ average maternal mortality rate is relatively high at 1 in 4,100, making it more dangerous to give birth in the U.S. than in 40 other countries.

OV E R V I E W

Audience:High School (11–12 grades), Community College, Youth Development Organizations

Time:One 90-minute period or two 50-minute periods plus assignments

Subject Areas:Women’s Studies, Social Studies, Global Studies, Media Studies, Health, English Language Arts

“The reason for the gap is not that we don’t know how to save lives of women in poor countries. It’s simply that poor, uneducated women in Africa and Asia have never been a priority either in their own countries or to donor nations.”

Nicholas Kristof Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide

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Objectives:

Students Will• Think about how maternal health affects

their lives and learn why maternal health is a universal issue.

• Examine the global maternal health divide and understand the social, economic, and cultural factors that contribute to the differences in healthcare both between and within countries, including the United States.

• Consider maternal health’s impact on men as well as women and the ripple effects of maternal health on families and communities.

• Consider how gender-based discrimination undermines maternal health and contributes to maternal mortality.

• Identify Somaliland on a map and understand the nation’s social and political context.

• Examine the maternal mortality crisis through the lens of three case studies and work as a team to develop an action plan that could help women in similar situations by addressing the primary barriers to care.

• Demonstrate their understanding of the issue by working in groups to research the status of maternal healthcare in their community and develop an outreach and/or education campaign to raise awareness and advance the cause of maternal health.

Resources:

• Film module: Maternal Mortality in Somaliland (9:45)

• Half the Sky:Turning Oppression into Opportunity Worldwide: Film Series trailer (5:48) itvs.org/films/half-the-sky

• LCD projector or DVD player

• Maternal Mortality Teacher Handouts:

- Maternal Mortality Discussion Guide (Download discussion guide PDFs from the ITVS Women and Girls Lead website: itvs.org/films/half-the-sky)

• Maternal Mortality Student Handouts:

- Maternal Health Glossary

- Student Handout A: Why Does Maternal Health Matter to Me?

- Student Handout B: The Health Divide Q&A Cards and Worksheet

- Student Handout C: Somaliland in Context

- Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide

- Student Handout E: Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet

- Student Handout F: Maternal Mortality Case Study

- Student Handout G: Case Study Action Plan

• Wall map of the world with country names: www.amaps.com/mapstoprint/WORLDDOWNLOAD.htm

• Small green, yellow, and red Post-It Notes

• Whiteboard/blackboard and dry-erase markers/chalk

• Pens and writing paper

• Computers with Internet access

OV E R V I E W

Note for Teachers about the Maternal Mortality Lesson and Contents:This lesson and the accompanying film module from Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide directly and honestly address the challenging issue of maternal mortality, but the discussions and topics might be unsuitable for some audiences. Teachers should prepare for the lesson by thoroughly reading all the materials and watching the complete film module to determine if the topic and lesson are appropriate for their class. Teachers should also brief students in advance on the content and identify students who might be personally or adversely affected by it. Prior to launching the lesson, these students should receive appropriate support or the option of declining to participate. To prepare students and their families for this lesson, instruct students to complete HTS Student Handout A: Why Does Maternal Health Matter to Me? with their parents and/or guardians.

For additional information about the documentary Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide and the global crisis of maternal health, please download the free Maternal Mortality Discussion Guide on the ITVS Women and Girls Lead website (www.womenandgirlslead.org), visit the official transmedia project website (www.halftheskymovement.org), and read Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

http://itvs.org/films/half-the-sky


http://www.amaps.com/mapstoprint/WORLDDOWNLOAD.htm


http://www.womenandgirlslead.org

http://www.halftheskymovement.org

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NOTE TO TEACHERS: Some students’ birth stories may involve trauma or may be unknown and/or inaccessible. Be sure to take this into consideration throughout this activity and have them focus their responses on Question #1 from the worksheet, if needed. They may also use this opportunity to journal or write privately about their birth story or how their experience of that story has shaped their understanding of maternity.

LE S S O N P L A N P R O C E D U R E S

Class Time: 10–15 minutes (if time permits, we recommend that you also watch the 5:48 minute film series trailer available here: itvs.org/films/half-the-sky)

You will need: Student Handout A: Why Does Maternal Health Matter to Me?, pens, whiteboard/blackboard, dry-erase markers/chalk

Goal: In preparation for the Maternal Mortality Lesson students will consider how the issue of maternal health has affected their own lives and discuss how this topic impacts everyone.

Distribute one copy of the Student Handout A: Why Does Maternal Health Matter to Me? and instruct students to complete the worksheet as a take-home assignment.

When students have completed Student Handout A, ask them to discuss their responses with a partner or as a small group using the following prompts as a guide.

- What are the similarities and differences in your stories?

- Which of the following supports and resources did the moms in each story have available to help them? Doctor, midwife or birth attendant, local hospital, medicine, transportation, health Insurance, family and friends?

- How might the mother’s birth experience have been different if these supports and resources were unavailable to them?

• Have each group share the results of their discussion with the class and record the responses.

• Variation: If time is limited, teachers can introduce the issue of maternal health by using the questions on the handout as a guide for a brief class discussion, then move directly to Prescreening Activity 2.

Prescreening Activity 1


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Class Time: 25–30 minutes

You will need: Student Handout B: The Health Divide Q&A Cards or Worksheet), Student Handout C: Somaliland in Context, whiteboard/blackboard, dry-erase markers/chalk, small Post-It Notes in red, yellow, and green, and a wall map of the world with country names (free printable maps are available here: www.amaps.com/mapstoprint/WORLDDOWNLOAD.htm)

Goal: The greatest health divide in the world today is the global disparity in maternal healthcare, which has resulted in the extremely high maternal mortality rates in developing countries — especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In preparation for viewing the Maternal Mortality in Somaliland film module, students will examine the maternal health divide and discuss the possible social, cultural, and economic causes, and consequences of this crisis.

PART 1:• Cut out and randomly distribute Teacher Handout B v1: The Health Divide Q&A Cards

to each student in the class. Half the cards contain questions, and the other half contain answers to those questions.

• Give students three to five minutes to circulate and identify the person who had the question or answer that relates to their fact.

• Variation: If time is limited, the Health Divide Q&A also exists as a worksheet so that students may work with a partner or group to match the answers with each question. Distribute Teacher Handout B v2: The Health Divide Q&A Worksheet and keep a printout of Teacher Handout A: The Health Divide Q&A Cards to reference the correct answers.

• Each pair should verify that the country and fact match and then share their information, followed by a class discussion using the prompts below. Once they have shared their fact, have them find their country on the map and place a small Post-It Note square to indicate the quality of maternal health (green=very good, yellow=needs improvement, red=maternal health crisis).

- What expectations did you have about the countries or facts you were given?

- Did you have any assumptions about the maternal health status in different parts of the world? Were your assumptions correct?

- What patterns, if any, do you notice emerging from these facts? (Example: similarities or differences in regions, the relationship between health benefits and maternal mortality rates, indicators of maternal health challenges, etc.)

- What surprised you most?

Prescreening Activity 2: The Health Divide



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PART 2:Share the following information with your class:

Maternal mortality is a global crisis. At least one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth every minute, and 99 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries, with more than half in sub-Saharan Africa and almost one-third in South Asia.

For a woman in a developing country, giving birth can be one of the biggest threats to her life. In poor countries, pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death while in industrialized countries, maternal deaths are far less common. In Nigeria 1-in-18 women die from pregnancy-related causes and in Somaliland the situation is even more dangerous, with 1 woman in 12 dying during or soon after childbirth. In comparison, the mortality rate in Japan is 1 in 16,666, and in Italy, a remarkably low 1 in 20,000.

Even within industrialized countries disparity exists between maternal mortality rates for women in different communities. The health divide is especially apparent in the United States, where African-American women are almost four times more likely to die during or soon after childbirth than Caucasian women. As a result, The United States’ average maternal mortality rate is relatively high at 1 in 4,100, making it more dangerous to give birth in the U.S. than in over 40 other countries.

• Follow with a discussion using the questions below as a guide and record the results. This can be a class discussion or students can break into pairs or small groups. (This is a diagnostic discussion and brainstorming session, and the students’ feedback will be revisited after the screening.)

- What factors do you think contribute to the disparity in women’s health care in different areas of the world and within different communities? (Discuss possible social, cultural, political, and economic factors)

- What impact do you think the lack of access to care has on individual women, their families, and their communities?

- Have you seen any news coverage on this issue? If so, what was it? If not, why do you think the maternal mortality crisis has not been a media priority?

- Is access to healthcare a right or a privilege? What does the maternal mortality crisis tell us about the status of women in the world?

- Finally, share the following quote with your students and have them discuss what they think Mahmoud Fathalla meant by his statement:

“Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat. ...They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.” – Mahmoud Fathalla, former President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

PART 3• In preparation for viewing the film module, ask students to locate Somaliland on a wall map.

• Provide the class with Student Handout C: Somaliland in Context. Have them read the fact sheet, and discuss briefly with a partner, or have a volunteer(s) read the fact sheet aloud and discuss as a class.

Prescreening Activity 2: The Health Divide (cont.)

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You will need: pens and writing paper, LCD projector or DVD player, Maternal Mortality in Somaliland film module (9:45), Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide, Maternal Mortality Glossary

• Distribute Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide and instruct students to take notes during the screening using the worksheet as a guide. Students may also need a copy of the Maternal Mortality Glossary for reference while viewing the video.

• Variation: To save paper, project or write questions from Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide on the board and review briefly before viewing the film module.


Viewing the Module

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You will need: Student Handout E: Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet, Student Handout F: Maternal Mortality Case Study, Student Handout G: Case Study Action Plan, pens/pencils, whiteboard/blackboard, dry-erase markers/chalk

Goal: Students will discuss the film module and consider how their understanding of maternal mortality has evolved over the course of the lesson. They will then work in groups to examine the maternal mortality crisis through the lens of three case studies and develop an action plan to improve maternal health for women in that community. Finally, they will demonstrate their understanding of the issue by working in groups to research the status of maternal healthcare in their community and develop an outreach and/or education campaign to raise awareness and advance the cause of maternal health.

Part 1: Discussion Questions (5–10 minutes):Begin by discussing Maternal Mortality in Somaliland film module and ask volunteers to share their notes and quotes from the screening guide. Use some or all the following questions to guide the class discussion:

- Maternal health and maternal mortality are global issues. Why did the filmmakers choose to focus on the situation in Somaliland?

- What are the dangers that pregnant women face in Somaliland?

- What did Edna Adan and Nicholas Kristof describe as the barriers to care?

- Edna said the pregnant woman died of a treatable condition. Why did she die? What was the name of the condition? What other factors contributed to her death?

- Edna said she is waging a war. What does she mean by this? With whom or what do you think she is at war?

- What strategies is Edna’s hospital using to address the problem? What have been some of the outcomes?

- Why do you think Edna has focused her attention on training 1,000 midwives rather than trying to establish more hospitals around the country? What do you think the benefits and challenges of each approach would be?

- Edna is from Somaliland. How important is that fact to the success of her project? In what ways (if any) would the impact of the hospital in the community have been different if an international organization or a foreign individual established it?

- When reporting on the maternal mortality crisis, Nicholas Kristof has said: “The reason for the gap [in maternal healthcare] is not that we don’t know how to save lives of women in poor countries. It’s simply that poor, uneducated women in Africa and Asia have never been a priority either in their own countries or to donor nations.” What do you think he means by this? Do you agree with this statement? Based on what you saw in the film, why do you think poverty and lack of education make women more vulnerable to illness or death during pregnancy and labor?


Post-Screening Activity: Maternal Mortality Case Studies

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- When discussing the maternal mortality crisis, the former UN Deputy General Asha-Rose Migiro asked the question: “Would the world stand by if it were men who were dying just for completing their reproductive functions?” What are your thoughts? What role do you think gender-based discrimination plays in the global maternal health crisis?

- The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country, but as mentioned earlier, its record on maternal health and mortality pales compared to many other nations. Why do you think that is? Do you think there are any parallels between the challenges women face in Somaliland and the United States? Why or why not?

- When Edna talked about the history of the hospital, she said, “the world built this hospital.” What did she mean by this? Do wealthy countries have a responsibility to help poorer countries improve their maternal health care? Why or why not? What more could or should the United States do to improve maternal health worldwide?

- Do you think quality maternal healthcare is a right or a privilege? Explain. Do you think it is a human right?

Part 2: Fact Sheet and Review (10 minutes):• Distribute the Student Handout E: Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet

• Ask students to work in pairs to review the fact sheet and consider how its information and the film compare to the results of the prescreening brainstorming activity. The class will discuss briefly and record observations, questions, and notes on the board.

Part 3: Maternal Health Case Studies (30 minutes):• Explain to students that they will examine the maternal mortality crisis through the lens of one

of three case studies. They will work with their group to identify the primary barriers to care for each case and to develop an action plan that could help women in a similar situation.

• Divide the class into groups of three to five students and give each group one of the three case study handouts to review from Student Handout F: Maternal Mortality Case Study.

• Have each student group review its case study and complete the Student Handout G: Case Study Action Plan worksheet by identifying the challenges that each woman and her family faced, discussing the barriers to care and developing an action plan that could help women in a similar situation.

• When the handouts are completed, each group will present their action plan to the class and receive feedback.

• Variation: Each group receives the same case study, and after preparing their plans of action, the groups will share and compare their results.

• The activity should conclude with a discussion of what they have discovered through the lesson and the film module viewing. Have students to revisit the question: “Why does maternal mortality matter to me?” and discuss if and how the film and activities have affected their attitudes and perceptions.


Post-Screening Activity: Maternal Mortality Case Studies (cont.)

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1. Journal Entry or Essay:Have your students respond to the following questions as a journal entry or essay:

If the women in your community faced the same healthcare challenges as described in the film module and case studies, what impact do you think it would have on the community as a whole?

• How would you improve the situation in your community?

• Who would you work with?

• What role would women and girls play in bringing about change?

• What role should men and boys in the community play?

• What outcomes would you hope to achieve?

2. Community Action:Have students work in groups to research the quality and availability of healthcare for women in their community and the impact such access (or lack of access) has on families and the broader population. Students should then select an area of care in need of improvement and develop an outreach and/or education campaign to raise awareness and contribute to advancing the cause of maternal health.

• Groups should identify each of the following for their issue:

- What is the challenge?

- What are the barriers to care?

- What social, political, economic, and cultural factors are contributing to the issue?

- What strategies have been tried and what has been most successful?

- How would you improve the situation?

• When developing their campaigns, groups should identify their target audiences. For example, how would you frame your outreach campaign to boys and men in the community?

• Students should connect directly with existing community organizations and maternal health advocates, and identify where improvements, resources, outreach, and volunteers are needed.

• Groups can also reach out to local elected officials to better understand if and how maternal health is being addressed. The following website can help students identify and contact their local officials: www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

• If time and resources are available, the groups can work together to organize a community event such as a walk, a block party, or a school assembly to help raise awareness of the needs of women in their area, attract volunteers, and connect underserved women with services and organizations that can offer support.

• Each group should document the process of researching and developing their Community Action Campaign using photography, digital video, audio recording, and through project journals.

• Upon completion of their assignment, each group should present a Multi-Media Project Report. Students can explore the following free online tools to create dynamic and interactive multi-media presentations:

Prezi.comAhead.comHelloslide.comZentation.com

Assignments

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

http://Prezi.com

http://Ahead.com

http://Helloslide.com

http://Zentation.com

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1. Global Village: Maternal Health PSAHave students work in groups to further examine the global maternal health divide and develop a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness about the issue. Using the techniques and style of Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide as a guide, each group should illustrate the global issue through the lens of one community or country’s struggle with maternal health and mortality.

• When researching their topic, groups should identify the challenges, barriers to care, contributing factors, and strategies that have had a positive impact.

• Students can use the following websites for instruction and for samples of Public Service Announcements (PSAs):

The Ad Council: www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/Current-Work

MediaSmarts: www.mediasmarts.ca

Using Public Service Announcements in the Classroom: www.kathyschrock.net/psa

• The PSAs can be developed by sourcing fair-use video and photographs from the Internet along with interviews and research-based voiceovers. Free online digital video and audio production resources can be found at these sites:

Zentation.comCombine videos, slides, and audio into presentations

Voicethread.comVideo, audio, and slide editing program

Vcasmo.comEasy to use multimedia presentation tool

peterdrewvo.com/html/tips_for_writing_for_voiceover.htmlVoiceover Script writing

2. Cultural Practices and Women’s Health: Female Genital MutilationNote to teachers: Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide: Maternal Mortality takes a candid look at the practice of female genital mutilation and its impact on the individual women and girls affected. This topic may be unsuitable for some audiences, and students and their parents/guardians (where appropriate) should receive advance notice and preparation regarding lessons and materials. Please view and read all resources before sharing with your students.

Female genital mutilation (also known as female circumcision or genital cutting) directly affects women and girls’ reproductive and maternal health, and can have grave consequences during childbirth. Female genital mutilation (FMG) involves the removal of part or all of the external genitalia, and in its most severe form, the procedure entails removal of all genitalia and stitches to leave a small opening for urination, intercourse, and menstruation.

It is primarily practiced in African countries on the pretext of cultural and religious tradition or hygiene, and an estimated 135 million girls and women living today have undergone FGM with consequences ranging from infection (including HIV), to sterility. Others have died. Another two million girls are at risk each year. In the United States, where the practice is illegal, thousands of women and girls survive FGM each year. FGM practitioners, often referred to as “cutters,” are predominantly women. As Edna describes in the film, it is often the adult women in the family and community (mothers, grandmothers, community matriarchs) who instigate and facilitate the cutting of girls.

• Screen the complete Maternal Mortality segment from the documentary Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide and have students research the issue of FGM and its relationship to social, cultural, religious, and traditional attitudes towards women and their perceived status in the home and community.

• Because FGM is a highly controversial topic, bound up in tradition, religious beliefs, and cultural identity, there has been a weak response from the international community. In the film, Sheryl WuDunn says: “When there is a practice that is so offensive, it is OK to say ‘this is wrong’.” Have students discuss Sheryl’s comment and whether or not they agree. If they do agree, what responsibility or role do we have to address this issue?

Extensions

http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/Current-Work

http://www.mediasmarts.ca

http://www.kathyschrock.net/psa


http://Voicethread.com

http://Vcasmo.com

http://peterdrewvo.com/html/tips_for_writing_for_voiceover.html

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• Although performing FGM is illegal in the United States, it affects thousands of American girls each year. Ask students if they think parents have the right to raise their children in their cultural traditions even when they conflict with the law. Have students read the 2010 New York Times article Group Backs Ritual ‘Nick’ as Female Circumcision Option by Pam Belluck (www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html) What impact do they think the ceremonial “nick” suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics would have on the curtailing or increasing the practice of FGM? Is this an acceptable alternative? Why or why not?

• Have students consider the role women play in imposing the practice on the next generation, using the film and particularly Edna’s story of her own circumcision as foundations for discussion. What factors motivate women to participate in perpetuating FGM? What are the barriers to eliminating the practice entirely? How can programs like the midwife training at Edna’s hospital contribute to curtailing the practice?

• Using their research and discussions as support, have students create a series of dialogues between the women and men whose lives are bound up with the practice of FGM. Each character should lay out the basis of their argument, and examples could include: a mother and daughter debating whether the daughter should get cut; a midwife from Edna’s hospital trying to persuade a cutter to discontinue her practice; a mother who does not want to cut her daughter making her argument to her husband or her own mother, etc.

• Students can develop their dialogues in groups or individually, and the dialogues could be performed for the class and/or recorded and edited into a video or audio presentation.

• The following websites provide additional information and resources on FGM:

World Health Organization: www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en

Womenshealth.gov: www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/ fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm

Advocates for Youth: www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/521?task=view

Guttmacher Institute: www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2313097.html

WHO Student Mid-Wife Manual on Female Genital Mutilation: www.who.int/gender/other_health/Studentsmanual.pdf

3. Family Planning, Maternal Health, and the Birth Control DebateFamily planning has been internationally recognized as a key factor in reducing maternal mortality, improving mother and child health and helping to break the cycle of poverty. Research shows that if women have only the number of pregnancies they want, at the intervals they want, maternal mortality would drop by about one-third. Yet a national and international debates continue to rage about which forms of family planning are acceptable, to what degree women’s reproductive options should be supported by government programs and employer-based insurance, and if contraception itself is ethical.

• Ask students if they are familiar with the current national debate regarding birth control. What do they know about the debate? What are the main points of those who oppose healthcare coverage for birth control? What are the main points of those supporting it?

• Use the following lesson plan developed by the New York Times’ The Learning Network to guide students through researching and examining the debate: learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/about-birth-control-clearing-up-misconceptions-about-contraception

• Following their research, have students engage in a formal debate about the issue. Education World offers a selection of debate resources that provide guidelines and rules for classroom debates: www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml

Extensions

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en

http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm

http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/521?task=view

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2313097.html

http://www.who.int/gender/other_health/Studentsmanual.pdf

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/about-birth-control-clearing-up-misconceptions-about-contraception



http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml

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4. Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child BridesChild marriage contributes greatly to adolescent maternal mortality rates. Throughout the world, more than 51 million girls below the age of 18 are currently married, and over the next decade, an estimated 100 million more girls will become child brides despite laws and international agreements that forbid the practice. Studies show that adolescents ages 15 through 19 are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as those over age 20, and girls under age 15 are five times more likely to die. Child brides also face higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In Pakistan, child marriage is the major cause of the high maternal mortality ratio of 1 death in 362.

Over an eight-year period, journalist Stephanie Sinclair investigated the issue of child marriage in India, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Ethiopia. Have students view her multimedia presentation featured in the Pulitzer Center, Too Young to Wed, produced in association with National Geographic, that synthesizes her body of work into a call to action. Have them examine the roots of and contributing factors that lead to child marriage and the consequences that young girls face who are married too soon, including physical and emotional health, education, ability to care and provide for her children, and the connection of this practice to the cycle of poverty.

Too Young To Wed - Project Overview:pulitzercenter.org/projects/child-brides-child-marriage-too-young-to-wed

Too Young to Wed - Multimedia:pulitzercenter.org/articles/child-marriage-brides-too-young-to-wed-afghanistan-ethiopia-india-yemen

Child Brides, Pulitzer Center Reports: pulitzercenter.org/node/9674/all

5. Millennium Development Goals: Empowering Women Empowers the WorldIn September 2000, the United Nations signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the aim of halving the number of people living in poverty, reducing maternal and child mortality, fighting disease, and improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries by 2015. Have your class screen the complete series of Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide and examine the connection between the issues addressed in the documentary and the MDG campaign’s focus on women. Have them consider how and why improving rights and resources for women and girls is considered key to eradicating global poverty.

• Divide the class into eight groups, assign each an MDG, and instruct the groups develop a “We Are the Goal” presentation, which should include the following:

- A summary of the MDG and the campaign’s strategies for improving social and economic conditions for women

- Information on the public perception and understanding of the MDGs. (Students can investigate the public’s knowledge and understanding of the MDG campaign by recording “person-on-the-street” interviews and include the footage in the presentation.)

- Examples of specific programs that have been implemented and their impact to date

- How the campaign relates to issues in the students’ own communities

- An action plan for the group and their school community to contribute to the MDG campaign

• The presentations should be multi-media, and can include photo essays, video footage, audio clips, animations, and infographics using the following websites as resources:

Animoto: animoto.com

Capzles: www.capzles.com

Prezi: prezi.com

Infographic tools: www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/05/eight-free-tools-for-teachers-to-make.html

• Information and resources for research on the MDGs can be found at:

United Nations Millennium Development Goals: www.un.org/millenniumgoals

End Poverty 2015: www.endpoverty2015.org

MDG Get Involved: www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/getinvolved.shtml

UN Women: www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals/

MDG Monitor: www.mdgmonitor.org

Extensions

http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/child-brides-child-marriage-too-young-to-wed

http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/child-brides-child-marriage-too-young-to-wed

http://pulitzercenter.org/articles/child-marriage-brides-too-young-to-wed-afghanistan-ethiopia-india-yemen

http://pulitzercenter.org/articles/child-marriage-brides-too-young-to-wed-afghanistan-ethiopia-india-yemen

http://pulitzercenter.org/node/9674/all

http://animoto.com

http://www.capzles.com

http://prezi.com

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/05/eight-free-tools-for-teachers-to-make.html


http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals

http://www.endpoverty2015.org

http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/getinvolved.shtml

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals/

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals/

http://www.mdgmonitor.org

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B O O K S

N. Kristof, S. WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2009

F I LM S

Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide: Filmed in 10 countries, the documentary follows Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn, and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe, oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality — which needlessly claims one woman every 90 seconds — present to us the single most vital opportunity of our time: the opportunity to make a change. All over the world, women are seizing this opportunity. Visit the website at: www.halftheskymovement.org

ITVS Women and Girls Lead Film Collection: Women and Girls Lead offers a collection of films by prominent independent filmmakers. These films focus on women who are working to transform their lives, their communities, and the world. Visit the website to learn more about the films and explore our diverse catalogue of educator resources, lesson plans, and film modules. See www.womenandgirlslead.org for more details.

W E B S I T E S

The official website for the Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide film, book and movement. www.halftheskymovement.org

Edna Adan University Hospital: Located in Somaliland, the Edna Adan Hospital provides maternity and general medical services and works to train fully qualified healthcare professionals and midwives to work throughout the country. www.ednahospital.org

Every Mother Counts: an advocacy and mobilization campaign to increase education and support for maternal mortality reduction globally. www.everymothercounts.org

CARE International: An organization fighting poverty and injustice in more than 70 countries around the world and helping 65 million people each year to find routes out of poverty. www.careinternational.org

White Ribbon Alliance: An international coalition to ensure that pregnancy and childbirth are safe for all women and newborns in every country around the world. www.whiteribbonalliance.org

The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA): An organization that works through local partnerships to give women tools to improve their lives, families, and communities. CEDPA’s programs increase educational opportunities for girls, ensure access to lifesaving reproductive health and HIV/AIDS information and services, and strengthen good governance and women’s leadership in their nations. www.cedpa.org

Partnership for Maternal, Newborn Child Health: A partnership to support the global health community to work successfully towards achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. www.who.int/pmnch/en/

Save the Children: An organization that works to save and improve children’s lives in more than 50 countries worldwide. www.savethechildren.org

Additional Resources




http://www.ednahospital.org

http://www.everymothercounts.org

http://www.careinternational.org

http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org

http://www.cedpa.org

http://www.who.int/pmnch/en/

http://www.savethechildren.org

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Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

Writing Standards 6–12

3. (9–10, 11–12) Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

4. (9–10, 11–12) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

6. (9–10, 11–12) Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

Speaking and Listening Standards

1. (9–10, 11–12) Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grade 9-12] topics, text, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

4. (11–12) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

5. (9–10, 11–12) Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6–12

1. (9–10, 11–12) Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

4. (9–10, 11–12) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

7. (9–10, 11–12) Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

9. (9–10, 11–12) Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies

1. CU LTU R EThrough the study of culture and cultural diversity, learners understand how human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture, and appreciate the role of culture in shaping their lives and society, as well the lives and societies of others.

4. I N DIVI DUAL DEVE LOPM E NT AN D I DE NTITYPersonal identity is shaped by family, peers, culture, and institutional influences. Through this theme, students examine the factors that influence an individual’s personal identity, development, and actions.

5. I N DIVI DUALS, G ROU PS, AN D I N S ITITUTION SInstitutions such as families and civic, educational, governmental, and religious organizations exert a major influence on people’s lives. This theme allows students to understand how institutions are formed, maintained, and changed, and to examine their influence.

10. CIVIC I DEALS AN D PRACTICE SAn understanding of civic ideals and practices is critical to full participation in society and an essential component of education for citizenship. This theme enables students to learn about the rights and responsibilities of citizens of a democracy, and to appreciate the importance of active citizenship.

National Standards for Arts Education Grades 9–12

VA1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

VA5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others

VA6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

Standards

HALF TH E S KY: MATE R NAL M ORTALITY

Glossary

Maternal Health

Fertility rate The number of children that the average woman will have in her lifetime. This can differ significantly between continents and countries.

Fistula A hole between an internal organ and the outside of the body that should not exist. Obstetric fistula develops when the blood supply to the reproductive organs is cut off during prolonged and obstructed labor. It is estimated that there are up to 100,000 new fistula cases each year and over two million women living with obstetric fistula.

Female Genital Mutilation Female genital mutilation (also known as female circumcision or genital cutting) is the removal of part or all of the external female genitalia, and in its most severe form, a woman or girl has all of her genitalia removed and then stitched together, leaving a small opening for urination, intercourse, and menstruation. This practice has a direct effect on women and girls’ reproductive and maternal health and can have grave consequences during childbirth.

Maternal death/mortality The death of a woman during or shortly after a pregnancy, or within 42 days of the termination of a pregnancy. Death could be from any cause related to the pregnancy but not from accidental or incidental causes. The major direct causes of maternal illness and death include hemorrhage, infection, high blood pressure, and obstructed labor.

Maternal health The health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and immediately after the birth of a baby (also known as the postpartum period).

Maternal mortality rate The number of maternal deaths due to childbearing per 100,000 live births.

Modern contraception A variety of products and procedures that are used to prevent pregnancy.

Obstructed labor An important cause of maternal death in women, predominantly in the developing world. Due to poor nutrition women’s bodies have not developed properly and they have small pelvises, which makes giving birth difficult. Obstructed labor also causes significant life threatening complications in the short-term (notably infection) and long-term (notably obstetric fistulas).

Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia A dangerous combination of high blood pressure, fluid retention, and high levels of protein in the urine of women after their 20th week of pregnancy. If not treated, pre-eclampsia can worsen into eclampsia, a potentially fatal condition that results in seizures and coma. Pre-eclampsia puts unborn children and their mothers at great risk.

Prenatal and Postnatal Prenatal is the period of pregnancy after conception and before the baby is born. Postnatal (also known as postpartum) is the period of about six weeks following the birth of a baby.

Reproductive healthThe health and well being associated with sex, conception, pregnancy, and childbirth for both men and women at all fertile stages of life. Sepsis (septicemia): A condition in which the body is fighting a severe infection that has spread via the bloodstream. If a person becomes “septic,” they will likely be in a state of low blood pressure or “shock.” This condition can develop either as a result of the body’s own defense system, or from toxic substances made by the infecting agent (such as a bacteria, virus, or fungus).

Sepsis (septicemia)A condition in which the body is fighting a severe infection that has spread via the bloodstream. If a person becomes "septic," they will likely be in a state of low blood pressure or "shock." This condition can develop either as a result of the body's own defense system, or from toxic substances made by the infecting agent (such as a bacteria, virus, or fungus).

Adapted from Marie Stopes International (MSI) Make Women Matter campaign

Name: Date:

Class:

In preparation for viewing the film module Half the Sky: Maternal Mortality, please complete the following handout:

1. Do you know anyone in your own life who has had a baby?

If so, who was it and what is her relationship to you?

What was that experience like for you?

Based on your experience, how did the pregnancy and birth affect the woman and her family?

What was the experience like for the men in her life? (The baby’s father, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, etc.) Was the experience for the men in her life different than for the women in her life?


Student Handout A:

Why Does Maternal Health Matter to Me? (page 1)

2. What is the story of your birth? Briefly describe below: (If possible, ask family and friends who were part of your birth story to share their experience of your birth with you.)

3. Share your answers with a partner or your group and discuss the following:

A. What are the similarities and differences in your stories?

B. Which of the following supports and resources did the moms in each story have available to help them?

• Doctor

• Midwife or birth attendant

• Local hospital

• Medicine

• Transportation

• Health Insurance

• Family and friends

C. How might the mother’s birth experience have been different if these supports and resources weren’t available to them?


Student Handout A:

Why Does Maternal Health Matter to Me? (page 2)

Teacher Instructions: Make two copies of question and answer card document. Cut out and distribute the “Country” and “Fact” cards from one copy and use the second copy as reference.


Student Handout B v1:

The Health Divide Question & Answer Cards (page 1)

AFGHANISTANHas the second highest maternal death rate in the world. Less than 15 percent of deliv-eries are attended by trained health workers, and many women bleed to death before they can receive permission from their husband or mother-in-law to get medical help.

UNITED STATESDeaths from pregnancy and childbirth have doubled in the past 20 years despite the fact that this superpower spends the most money on healthcare. Approximately 1 woman in every 4,100 dies in childbirth.

NIGERIA Women have a 1 in 18 chance of dying in childbirth. Maternal health continues to decline while the rest of the world improves, despite being one of Africa’s biggest oil exporters.

CANADAMaternal mortality rates have declined from approximately 1 maternal death per 200 live births in the early 1920s to less than 1 per 12,820 in 2010. Among the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world and three times lower than its neighbor the U.S.

FRANCE Women have a 1 in 16,667 chance of dying in childbirth. Mothers enjoy a range of maternity benefits, ranging from generous paid time off to extended time in the hospital.

CHINAIn 1980, 1 woman would die for approximately every 580 women who gave birth, but by 2008, that rate had dropped to 1 in approximately every 2,170. This improvement has not kept pace with the rapid economic expansion in this large Asian country.

INDIA This is the world’s largest democracy, but in this highly populated country, women have a 1 in 185 chance of dying in childbirth — one of the worst rates in the world.

ITALYIn 2010, the country was rated the safest place to have a baby, with just five maternal deaths per 100,000 births (1 in 20,000). Maternal healthcare is free and families do not have to pay for prenatal visits for the hospital birth. Moms also benefit from 22 weeks of paid leave from work.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

OF CONGO

Every hour, four women die of complications due to pregnancy and labor, and for every woman who dies, 20 to 30 have serious complications in this conflict-ridden African country. The maternal mortality rate is 1 in 90.

Teacher Instructions: Make two copies of question and answer card document. Cut out and distribute the “Country” and “Fact” cards from one copy and use the second copy as reference.


Student Handout B v1 (page 1):

The Health Divide Question & Answer Cards (page 2)

PAKISTAN1 woman dies for every 384 who give birth. Malnutrition affects 34 percent of pregnant women and 45 percent of women suffer from iron deficiencies that result in stillbirths, birth defects, and infant deaths. Ongoing wars in the region and strict religious cultural traditions also impact women’s maternal health.

MEXICO1 in 1,176 women dies in childbirth, a ratio that is almost five times higher than its super-power neighbor. Women in poorer states of the country face even greater risks in pregnancy — the maternal mortality ratio in the least developed region of the country almost double the national average.

JAPANWomen can choose their hospital, two prenatal checkups are provided free of charge, and there are free childbirth classes available to all. The maternal mortality rate is a low 1 in 16,666.

GERMANYPregnant mothers are not expected to work during the last six weeks of their pregnancy. Moms benefit from four months maternity leave, and employers are required to provide for at least three months of pay. The maternal mortality rate is 1 in 11,100.

BRAZILThe average infant mortality rates have reduced substantially, decreasing by 5.5 percent a year in the 1980s and 1990s, and by 4.4 percent a year since 2000. But the rate is still high at 1 in 1,724 due to the unequal distribution of wealth in this booming South American country.

INDONESIAOne of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world at 1 death in every 438 births. Eighty percent of maternal mortality cases happen in primary services units, indicating that the challenge for this island nation is the quality of care rather than accessibility.

SWEDENCouples in this country enjoy 13 months paid leave, and most of that time is available to be split between the two parents, so families can decide which parent would be better at home. The maternal mortality rate in here is 1 in 20,000.

AUSTRALIAFor most women, maternity care through Medicare is nearly free, with some only respon-sible for small co-pay amounts for doctor visits and no charge at all for hospital care. 100 percent of moms have at least one pre-natal visit, and 100 percent have a skilled attendant at birth. The maternal mortality rate is 1 in 12,500.

A B____ AF G HAN I STAN

1. For most women, maternity care through Medicare is nearly free, with some responsible only for small co-pay amounts for doctor visits and no charge at all for

hospital care. All moms have at least one prenatal visit, and 100 percent have a skilled attendant at birth. The maternal mortality rate is 1 in 12,500.

____ U N ITE D STATE S 2. One of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world at 1 death in every 438 births. Eighty percent of maternal mortality cases happen in primary services units,

indicating that the challenge for this is the quality of care rather than accessibility.

____ N I G E R IA 3. Couples in this country enjoy 13 months’ paid leave, and most of that time is available to be split between the two parents, so families can decide which parent

would be better at home. The maternal mortality rate here is 1 in 20,000.

____ CANADA4. In 1980, one woman would die for approximately every 580 women who gave

birth, but by 2008, that rate had dropped to 1 in approximately every 2,170. This improvement has not kept pace with the rapid economic expansion in this large Asian country.

____ FRAN CE 5. Women have a 1 in 16,667 chance of dying in childbirth. Mothers enjoy a range of maternity benefits, ranging from generous paid time off to extended time in

the hospital.

____ CH I NA 6. Maternal mortality rates have declined from approximately 1 maternal death per 200 live births in the early 1920s to less than 1 per 12,820 in 2010. Among the lowest

maternal mortality rates in the world and three times lower than its neighbor the U.S.

____ I N D IA 7. Has the second highest maternal death rate in the world. Less than 15 percent of deliveries are attended by trained health workers, and many women bleed to death

before they can receive permission from their husband or mother-in-law to get medical help.

____ ITALY 8. Deaths from pregnancy and childbirth have doubled in the past 20 years despite the fact that this super-power spends the most money on healthcare.

Approximately 1 woman in every 4,100 dies in childbirth.

Name: Date:

Class:

Instructions: Review the following country names and facts and identify which fact is connected to which country. Write the correct fact number in front of each country name.



The Health Divide Question & Answer Worksheet (page 1)

A B____ D E M OCRATI C R E PU B LI C OF CON G O

9. Women have a 1 in 18 chance of dying in childbirth. Maternal health continues to decline while the rest of the world improves, despite being one of Africa’s biggest

oil exporters

____ PAK I STAN 10. Women can choose their hospital, two prenatal checkups are provided free of charge, and there are free childbirth classes available to all. The maternal

mortality rate is a low 1 in 16,666.

____ M E X I CO 11. Pregnant mothers are not expected to work during the last six weeks of their pregnancy. Moms benefit from four months maternity leave, and

employers are required to provide for at least three months of pay. The maternal mortality rate is 1 in 11,100.

____ JAPAN12. The average infant mortality rates have reduced substantially, decreasing by

5.5 percent a year in the 1980s and 1990s, and by 4.4 percent a year since 2000. But the rate is still high at 1 in 1,724 due to the unequal distribution of wealth in this booming South American country.

____ G E R MANY 13. This is the world’s largest democracy, but women have a 1 in 185 chance of dying in childbirth in this highly populated country — one of the worst rates in

the world.

____ B RA Z I L14. In 2010, the country was rated the safest place to have a baby, with just five

maternal deaths per 100,000 births (1 in 20,000). Maternal health care is free, and families do not have to pay for prenatal visits for the hospital birth. Moms also benefit from 22 weeks of paid leave from work.

____ I N D ON E S IA 15. Every hour four women die of complications due to pregnancy and labor, and for every woman who dies, 20 to 30 have serious complications in this

conflict-ridden African country. The maternal mortality rate is 1 in 90.

____ SWE D E N16. One woman dies for every 384 who give birth. Malnutrition affects 34 percent

of pregnant women, and 45 percent of women suffer from iron deficiencies that result in stillbirths, birth defects, and infant deaths. Ongoing wars in the region and strict religious cultural traditions also impact women’s maternal health.

____ AU STRALIA17. One in 1,176 women dies in childbirth, a ratio that is almost five times higher

than its super-power neighbor. Women in poorer states of the country face even greater risks in pregnancy — the maternal mortality ratio in the least developed region of the country almost double the national average.



The Health Divide Question & Answer Worksheet (page 2)

It is dangerous to be a pregnant woman in Somaliland.

Somaliland is a semi-desert territory in East Africa on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. It declared independence from Somalia after the overthrow of Somali military dictator, Siad Barre, in 1991. Since then, the territory has lobbied hard to win support for its claim to be a sovereign state, but had still not received official international recognition. Despite this, Somaliland has a working political system, government institutions, a police force, and its own currency, but it suffers from widespread poverty and unemployment.

The health of the people of Somaliland is among the worst in Africa, with one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. Childbirth brings with it serious risks, including lack of access to trained health professionals and high rates of malnutrition, all of which increase the chances of complications before and during labor. Because it is not an officially recognized independent state, international aid donors have found it difficult to provide much-needed support and resources, such as maternal health services and funds for training and supplies.

While rates of maternal mortality are among the highest in the world, they have begun to decline. In 1997, 16 women would die for every 1,000 live births, but by 2006 that rate had gone down to approximately 10 per 1,000 births. This improvement is due in part to the work of Edna Adan Ismail, Somaliland’s first certified nurse-midwife, and the training hospital she founded in the country’s capital, Hargeisa.


Student Handout C:

Somaliland in Context

Name: Date:

Class:

Take notes while watching the film module Half the Sky: Maternal Mortality using the following list of questions as a guide:

• What challenges are pregnant women in Somaliland facing?

• What are some of the causes of death for pregnant women?

• What services does the Edna Adan Hospital provide?

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out most for you and/or illustrate why maternal health is an important issue for everyone.

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out most for you.


Student Handout D:

Film Module Screening Guide


Student Handout E:

Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet (page 1)

What are the causes of maternal death? Women die as a result of medical complications that happen during and following pregnancy, often because the medical care and resources needed are too far away, unavail-able, inadequate, or unaffordable. Below is a list of the major complications that account for 80 percent of all maternal deaths all of which are treatable if resources and skilled healthcare workers are available:

• Hemorrhaging: Severe bleeding, mostly occurring after childbirth

• Infection: Most commonly occurring after and as a result of childbirth

• Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia: A set of symptoms including high blood pressure that occurs during pregnancy and can lead to seizures and coma during labor.

• Obstructed labor: Difficult labor, which may be caused by an obstruction or constriction of the birth passage

• Indirect causes: Approximately 20 percent of maternal deaths result from diseases or physical traumas unrelated to pregnancy that are aggravated by pregnancy, such as anemia, malaria, hepatitis, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and physical and sexual abuse.

Why do women die?

Understanding the medical causes of maternal mortality only gives us part of the story. Maternal death is the result of a complex web of social, political, and economic forces that undermines women’s access to essential maternal healthcare. A high maternal death rate indicates that the fundamental rights to life and health for women are being violated. Contributing factors to maternal mortality include:

• Poverty

• Gender-based discrimination

• Limited access to affordable, quality healthcare

• Limited access to family planning

• Limited access to education

• Cultural practices

• Adolescent Maternity

• Poverty: Being poor limits a woman’s access to information and healthcare. Factors such as malnutrition, disease, lack of clean water, and inadequate medical care make pregnancy and childbirth a dangerous experience for women living in extreme poverty.

• Gender-Based Discrimination: Maternal mortality rates are also an effective measure of women’s place in society. In countries where women are devalued they lack access to education, economic opportunities, social supports, and leadership and decision-making opportunities that contribute to higher maternal mortality rates.

• Limited Access to Affordable, Quality Healthcare: Many women cannot use health services during pregnancy and childbirth because their families simply cannot afford the costs. And if they live in a poor community, the available healthcare may be poor as well. Key factors that continue to contribute to the large number of women dying include: too few or untrained health workers, a lack of equipment and supplies, unavailable transportation, insufficient funds, and a lack extended services including family planning and postnatal care.

• Limited Access to Family Planning: Having large numbers of children with short recovery periods between pregnancies is detrimental to women’s health. If women had only the number of pregnancies they wanted, at the intervals they wanted, maternal mortality would drop by about one-third.

• Limited Access to Education: When women are better educated they have a better chance of surviving childbirth. Educated women are also more likely to have wage-earning jobs that give them greater decision-making roles in a family’s finances and enable them to save money and afford health-care when it is most needed. According to the World Bank, for every 1,000 girls who get an additional year of education, two fewer women will die in childbirth.

• Cultural Practices: In some cultures, seeking medical help is seen as a sign of weakness and pregnant women in the poorest countries are often tended to by family or traditional birthing assistants who may have little or no medical training and who may use traditional practices that could complicate pregnancies and worsen a mother’s condition.

• Adolescent Maternity: Child marriage contributes greatly to adolescent maternal mortality rates. Currently, an estimated 51 million girls under the age of 18 are married, and over the next decade, it is estimated that another 100 million girls will become child brides. Studies show that adolescents age 15 through 19 are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as those over age 20, and girls under age 15 are five times more likely to die.


Student Handout E:

Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet (page 2)

Too Far to Walk: The Delay Model

When a life-threatening pregnancy-related emergency occurs, getting help fast is incredibly important. The following model outlines the three primary delays women face when trying to access emergency care:

• Delay One: Recognizing Danger Signs and Deciding to Seek Care: Poor families in communities with limited information and resources tend to delay decision-making or make inappropriate choices when complications arise.

• Delay Two: Reaching Appropriate Care: This delay is worse for poor rural women and their families who tend to face higher and less predictable costs of emergency transportation because of long distances and limited public transit and services.

• Delay Three: Receiving Care at Health Facilities: The final delay is influenced by economic status, discrimination based on gender or ethnic prejudice, and availability of providers. Poor families often have to borrow money to pay up front when complications arise. Frequently, households do not have ready access to sufficient cash in time, and often, credit is withheld for needed supplies, medications, and services.

What’s Needed to Improve Maternal Health?

Improving maternal health for women around the world requires coordinated efforts by international and local institutions to raise public awareness, address gender-based discrimination, increase political will, and commit resources to prevent and respond to the causes of maternal mortality. Here are some strategies that have been most effective:

• Improving the availability of quality medical services:

• Better-trained health care providers (doctors and nurses) who understand and are sympathetic to the challenges their patients face

• Training for traditional healthcare providers and midwives so they can provide support and care before and after the birth and are better able to address emergencies when they arise

• Mobile clinics that can reach remote areas and provide ongoing access to services

• Emergency transportation services or a community-based emergency transportation network to get women to the nearest facility as quickly as possible in the event of complications

• Improved communication systems so families in remote areas can contact providers in an emergency

• Improving maternal nutrition during and after pregnancy: This improves maternal health and improves the health of new-born babies

• Providing secondary education for girls: This has been shown to significantly increase the likelihood that mothers will have healthier pregnancies, and improves the survival rate of newly born babies.

• Education and Outreach Programs: Providing training, education, and outreach to the entire community empowers women, girls, men, and boys with the tools they need to make informed decisions about their health and the health of their family members.

This story was excerpted and adapted from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Knopf 2009.

www.halftheskymovement.org


Student Handout F:

Case Study #1, Prudence, Cameroon

Prudence had been living with her family in a village 75 miles away from the hospital in Yokadouma, Cameroon, and she had received no prenatal care. She went into labor at full term, assisted by a traditional birth attendant who had no training. But Prudence had obstructed labor, and the baby couldn’t come out. After three days, the birth attendant sat on Prudence’s stomach and jumped up and down. That ruptured Prudence’s uterus. The family paid a man with a motorcycle to take Prudence to the hospital. The hospital’s doctor, Pascal Pipi, realized that she needed an emergency cesarean. But he wanted $100 for the surgery, and Prudence’s husband and parents said they could raise only $20. Dr. Pipi was sure that the family was lying and could pay more. Perhaps he was right because one of Prudence’s cousins had a cell phone. If she had been a man, the family probably would have sold enough possessions to raise $100.

Journalist Nicholas Kristof had come upon the clinic by accident and dropped in to inquire about maternal health in the area. When he stumbled upon Prudence in the hospital bed, she had been lying there untreated for about three days, according to her family. The fetus died shortly after she arrived at the hospital, and now it was decaying and slowly poisoning Prudence.

“If they had intervened right away, my baby would still be alive,” Alain Awona, Prudence’s 28-year-old husband said angrily as he hovered beside his wife. A teacher at a public school, he was educated enough to be indignant and assertive at the mistreatment of his wife. “Save my wife!” he pleaded. “My baby is dead. Save my wife!”

Dr. Pipi and his staff were furious at Alain’s protests and embarrassed at having a woman die in front of visitors. He told the Kristof that without intervention, Prudence had only hours to live, and that he could operate on her if he had the remaining $80. So Kristof and his traveling companions gave the doctor the remaining money.

Prudence didn’t seem fully aware of what was going on, but her mother had tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. The family had been sure that Prudence was going to die, and now it suddenly seemed that her life could be saved. Alain insisted that we stick around to see the surgery through. “If you go,” he warned bluntly, “Prudence will die.”

The nurses said that everything was ready for Prudence’s surgery, but the hours dragged and nothing happened. At 10 p.m., Kristof and the family found out that the doctor had left and would be back in the morning. They were shocked and furious and considered going to find him but the Cameroonian interpreter that was traveling with Kristof tugged the group aside. “Look, I’m sure we can find out where Dr. Pipi lives if we ask around,” he said. “But if we go to his house and try to drag him back here to do the surgery he’ll be incredibly angry. Maybe he’ll do the surgery, but you don’t know what he’ll do with the scalpel. It wouldn’t be good for Prudence. The only hope is to wait for morning, and see if she is still alive.”

The next morning, Dr. Pipi finally operated, but by then at least three days had elapsed since Prudence had arrived at the hospital and her abdomen was severely infected. He had to remove 20 centimeters of her small intestines, and he had none of the powerful antibiotics that were necessary to fight the infection.

The hours passed. Prudence remained unconscious, and gradually everybody realized that it wasn’t just the anesthesia; she was in a coma. She began fighting for breath, in huge terrifying rattles. Finally, the family members decided that they would take her home to the village to die. They hired a car to take them back to the village, and they drove back, somber and bitter. Three days after the surgery, Prudence died


This case study was excerpted and adapted from the Care report “The Impact of Maternal Health in Peru”

www.care.org/campaigns/mothersmatter/downloads/Peru-Case-Study.pdf


Student Handout F:

Case Study #2, Antonia, Peru

Antonia had just turned 40. She was the anchor of her family. She’d farmed a small parcel of land and tended livestock with her husband Lorenzo since they were married as teenagers. She gave birth to seven children, ranging in age from two to 18. During her eighth pregnancy when Antonia went into labor three weeks early, Lorenzo wanted to go to the hospital to get a doctor. Antonia knew it would take him at least two hours to reach the hospital and return with help and was afraid of being alone during the delivery. So, Lorenzo remained at home and waited.

Antonia gave birth to a baby boy, Adolfo, around 6 p.m., but the joy was soon replaced by anguish. Lorenzo, who had assisted Antonia in all her previous births, realized that something had gone wrong. Antonia was bleeding heavily. Lorenzo knew she needed help right away. After glancing one last time around his one room adobe home, taking in his wife and his other children shuffling near their mother’s bed, silent and scared, he left to get help.

There are no phones or two-way radios in their tiny village high in the mountains of Peru’s remote Puno region. The nearest health post was a couple miles away traveling on very bad roads. Lorenzo knew from making prenatal visits with his wife there that the one health worker wasn’t equipped or trained to handle this type of emergency. Also, it was Good Friday and he knew that the health post was likely closed since it was a holiday.

Lorenzo borrowed an old motorcycle and puttered slowly down the steep, muddied road to the hospital almost an hour away in normal conditions. The drenching rains made the roads nearly impassible and his transportation broke down half way there. After an hour of pleading with people in a nearby village for help, Lorenzo managed to borrow a bicycle on which he made the rest of the journey to the hospital. When he reached the hospital, the doctor on call was not there and the ambulance was in disrepair. After another 30-minute delay, Lorenzo found the doctor and hired a pick-up truck, and they were on their way. Unfortunately, the truck got stuck in the mud as it approached the house and Lorenzo and the doctor had to walk the remaining distance.

By the time Lorenzo and the doctor finally arrived on foot just after 10 p.m., it was too late. About an hour before, in her mother’s arms and surrounded by her children (including the baby boy she had just given birth to), Antonia died.

The doctor said Antonia died because the placenta, which helps nourish the baby in the womb, had blocked her cervix. She hemorrhaged, which led to cardiac arrest. Antonia’s condition was considered serious, but treatable.

In discussions with Lorenzo in the months following Antonia’s death, he recounted his schedule: He got up by 4 in the morning to make breakfast. By 8 a.m. the children left for school and he tended to the livestock. At around 4 p.m. he came back from dealing with the livestock to cook dinner. Then he bathed the children and put them to bed, and he went to sleep about 9 p.m. He was extremely tired, but recognized that this is the schedule Antonia had kept every day when she was alive.

The children suffered without their mother. They only went to school sporadically and the younger girls, ages 5 and 9, stopped eating and were depressed. The oldest son, who had planned to go to the city for school, dropped out to work in the hazardous gold mines in order to send money back to his family. The second oldest son was also forced to drop out of school to help his father around the house and take care of his siblings. Lorenzo had to sell all the livestock and possessions to pay for baby formula. Having spent all his money on the baby, Lorenzo’s other children clearly had become malnourished and they had no money for school supplies.

http://www.care.org/campaigns/mothersmatter/downloads/Peru-Case-Study.pdf

This case study was excerpted and adapted from VEIL OF TEARS: Afghans’ Stories of Loss in Childbirth Integrated Regional Information Networks, (IRIN) 2009 as part of the

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)www.irinnews.org/pdf/veil_of_tears.pdf


Student Handout F:

Case Study #3, Mastbegeen, Afghanistan

Sangima watched helplessly as her sister-in-law, Mastbegeen, died trying to give birth to her seventh child. She tells Mastbegeen’s story to and interviewer from Integrated Regional Information Networks, (IRIN) part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):

Sangima: As you see, we live in this very remote mountain village in Wakhan District [Badakhshan Province], which is very far from all facilities, including a clinic. Mastbegeen [her sister-in-law] was eight months pregnant when she started feeling pain. I told my brother [Mastbegeen’s husband] to find a birth attendant. He took the donkey and left the house. After an hour he came back with the old woman.

Interviewer: Was the woman a professional health worker?

Sangima: She was not from the clinic, but yes she was professional as she has been working as a midwife for years. She has a lot of experience, she is an old woman. There’s no clinic near us and these old women are the only people who help pregnant women.

Interviewer: What I mean is, did she have any formal midwifery training?

Sangima: I don’t think so, because she is very old and illiterate as well. She helped Mastbegeen give birth to the child. After the birth, Mastbegeen started bleeding. I asked the old woman what was happening and she said: “Don’t worry, most women bleed for some time after giving birth.” Somehow I trusted the old woman, but then I thought to myself, when I gave birth to my own child I was not bleeding like Mastbegeen. I mentioned this to my brother and we thought we should take her to a clinic. But it was 11pm and the nearest clinic in Khandod [district capital] was six hours’ walk away. We didn’t have any choice but to wait.

At midnight, she stopped crying. I bent over her face and shouted Mastbegeen! Mastbegeen! But she didn’t reply. I saw her chest was moving so I knew she was alive. I left the room to call my brother, who was helping the old woman to wash the newborn baby girl. We went back in and found she was dying. We shook her and kept calling out to her, but she didn’t reply and we saw her passing away. It was a very sad scene; I hope no one else on earth has to witness such a calamity in their family. We didn’t know what happened to the baby, but she also died just an hour after her mother.

Now Mastbegeen’s six children are in a very bad state. Sometimes I come to cook for them or wash them, but still they are not as clean as other children. My brother cooks, but he can’t cook as well as a woman. He is also poor and can’t provide them with good clothing and food. This is the reality not only in our village, but also in many remote villages in the Wakhan corridor in Badakhshan, where we have little or no access to health care

http://www.irinnews.org/pdf/veil_of_tears.pdf

Case Study: Date:

List of the names of all the students in the group:

Why did she die? Understanding the Causes of Maternal Mortality

1. What was the name of the woman in your case study and what was her cause of death?

2. Was the condition she suffered from treatable?

3. If so, what were the factors that contributed to her death? Briefly describe what role if any each of the following played:

• Poverty

• Gender-based discrimination

• Limited access to quality healthcare

• Limited access to family planning

• Limited access to education

• Cultural practices

4. Using the Delay Model as a reference, describe the delays that the mother and her family faced when attempting to access care:


Student Handout G:

Case Study Worksheet (page 1)

Action Plan: How Can Women’s Lives Be Saved?Edna Adan came back to Somaliland to apply her skills, resources, and training to improving the lives of women in her country. Imagine that your group came from the same community as the woman in your case study and you have the opportunity to return to help improve the maternal health of the women who live there. What would your plan of action be?

Using the Maternal Health Fact Sheet as a resource, work with your group to develop a comprehensive strategy that includes the following:

1. What outreach and resource strategies would you put into place for each of the following?

• Improving the availability of quality medical services:

• Improving maternal nutrition during and after pregnancy:

• Providing education opportunities for girls:

• Providing Outreach Programs:

2. How would you include the community in your plan of action? What role will boys and men play in improving maternal health?

3. What challenges do you expect to face?

4. What outcome do you hope to achieve?


Student Handout G:

Case Study Worksheet (page 2)

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Access to education is recognized as a basic human right as well as significant factor in breaking the cycle of poverty and improving quality of life for children, communities, and countries. Despite this, millions of girls and women around the world are disproportionately denied the opportunity to attend school and pursue education and training outside the home.

Objectives:

Through this lesson students will:• Explore the value of education in their

own lives

• Consider the ripple effect for families, communities, and nations where girls are disproportionately denied the right to go to school

• Identify the location of Vietnam on a map and understand the social and political context that has shaped the education opportunities for Vietnamese girls.

• Understand the Millennium Development Goals’ strategy to cut poverty in half by 2015 and examine the progress and the status of Goal 2 Universal Primary Education in relationship to the global gender disparity.

• Create an Education Genealogy that explores the impact of education in their own families and communities and traces the path and influence of education through the generations.

Resources:

• Film Module: Education in Vietnam (10:38)

• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Film Series Trailer (5:48): itvs.org/films/half-the-sky


• Teacher Handouts

- Educating Girls and Women Discussion Guide (Download Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide discussion guide PDFs from the ITVS Women and Girls Lead website: www.womenandgirlslead.org)

• Student Handouts

- Student Handout A: Life Map

- Student Handout B: The Education Ripple Effect

- Student Handout C: Vietnam In Context


- Student Handout E: Education for All

- Student Handout F: Notes from the Field

• Whiteboard/blackboard and markers/chalk

• Pens and writing paper

• Computers with Internet access

• Kraft Paper

• Washable Markers


OV E R V I E W

AudienceHigh School (9-12 grade), Community College, Youth Development Organizations

Time 90 minutes or two 50 minutes class periods + Assignments

Subject AreasWomen’s Studies, Social Studies, Global Studies, Media Studies, English Language Arts , Education Studies

“When you educate a girl, there is a ripple effect that goes beyond what you would get from a normal investment…When you educate a girl, you educate a village.”

Sheryl WuDunn Half the Sky






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Time: 30 minutes

You will need: Student Handout A: Life Map, Student Handout B: Ripple Effect, Student Handout C: Vietnam In Context, white board/black board, dry-erase markers/chalk, kraft paper, washable markers, and a wall map of the world with country names (free printable maps are available here: www.amaps.com/mapstoprint/WORLDDOWNLOAD.htm)

Goal: Students will begin to explore the value of education by considering how their lives and their futures would be different if they were denied the opportunity to attend school. They will then examine the global gender divide in education and the possible ripple effect for families, communities, and nations where girls are disproportionately denied the right to go to school.

PART 1• Begin the lesson with a class discussion using the following questions for prompts.

Students can be divided into pairs (Think-Pair-Share) and each group can discuss their responses to the scenarios among themselves before sharing with the rest of the class. Students can also work individually and do a “quick writing” response before sharing with the class.

- A. Ask the class the following question: Imagine you went home tonight and your family told you that no one expects you to go to school anymore (Or you don’t have to go to school anymore). How would that make you feel? Would you choose to continue to come to school? Encourage students to respond honestly. Discuss student reactions and ask them to go into more depth about the reasons why their responses were either positive or negative.

- B. Now, imagine you are a 14-year-old student in a country where everyone has to pay to go to school. If you were that student, how would you feel if you went home tonight and your family told you that you couldn’t go to school anymore because it is too expensive? What would you do? Would you be willing to go to work to help pay for school? Discuss student reactions and compare them to their reactions from the first question.

- C. Imagine you are still that 14-year-old student and you went home tonight and your family told you that your sibling(s) would continue to go to school, but you couldn’t go to school anymore. They tell you that it’s too expensive to send all of their children, and they think it’s more important for your other sibling(s) to be educated. Besides, they need your help doing chores and taking care of the other children in the house. How would you respond to that? What would you do?

• Based on the discussion, have the class work in pairs and consider what impact scenario C would have on the life of their hypothetical 14 year-old student. Using Student Handout A: Life Map briefly brainstorm some possible consequences that a student might face as a result of being denied access to an education.

• Ask groups to discuss their responses with their partner(s) then share their results with the class.

Prescreening Activity


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PART 2• Introduce the following information:

Access to education is recognized as a basic human right as well as significant factor in breaking the cycle of poverty and improving quality of life for children, communities, and countries. Despite this, millions of girls and women around the world are denied the opportunity to attend school and pursue education and training outside the home.

Of the approximately 75 million children who are currently not in school, the majority are girls. Worldwide, for every 100 boys out of school, there are approximately 122 girls who are unable to attend school. In developing countries and countries with strict cultural and religious codes regarding gender roles, this gap is much wider: for every 100 boys out of school in Yemen, there are 270 girls who are not in school, in Iraq it is 316 girls, and in India it is 426 girls to every 100 boys.

• Distribute Student Handout B: The Education Ripple Effect and ask students to return to their groups. Using the handout as a guide, ask each group to share their responses to the statement above and discuss the possible ripple effects that result from the disparity in education opportunities for girls.

• Have each group share their results and discuss as a class.

• Give each group a large piece of Kraft paper to post on the wall and ask them to record the ripple effects from their discussion.

• Have the students walk around the room and read eachother’s responses and leave feedback or comments using Post-It Notes. (Be sure to establish guidelines on how to give constructive and appropriate feedback.)

• Complete the activity by brainstorming some possible strategies that might help to eliminate the barriers to education that their 14-year-old student faces. Record the results on the board to revisit later.

• Ask the students to keep this activity in mind as they watch the film and tell them that they will return to their responses throughout the lesson.

PART 3• In preparation for viewing the film module, ask a volunteer to locate Vietnam on a wall map.

• Provide students with the one-page fact sheet, Student Handout C: Vietnam In Context. Have them read the fact sheet and discuss briefly with a partner.

• Variation: This handout can be provided in advance of the lesson for students to review as homework.


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Class time: 10-15 minutes

Note: We recommend that if time permits you begin this section by watching the film series trailer (5:48): itvs.org/films/half-the-sky

You will need: pens and writing paper, LCD projector or DVD player, HTS: Education in Vietnam film module (10:38), Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide, pens/pencils

• Distribute Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide and instruct students to take notes during the screening using the worksheet as a guide.

• Variation: The questions from Student Handout D can be projected or written on the board and reviewed briefly before viewing the film module to save paper.

Viewing the Module


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Time: 25 minutes

You will need: Student Handout E: Education for All, Student Handout F: Notes from the Field, white board/black board, dry-erase markers/chalk, pens/pencils, writing paper.

Goal: Students will be introduced to the Millennium Development Goals strategy to cut poverty in half by 2015 and examine the progress of Goal #2: Equal Access to Education. Working in groups, they will imagine that they are student ambassadors for the Millennium Development committee who are collaborating with the Nhi and Phung from the film to identify strategies to improve education in their communities in Vietnam as well as the student’s communities in the United States.

Part 1: Discussion Questions (5-10 minutes):• What did you think of the film? Was there anything that surprised you?

• How do you feel about each student’s story?

• What are some of the similarities between the stories that you saw? What are some of the differences?

• What role does gender play in their access to education? In what way?

• Bich Vu Thi — Room to Read Girls Education Program Officer — talks about her own struggles achieving access to education in a poor family where girls were not valued. She says, “One boy is one child, but 10 girls are not equivalent to one child.” What do you think she meant by that? How do you think this attitude influences girls’ opportunities?

• What are some things that are being done to support girls in going to school?

• John Wood, the Founder of Room to Read, has stated that “it is a moral failure” that millions of girls woke up this morning and didn’t go to school? Do you agree? Why or why not?

• How does his statement connect with Phung’s father’s belief that by sacrificing a small amount today, he is giving his children a path out of poverty?

• Do you think we are facing similar challenges in our own country? Could you provide some examples?

• Are there groups of young people in this country who are forced to make similar choices between supporting their families or focusing on their own education and future?

• Nicholas Kristof says in the film, “We often have the idea that providing education is about building a school, providing teachers, school books, and it’s so much more complicated then that in an environment of poverty.” What challenges and complications is he referring to? How do the parents in the film address these barriers and how do their actions shape their daughter’s futures?

• What does it take to construct a system that supports the education of girls? Are there models in other countries?


Post-Screening Activity

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Part 2: Millennium Development Goals and Education for All• Briefly introduce the Millennium Development Goals and Goal 2: Universal Primary

Education (MGD2) using the summary paragraph:

In 2000, the United Nations brought together the Heads of State from 189 countries to discuss how to cut global poverty in half by 2015 and ensure fundamental human rights for all. The strategy they developed consists of eight goals, and includes a commitment to achieving primary education for all children. Millennium Development Goal 2: Universal Primary Education (MGD2) seeks to ensure that children everywhere — boys and girls alike — will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling by 2015 and that girls would have the same opportunities and access to education as boys by 2005. This target was set because countries around the world recognize that providing education is the key to reducing poverty and improving the health and wellbeing of families and communities. Unfortunately the goal for equal access to education by 2005 was not reached, but progress is being made.

• Divide the class into groups of 3–4 students and provide each with Student Handout E: Education for All and Student Handout F: Notes from the Field.

• Explain that each group will review the fact sheet and imagine they are student ambassadors working with the Millennium Development Committee. Their assignment is to work in collaboration with a student from the film to identify ways that they can improve education for girls in Vietnam. In return, they will imagine what insights their Vietnamese partners can provide regarding the importance of education in their lives and how we can improve the quality and commitment to education in our communities in the USA. Students should refer to their notes from the film and the class discussion as well as Student Handout E: Education for All for guidance.

• Students can present their completed work to the class as notes from the field or they can develop a script and perform the interviews and dialogue.


Post-Screening Activity:

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Select one or more of the following assignments to complete the lesson:

1) Why does education matter? How would you advertise Education for All? Students will develop a public service or advertising campaign to promote the idea of universal education. Students should incorporate the resources from the lesson including facts, case studies, and strategies in their campaign materials. When researching their topic, students think about their audience and how they can galvanize collective support from a broad-range of people (male, female, adults, youth, different economic and cultural backgrounds, etc.) Students can work individually or in a group and their projects should consist of a presentation and informational material.

• Students’ PSA or advertisement can be created as a video using the resources below. If video resources are unavailable, the PSA can be presented live during class or an assembly or community event.

The Ad Council: www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/Current-Work

MediaSmarts: www.mediasmarts.ca

Using Public Service Announcements in the Classroom: www.kathyschrock.net/psa

• Social media is a powerful force for change and should be incorporated into their campaign. An example of a successful social media campaign can be found here: jflopsu.tumblr.com/post/10561740209/abolishcancer-twitterview

• Students can develop brochures with infographics to highlight their message and research using the following examples and tools:

UNESCO: Education Counts Brochure: unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001902/190214e.pdf

Krum’s 10 Tips for Designing Infographics: digitalnewsgathering.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/10-tips-for-designing-infographics

Teaching with Infographics: learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/teaching-with-infographics-places-to-start

2) Education Genealogy. Have students explore the impact that education has had in their own families and communities by creating an Education Genealogy that traces the path and influence of education through the generations. (Variation: If time is limited, ask students to select one subject to focus their research on.)

• Have students interview members of their family (or community, if family members are not accessible) from several generations using the prompts below as well as their own questions. They can take notes or record the interviews on video or audio equipment if available.

- What role did education play in your life?

- What challenges if any did you face? Were there any barriers to going to school?

- How did your parents/guardians view your education? Was it a priority?

- Was the education experience different for boys and girls when you were in school?

- What strategies did your parents/guardians employ to help open doors and break barriers to success?

- What is your best and worst memory related to your education?

- How was your experience with education different from the generation before you?

- What does education mean in your life now?

- How do you see education for the next generation?

• Students should combine interviews and oral history with research on the development of the education system throughout their family (or community’s) history and consider how their ancestors’ access or lack of access to education has shaped their own opportunities.

Assignments

http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Work/Current-Work

http://www.mediasmarts.ca

http://www.kathyschrock.net/psa/

http://jflopsu.tumblr.com/post/10561740209/abolishcancer-twitterview

http://jflopsu.tumblr.com/post/10561740209/abolishcancer-twitterview

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001902/190214e.pdf

http://digitalnewsgathering.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/10-tips-for-designing-infographics

http://digitalnewsgathering.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/10-tips-for-designing-infographics

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/teaching-with-infographics-places-to-start


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• Free online oral history tool-kits and digital video and audio production resources can be found at these sites:

Guide to Oral History: dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

Story Corps for Educators: storycorps.org/education

www.Zentation.com Combine videos, slides, and audio into presentations

www.Voicethread.com Video, audio, and slide editing program

www.Vcasmo.com Easy to use multimedia presentation tool.

Voiceover Script writing: www.peterdrewvo.com/html/tips_for_writing_for_voiceover.html

3) Journaling about Education: Have students develop a short narrative or fictional story using the experience of the hypothetical student from the Pre-Screening Activity as a jumping-off point. Complete the narrative by having them imagine what their life would be like 10 years from now using two scenarios: if they were unable to overcome the obstacles to their education and if they were able to successfully access an education. - If, like our 14-year old student, you were denied access to education at the age of 14, what would you have done?

- What do you think your life would be like now?

- What goals do you have for your future and how would they be affected if you could not pursue your education?

Assignments (cont.)

http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

http://storycorps.org/education

http://www.Zentation.com

http://www.Voicethread.com

http://www.Vcasmo.com

http://www.peterdrewvo.com/html/tips_for_writing_for_voiceover.html

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1) FUTURESTATES. What would you sacrifice for a good education? The film Crossover, by Tina Mabry, imagines a future where schools are segregated by economic status and a struggling mother must decide whether to sell her own organs to give her children a better education. Screen the film for students and consider current obstacles to education in the US and around the world. What message was the filmmaker sending about the education in the United States and the need for education reform? Should education continue to be compulsory and free? Have students research the current debate and speculate about the future of education in America.

Crossover: futurestates.tv/episodes/crossover

FUTURESTATES Website: futurestates.tv

Educator Resources: futurestates.tv/about/for_educators

2) Legislating Equal Access. Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972, (also called Title IX) was enacted in 1972 and has been credited with raising the opportunity of girls and women in educational environments. While it is best known for paving the way for female student athletes, Title IX also ensures an equal education for pregnant and parenting students and for those seeking STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers. Through this lesson plan from TeachingTolerance.org, students will become familiar with the principles of Title IX and evaluate its impact on their own learning environment: become familiar with the principles of Title IX and evaluate its impact on their own learning environment: www.tolerance.org/activity/legislating-equal-access

3) The Girl Effect. Have youth mobilize their community and harness the power of The Girl Effect. The Girl Effect is a collective movement created by the Nike Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, and the Coalition for Adolescent Girls that is driven by thousands of grassroots and community-based campaigns around the world aimed at empowering girls and improving life for their families and communities. The Girl Effect Toolkit has a range of resources, tips, multi-media tools, and step-by-step guides for creating your own campaign, organizing community events, and starting local clubs to galvanize support for girls education and empowerment.

The Girl Effect: www.girleffect.org

The Girl Effect Tool Kit: www.girleffect.org/uploads/documents/5/Girl_Effect_Tool_Kit.pdf

4) Are Schools Killing Creativity? Have students view Ken Robinson’s TED Talk entitled, “Are Schools Killing Creativity” and the RSA Animation “New Paradigms in Education” and discuss what education — specifically school-based education — means in this rapidly changing world. Have students research the development of education in the United States from the industrial model through No Child Left Behind and consider how schools have changed (or failed to change) to address each generations needs. Have students consider: What will the world look like when today’s kinder-gardeners graduate from high school? How can schools prepare students for a future that we have trouble imagining?

Have students work in groups to design a model of education for the 21st century that combines the traditional “3 Rs” of education (reading, writing, and arithmetic) with the new “4 Cs”: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Resources:

TED: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

RSA: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Partnership for 21st Century Skills: www.p21.org

Extensions

http://futurestates.tv/episodes/crossover

http://futurestates.tv

http://futurestates.tv/about/for_educators

http://www.tolerance.org/activity/legislating-equal-access

http://www.girleffect.org

http://www.girleffect.org/uploads/documents/5/Girl_Effect_Tool_Kit.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

http://www.p21.org

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5) Millennium Development Goals: Empowering Women Empowers the WorldIn September 2000, the United Nations signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the aim of halving the number of people living in poverty, reducing maternal and child mortality, fighting disease, and improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries by 2015. Have your class screen the complete series of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and examine the connection between the issues addressed in the documentary the MDG campaign’s focus on women. Have them consider how and why improving rights and resources for women and girls is considered key to eradicating global poverty.

• Divide the class into eight groups, assign each an MDG, and instruct the groups develop a “We Are the Goal” presentation, which should include the following:


- Information on the public perception and understanding of the MDGs. (Students can investigate the public’s knowledge and understanding of the MDG campaign by recording “person-on-the-street” interviews and include the footage in the presentation.)



- A plan of action for the group and their school community to contribute to the MDG campaign

• The presentations should be multi-media and can include photo essays, video footage, audio clips, animations, and infographics using the following websites as resources:



Prezi: prezi.com

Infographic tools: www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/05/eight-free-tools-for-teachers-to-make.html




MDG Get Involved: www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/getinvolved.shtml

UN Women: www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals


Extensions (cont.)

http://animoto.com


http://prezi.com





http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/getinvolved.shtml

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals



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B O O K S


F I LM S



W E B S I T E S

This is the official website for the Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide film, book, and movement. www.halftheskymovement.org

Room to Read – founded by John Wood, this organization partners with communities across Asia and Africa to improve educational opportunities for children by focusing on the two areas where programs can have the most impact: literacy and gender equality in education. www.roomtoread.org

CARE International – fighting poverty and injustice in more than 70 countries around the world and helping 65 million people each year to find routes out of poverty. www.careinternational.org

The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) – works through local partnerships to give women tools to improve their lives, families, and communities. CEDPA’s programs increase educational opportunities for girls, ensure access to lifesaving reproductive health and HIV/AIDS information and services, and strengthen good governance and women’s leadership in their nations. www.cedpa.org

Girl Scouts of America – Girl Scouts of the USA has a membership of over 3.2 million girls and adults and empowers girls by tackling important societal issues, embracing diversity and reaching out to every girl, everywhere. www.girlscouts.org

The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) – fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change. us.camfed.org

Girls, Inc. – inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through life-changing programs and experiences that help girls navigate gender, economic, and social barriers. www.girlsinc.org

The Girl Effect – A collective movement to lift 50 million women and girls out of poverty by 2030 through the education and empowerment of girls. www.girleffect.org

National Coalition on Women and Girls Education (NCWGE) – A nonprofit organization of more than 50 groups dedicated to improving educational opportunities and advocate for the development of national education policies that benefit all women and girls. www.ncwge.org





http://www.roomtoread.org



http://www.girlscouts.org

http://us.camfed.org

http://www.girlsinc.org


http://www.ncwge.org

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1. (9–10, 11–12) Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grade 9–12] topics, text, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

4. (9–10) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
















Standards

Name: Date:

Class:

Work with your partners to brainstorm some possible consequences that the student in this scenario might face as a result of being denied access to an education.

HALF TH E S KY: E D U CATI ON F OR ALL

Student Handout A:

Life Map

POSS I B LE LONG-TE R M CON S EQU E NCES

You are a 14-year-old student and your family told you that your sibling(s) would continue to got to school, but you couldn’t go to school anymore because it’s too expensive to send all of their children, and they

think it’s more important for your other sibling(s) to be educated. Besides, they need your help doing chores

and taking care of the other children in the house.

POSSIB LE S HORT-TE R M CON S EQU E NCES

Discussion Questions:

• How do you feel about this information? Did it surprise you? If so, what surprised you most?

• Why do you think girls are less likely than boys to have access to education? What factors might influence girls’ access to education?

• In some communities the majority of girls in a village or town may be uneducated. What impact do you think this might have on the community?

• In nations where girls are four times less likely to get an education, how do you think the country might be affected?

Group Names:

Class:

Read and discuss the following statement and work as a group to answer the discussion questions:

Access to education is recognized as a basic human right as well as a significant factor in breaking the cycle of poverty and improving quality of life for children, communities, and countries. Despite this, millions of girls and women around the world are denied the oppor-tunity to attend school and pursue education and training outside the home.

Of the approximately 75 million children who are currently not in school, the majority are girls. Worldwide, for every 100 boys out of school, there are approximately 122 girls who are unable to attend school. In developing countries and countries with strict cultural and religious codes regarding gender roles, this gap is much wider: for every 100 boys out of school in Yemen, there are 270 girls who are not in school, in Iraq it is 316 girls, and in India it is 426 girls out of school for every 100 boys out of school.


Student Handout B:

The Education Ripple Effect

Vietnam: Country History

Ancient Vietnam was home to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, with a cultural history of over twenty thousand years – putting its citizens among the first humans to practice farming and agriculture.

Vietnam has spent much of its history repelling or being ruled by invaders. For over a thousand years Vietnam was governed by powers foreign to its region. In the late 19th century, the country was colonized by France, which ruled Vietnam until 1954, when France was defeated by communist forces.

The population of Vietnam was politically divided following the overthrow of French rule and an agreement was made to divide the country into North Vietnam (which was predominantly Communist) and South Vietnam (which opposed Communist rule), with the plan of reunifying the country through democratic, countrywide elections. This division eventually led to the Vietnam War.

After millions of Vietnamese deaths and the American withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973, the war ended with the fall of Saigon to the Northern armies in 1975. For almost 20 years, a reunified Vietnam suffered regional conflict and reconstruction and experienced international isolation and limited economic growth.

Girls’ Education in Vietnam

The Doi Moi (The Renovation)In the 1980s, Vietnam’s government introduced a series of reforms aimed at improving the country’s living standards and economy. Since then, the Doi Moi (the renovation), as it’s called, has made great advances — especially in the areas of private business, foreign investment, and transforming the country into an industrialized nation. But efforts to improve education have been met with many challenges, especially in rural areas.

Although Vietnam has made significant progress in achieving universal primary education and improving girls’ access to schooling, the overall quality of education is poor by international standards and teachers are in short supply. Children in rural areas are forced to travel miles alone to reach the nearest school, and family responsibilities often outweigh students’ hopes for education, with girls in particular dropping out so they can contribute to the household income.

Flying DucksIn Vietnam, girls are referred to as “flying ducks,” a saying that has its roots in Chinese tradition and refers to the belief that a girl’s value is lost to the family after her marriage. For parents who have limited resources, choosing to invest in their sons’ education over their daughters’ seems like a better bet, since tradition dictates that boys are responsible for taking care of parents in their old age, while a girl’s skills and talents will benefit her husband’s family.

Son preference is deeply rooted in many Asian countries, and daughters may be seen as a liability, especially where dowries must be paid. In Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Bich Vu Thi, a program officer for Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program, talks about her own struggles achieving access to education in a poor family where girls were not valued. She says, “One boy is one child, but 10 girls are not equivalent to one child.” In a country like Vietnam, where the average person earns just one dollar a day, the preference for boys, coupled with other factors — such as the need for daughters to help at home, the cost of schooling, and the long distances students often have to travel to attend school — puts education out of reach for thousands of girls whose families are living on the economic margins.


Student Handout C:

Vietnam in Context

Name: Date:

Class:

Take notes while watching the Education in Vietnam film module, using the following list of questions as a guide:

• Why is education important to each of the students in the film? What are their goals?

• What challenges do they face?

• What are their families’ attitudes toward education?

• What are they each doing to overcome the barriers?

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out most for you and illustrate the value and role of education in the lives of the students featured in the film.


Student Handout D:


Fast Facts about Girls’ Education

• Of the 781 million illiterate adults in the developing world, two-thirds are women.

• U.S. women comprise 48 percent of the U.S. workforce but just 24 percent of science, technology, engineering, and math workers.

• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent and an extra year of secondary school increases earnings by 15 to 25 percent.

• Educated women have greater control over their financial resources and are more likely to invest in their family’s health, education, and nutrition.

• A child born to a woman who can read is 50 percent more likely to survive past age five. Women with formal education are much more likely to delay marriage and have fewer and healthier babies.

• Education fosters democracy and women’s political participation. A study in Bangladesh found that educated women are three times more likely to take part in political meetings.

• Girls’ education ranks among the most powerful tools for reducing vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Strategies for Success

Below is a list of some of the most successful strategies that countries and communities are using to achieve Millennium Development Goal 2:

• Reduce or eliminate school fees: Unlike the United States, many countries do not provide free education. For children in these countries, school fees are a major barrier to education, especially for girls. When countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda eliminated their school fees, student enrollment skyrocketed.

• Provide merit-based scholarships: Providing scholarships based on student performance is an effective way of raising test scores and academic performance.

• Offer financial incentives to families: One of the most successful antipoverty initiatives in the world is Oportunidades in Mexico, which pays parents a monthly stipend if their children attend school regularly. Oportunidades has raised high school enrollment in some rural areas by 85 percent and has been especially beneficial for girls.

• Address health concerns that impact attendance: Giving girls access to private bathroom facilities has been an effective strategy to increase attendance at high schools.

• Improve quality and relevance of curricula: Students need to have access to information and skills that are not taught at home, such as computer literacy and financial skills. Parents who have limited funds are more willing to invest in their daughters’ education if it will help them succeed in our rapidly changing world.

• Provide mentors and role model programs: Girls benefit from mentorship that provides them with support and information that they may not get from their parents or teachers. When girls receive information that will help them make good decisions about all aspects of their lives, they are more likely to stay in school and be successful in future activities, whether that is raising a family, being a community leader, or having a job.


Student Handout E:

Education for All Fact Sheet

Name: Date:

Class: Interview Subject:

Imagine you are part of a group of student ambassadors from the Millennium Development Committee. You have been given the assignment to collaborate with one of the students from the film, with the goal of improving education in both your communities. Use the steps below to complete your assignment:


Student Handout F:

Notes from the Field

Step 1: Your team will “interview” your subject about the challenges and barriers to education for girls in her community and record her responses. Imagine what responses your subject would provide to the following questions, and think of three additional questions that you would like to ask her:

• What are the three biggest challenges or barriers you have faced in your ongoing effort to pursue an education?

• If you could snap your fingers and eliminate one barrier or challenge, what would it be and why?

• Have you faced special challenges because you are a girl? If so, what have they been?

• What strategies have you used to overcome these challenges? Have they worked? If so, how? If not, why not?

• How has your family responded to your efforts to achieve an education? How does their response make you feel?

• You (and your family) continue to make difficult sacrifices to make it possible for you to go to school. Why is education so important to you?

• What advice would you give to other girls and boys around the world who area trying to achieve an education in difficult circumstances?

• Team Question 1:



Step 2: Use Student Handout E: Education for All Fact Sheet as a guide to identify two strategies for improving access to education that would be most effective for your subject and her community. List the strategies below. Using a separate sheet of paper, briefly describe how you would collaborate with your subject and her community to implement each strategy. What outcome do you hope each will achieve?

• Strategy 1:

• Strategy 2:

Step 3: Now it’s your subject’s turn to interview you about education in the United States and in your community in particular. Imagine what responses your team would provide to the following questions, and think of three additional questions that your subject would ask you: What are the three biggest challenges or barriers you have faced in your ongoing effort to pursue an education?

• What does education mean in your family or in your community? Why is education important to you?

• What are the three biggest challenges or barriers to education that students in your community face?

• If you could snap your fingers and eliminate one barrier or challenge what would it be and why?

• Do girls and boys face different educational challenges? What impact, if any, does gender have on education in the United States?

• Subject Question 1:



Step 4: Based on her own experience, what advice do you think your subject could share with you about improving education in your community?

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Gender-Based Violence: Challenging Impunity


Although it is widespread, violence against women and girls goes widely unreported due to factors such as fear of retribution, shame, stigma, lack of economic resources, inadequate social services, ineffective legal systems, and concern for children (including fear for their children's safety and losing custody and access if they choose to leave). Few countries provide appropriate training for the police and judicial and medical staff who are the first responders for women and girls during and after violent events. As a result, victims of violence are left vulnerable to further abuse from the systems and institutions that are meant to protect them, and the perpetrators are often left unpunished and free to continue perpetrating violence.

This lesson will examine the global crisis of gender-based violence, the culture of impunity that surrounds it, and the impact it has on our own communities. Through the activities, students will be challenged to consider the factors that contribute to violence against women and girls and how they can contribute to local and international efforts to eradicate it.

OV E R V I E W

AudienceHigh School (grades 11-12), Community College, Youth Development Organizations

Time 90 minutes or two 50-minute class periods + assignments

Subject AreasWomen’s Studies, Social Studies, Civics, Global Studies, Media Studies, Health, English Language Arts

“It is really hard to find legal remedies to rape when you have cultural attitudes like this where rape is unfortunate but forgivable but being raped is just an unpardonable sin.”

Nicholas Kristof, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

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Objectives:

Students will:• consider the benefits and consequences of

taking a stand against an injustice;

• learn the definition of the word impunity and the meaning of the phrase a culture of impunity, and discuss the contributing factors that allow a culture of impunity to develop;

• identify the location of Sierra Leone on a map and understand the social and political context that has shaped the culture of impunity and violence in that country;

• develop a working definition for the term gender-based violence and consider the global culture of impunity in relation to violence against women;

• work in groups to analyze a scenario that illustrates an example of gender-based violence and imagine how their subject’s story would play out in two different environments;

• examine the root causes and impact of gender-based violence in their community and develop a strategy to address it; and

• understand the roles that men and boys can play in eradicating gender-based violence in their families and communities.

Resources:

• Film module: Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone (10:44)

• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Film Series Trailer (5:48): itvs.org/films/half-the-sky


• Teacher handouts:

- Gender-Based Violence Discussion Guide (Download Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide discussion guide PDFs from the Independent Television Service [ITVS] Women and Girls Lead website: www.womenandgirlslead.org.)

• Student handouts:

- Gender-Based Violence Glossary

- Student Handout A: Sierra Leone in Context

- Student Handout B: Film Module Screening Guide

- Student Handout C: Gwen’s Story

- Student Handout D: Representative Gwen Moore and the Violence Against Women ACT (VAWA)

• Pens/pencils and writing paper


• Computers with internet access

• Post-it notes

• Kraft paper

• Washable markers


OV E R V I E W

Note for Teachers about the Lesson Plan Gender-Based Violence: Challenging Impunity and Its Contents:This lesson and the accompanying film module from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide address the challenging issue of gender-based violence directly and honestly, but the discussions and topics might not be suitable for all audiences. Teachers should prepare for the lesson by reading all the materials thoroughly and watching the complete film module to determine if this topic and lesson are appropriate for their class. Teachers should also brief students on what they will be viewing in advance and identify students who might be personally or adversely affected by this material. Prior to launching the lesson, please contact your school counselor or social worker to discuss policies and procedures for addressing a disclosure of violence or abuse and be prepared to provide students with support or the option of not participating in the lesson where appropriate.

For additional information about the documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, please download the free Gender-Based Violence Discussion Guide from the ITVS Women and Girls Lead website (womenandgirlslead.org), visit the project’s official website (halftheskymovement.org), and read Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.






http://womenandgirlslead.org


http://halftheskymovement.org

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Time: 30 minutes

You will need: Student Handout A: Sierra Leone in Context, whiteboard/blackboard, dry-erase markers/chalk, kraft paper, washable markers, medium-sized Post-it notes, a wall map of the world with country names (free printable maps are available here: www.amaps.com/mapstoprint/WORLDDOWNLOAD.htm)

Goal: Students will consider the benefits and consequences of taking a stand against an injustice, and how these factors might affect their own choices. They will learn the definition of the word impunity and the meaning of the phrase a culture of impunity and discuss the contributing factors that allow a culture of impunity to develop. In preparation for viewing the Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone film module, students will identify the location of Sierra Leone on a map and understand the social and political context for the events depicted in the film.

Part 1: To Speak Out or not to Speak Out• Divide the class into groups of three to five students and provide each group with a large

sheet of kraft paper, markers, and Post-it notes.

• Give the students the following instructions:

- Think of a time when you (or someone you know) successfully spoke out in order to right a wrong or to protect yourself or someone else.

- Select a Post-it note (one for each student in the group) and write down all of the words you can think of to describe how you felt about yourself or the other person who took a stand.

- Discuss your responses as a group, then share your words with the class.

• Have each group hang their kraft paper on the wall and draw a horizontal line across the middle and mark points along the line numbered one to five as follows:

| | | | |

1 2 3 4 5

• Tell the students that this graph represents the likelihood that a person would speak out in a given situation (1=least likely; 5=most likely). In this first scenario, they — or the person they knew — spoke out, so have the students place all of their Post-its on number five.

• Following the pattern of the first question, ask students in each group to write the letter corresponding to each of the following scenarios and their responses on a Post-it note and place the completed Post-it on the area of the graph that indicates how likely they would be to speak out.

- Imagine that you spoke out about an injustice but nothing was done and the injustice was not corrected. Write on your Post-it note all of the words that you can think of to describe how you might feel. Place your Post-it on the graph in the area that indicates how likely you would be to speak out again.

-




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- Imagine that you knew before speaking out that your actions would probably not be successful or that no one would support you. How would you feel about taking action? Write on your Post-it note all of the words that you can think of to describe how you might feel. Place your Post-it note on the graph in the area that indicates how likely you would be to speak out.

- Imagine that you knew that you would be blamed, bullied, or shunned if you came forward.

- Imagine that you found out that your family would suffer.

- Imagine that you knew it was likely that you or the person you were helping would be in more danger as a result.

• After completing the activity, discuss the results as a class, including the placement of the Post-its for each question and what can be inferred from the results.

• Record the student feedback for reference later in the lesson.

Part 2: Culture of Impunity• Introduce the word impunity to the class. Have a student volunteer look up definitions

in two or more sources and share their findings with the class. (Example: When people are able to commit crimes and/or violate the human rights of others without facing consequences.)

• Based on these definitions, ask students what is meant by the phrase a culture of impunity. (Example: The term culture of impunity refers to a situation in which people in a society have come to believe that they can do whatever they want without having to face any penalties or punishments and victims of those actions are denied basic rights and/or protections.)

• Variation: Students can use a word map to process their responses: www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson307/wordmap.pdf.

• Ask the students to identify which, if any, of the examples from the previous activity they think are indicative of a culture of impunity and why.

• Ask students to share possible examples of impunity that they may have seen in the news, learned about in class, or experienced in their own lives. Examples could include the following:

- Prior to the abolition of slavery, many states allowed slaveowners to treat enslaved people in any way they saw fit. No matter how horrendously owners treated, tortured, or killed slaves, the law would ignore the actions of the perpetrators and the victims had no legal rights or protections.

- Since the digital revolution, there has been a major shift in the way that music is acquired. As of 2009, only 37 percent of music acquired in the United States was paid for. From 2004 through 2009 alone, approximately 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded.

• Using the students’ examples as a guide, have the class work in pairs (Think-Pair-Share) and brainstorm a list of factors that might contribute to the creation of a culture of impunity.

• Complete the discussion with the following questions:

- What impact would a culture like this have on an individual’s ability to feel empowered to speak out?

- What role do you think race, poverty, and gender might play in an individual’s ability to achieve justice?

Prescreening Activity (cont.)

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson307/wordmap.pdf

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• Ask the students to keep this activity in mind as they watch the film and tell them that they will revisit their work later in the lesson.

Part 3: Sierra Leone in Context• In preparation for viewing the film module, ask a volunteer to locate Sierra Leone on a

wall map.

• Provide students with the one-page fact sheet Student Handout A: Sierra Leone in Context. Have them read the fact sheet and discuss briefly with a partner.


Prescreening Activity (cont.)

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Class time: 10-15 minutes


You will need: Pens/pencils and writing paper, LCD projector or DVD player, the Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone film module, Student Handout B: Film Module Screening Guide, Gender-Based Violence Glossary

• Distribute Student Handout B: Film Module Screening Guide and instruct students to take notes during the screening, using the worksheet as a guide. Students may also need a copy of the Gender-Based Violence Glossary for reference while viewing the film.

• Variation: The questions from Student Handout B can be projected or written on the board and reviewed briefly before viewing the film module to save paper.

Time: 45-50 minutes

Viewing the Module


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You will need: Student Handout C: Gwen’s Story, Student Handout D: Representative Gwen Moore and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), whiteboard/blackboard, dry-erase markers/chalk, pens/pencils, writing paper

Goal: Students will discuss the film module and create a working definition of gender-based violence. They will work in groups to analyze a scenario that illustrates an example of gender-based violence and imagine how their subject’s story would play out in two different environments. Finally, they will consider the status of gender-based violence in the United States, how it impacts their own community, and their role and responsibility in addressing this issue.

Part 1: Discussion Questions• Begin by discussing the Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone film module and ask for

volunteers to share their notes and quotes from the screening guide. Use the following questions to guide the class discussion:

- What did you think of the film? Was there anything that surprised you?

- How do you feel about Fulamatu’s story?

- In addition to the physical violence Fulamatu experienced, what other forms of violence was she exposed to?

- What role does Fulamatu’s gender play in her story? Based on what you saw in the film, do girls and women have equal status with boys and men in Fulamatu’s community?

- In the film, Amie Kandeh says, “When you look at the root cause of violence against women, it is about power and control.” What does this statement mean to you? Do you agree with her?

- Why did Kandeh work with the International Rescue Committee to establish the Rainbo Centers? How does her personal experience inform her work? Why do you think she is able to stand up against an issue that few speak about openly in her community?

• Why do you think Kandeh refers to her clients at the Rainbo Center as “survivors” instead of “victims”?

• Kandeh says that “the IRC (International Rescue Committee) has responded to about ten thousand sexual assault survivors” since the program began in Sierra Leone and “there’s not even one percent of those cases that have been convicted.” What are some of the barriers that get in the way of bringing perpetrators to justice?

- What did the police do to investigate Fulamatu’s allegations? If you were the police, how would you have handled the investigation?

- In what ways does our definition of impunity connect with Fulamatu’s story? How did the responses of her family, the police, and the community contribute to the culture of impunity?

- What impact did the culture of impunity in Freetown have on Fulamatu’s choices and opportunities?

- How might the outcome of Fulamatu’s story have been different if there was a woman on the staff of the Family Support Unit? Would that have had an impact?

- What role should the government play in protecting women against violence? What roles should the police and justice system play?

- What parallels, if any, do you see in the treatment of women and girls in Sierra Leone and the treatment of women and girls in the United States?

- What impact, if any, do you think factors such as race and economic status have on violence against women and girls in the United States?

Post-Screening ActivityLE S S O N P L A N P R O C E D U R E S

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Part 2: Gender-Based Violence• This lesson plan is titled “Gender-Based Violence: Challenging Impunity.” Ask the students

what they think this term means based on what they saw in the film, and brainstorm a definition as a class. Have a volunteer look up additional formal definitions for the term and ask students to further refine the definition as needed.

• Introduce the following information:

- World-wide, gender-based violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer, traffic accidents, malaria, and war combined.

- UN Women: Say NO — UNiTE to End Violence against Women

• Ask students: What does this statement mean to you? Have them summarize this information in their own words and share with a partner. (Variation: Print out multiple copies of the quote and have students read it quietly, write their responses, then pass it on to another student. Repeat this process two or three times before discussing their responses as a class.)

• Share the Gender-Based Violence Glossary with the students and use the following prompts to guide a discussion or have students make a brief journal entry based on one or more of the questions:

- What do you think about this information?

- How does this information connect with our definition of gender-based violence?

- How was this information reflected in the film?

- In what way, if any, do you think violence against men is included in gender-based violence? Why or why not? (Explain that, although it is far less frequent than violence against women, gender-based violence has its roots in power and control, and many men and boys have been the victims of gender-based violence perpetrated by women or a male partner.)

- In what ways, if any, does this information connect to our discussion of a culture of impunity?


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Part 3: Gwen’s Story• Divide the class into groups of three to four students and provide

each group with Student Handout C: Gwen’s Story.

• Have the groups review Gwen’s story and consider how it would play out in two different environments: 1) Fulamatu’s community in Freetown; 2) A community in the United States.

• Using the prompts in Student Handout C: Gwen’s Story as a guide, each group will write two endings for their subject’s story, one for each scenario. When complete, the groups will share their stories with the class, followed by a class discussion.

• Reveal and discuss the origin of Gwen’s story by either using Student Handout D: Representative Gwen Moore and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) or reading the description below:

“Gwen’s Story” is based on the experience of Congresswoman Gwen Moore, representative for Wisconsin's Fourth Congressional District. She is the first African American and second woman to be elected to Congress from the state of Wisconsin and has served since 2005.

In the mid-1970s, Rep. Moore was attacked and raped by her friend in his car. She said that he later challenged her story in court on the grounds that she was dressed provocatively and had a child out of wedlock. She remembers, “I was literally on trial that day.” Rep. Moore said that her rapist was found not guilty and she was fired from her job as a file clerk for not calling in to work the day after the attack.

Rep. Moore shared her story on the floor of the House of Representatives in March 2012 in support of renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. She stressed that the attack happened almost 20 years before the Violence Against Women Act had been passed into law in September 1994 and that the outcome of her story might have been different if current laws providing stronger protection and support for victims of gender-based violence had been in place.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was the first major U.S. law to help government agencies and victim advocates work together to fight domestic violence, sexual assault, and other types of violence. It created new punishments for certain crimes and started programs to prevent violence and help victims. Since the law was passed, there has been a 51 percent increase in reporting of domestic violence by women and a 37 percent increase in reporting by men. The number of individuals killed by an intimate partner has decreased by 34 percent for women and 57 percent for men.

Despite this progress there is still work to do. In the United States today, a woman is abused — usually by her husband or partner — every 15 seconds, and is raped every 90 seconds and only about 3 percent of rapists ever serve a day in jail.

• Complete the lesson with a discussion, using the prompts below as a guide. (Students can also respond to one or more of these questions in their class journal.)

- Were you surprised by this information? In what way?

- What does this suggest about the status of women in the United States?

- What role do power and control play in gender-based violence?

- How does this information connect with what we have learned about gender-based violence worldwide?

- In what ways, if any, does this information connect to our discussion of a culture of impunity?

- What responsibility do we as individuals have to address gender-based violence in our communities?

- What role do you think men can play in eradicating violence against women and girls? What role can women play? How can we work together to address this issue?


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1. What would our Rainbo look like?Share the following information with the class: Gender-based violence is a global problem and even our country struggles with a culture of impunity. In the United States, only about 3 percent of rapists ever serve a day in jail.

- Imagine that Amie Kandeh asked you to open a Rainbo Center in your community to address gender-based violence in the United States.

- Who would you work with?

- What services would you provide?

- How would you reach out to families, men, youth, and community leaders?

- How would you involve law enforcement?

- What legal support would you provide for the survivors?

- What challenges would you expect to face?

- What outcome would you hope to achieve?

2. A Letter of SolidarityInstruct students to write a letter of solidarity to Fulamatu describing the effect that her story and her choice to speak out has had on them. What impact has her action had on breaking the silence and the global culture of impunity surrounding gender-based violence? (For example, even though her perpetrator was set free, her story has reached young men and women around the world.) Next, have students research current events and news stories related to this issue and identify an individual or community that has experienced gender-based violence. Have students write a second letter of solidarity to them, sharing what they have learned about the importance of breaking the silence through Fulamatu’s story.

3. Say No to Violence!Have students research the impact of gender-based violence in their community and the services and supports that are available to survivors. Working in groups, students should develop a plan of action to mobilize their community and become part of the campaign to eradicate violence against women.

• Instruct students to work in groups to create their own multimedia “Say No to Violence” toolkits, including a Google Map detailing local programs and organizations in their community and the services they offer.

• When developing their campaigns, students should consider how they can galvanize support from a broad range of audiences. How will they reach out to students, adults, women and girls, men and boys, etc.? Recommend that students visit the White Ribbon Campaign and Man Up Campaign for information and resources on how men and women can work together to end gender-based violence:

Man Up Campaign: www.manupcampaign.org

White Ribbon Campaign: www.whiteribbon.ca

• For more ideas, groups can research and connect with the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, which was launched in 2009 by UN Women to engage people from all walks of life, online, and on the ground to end gender-based violence in all its forms.

- UNiTE to End Violence against Women, Say No Campaign: www.saynotoviolence.org

- Say NO — UNiTE to End Violence against Women’s “Organizer’s toolkit”: saynotoviolence.org/about-say-no/organizers-toolkit

Assignments

http://www.manupcampaign.org

http://www.whiteribbon.ca

http://www.saynotoviolence.org

http://saynotoviolence.org/about-say-no/organizers-toolkit

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1. Is all violence created equal? The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was enacted in 1994 to recognize the pervasive nature of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and to provide comprehensive, effective, and cost-saving responses to these crimes. VAWA programs were created to give law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges the tools they need to hold offenders accountable and keep communities safe while supporting victims. But if violence, assault, and stalking are already crimes, is it necessary to have a specific law that targets violence against women? Why or why not?

- Instruct students to research the history and content of the Violence Against Women Act and how its provisions relate to existing criminal laws.

- Ask students to compile data on the impact of the VAWA since it was enacted.

- Explain that there is an ongoing debate about how and if the VAWA should continue to be funded, and if it should be expanded to include groups such as undocumented immigrants and members of the LGBT community.

- Following their research, have students engage in a formal debate about the issue. Education World offers a selection of debate resources that provide guidelines and rules for classroom debates: www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml.

2. Why should boys and men care about ending gender-based violence? Violence prevention requires a change in the social conditions that make violence normal and acceptable. Men and boys receive messages about relationships, violence, and power every day, and they also experience different forms of oppression: racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, etc. Men also enjoy certain privileges in institutions established by sexism. Generally speaking, men have greater access to resources and opportunities and are in a position to influence large social structures and institutions. As a result, they can play an important role in preventing violence against women.

- Instruct students to research the root causes of violence against women and girls and examine the unequal power relations between men and women that lead to gender-based violence.

- Have them identify negative consequences of violence against women in the lives of boys and men.

- For additional resources and lesson plans on this topic, refer to the following websites:

Man Up Campaign: www.manupcampaign.org

White Ribbon Campaign: www.whiteribbon.ca

“Guide to Engaging Men and Boys in Preventing Violence Against Women & Girls” by the Men’s Nonviolence Project, a project of the Texas Council on Family Violence: www.tcfv.org/pdf/mensguide/EngagingMenandBoys.pdf

3. Journalism vs. Activism: Nicholas Kristof actively participates in Fulamatu’s story, even helping the authorities track down the accused child-rapist. He considers the journalistic ethics of his involvement and concludes that he is comfortable with his decision.

• Have students view the entire Gender-Based Violence segment from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

• Ask students to consider the following questions: What do you think about Nicholas Kristof’s decision? Is there a distance that journalists should maintain in order to remain objective? Is it more ethical to simply observe and report or to actively participate?

• Share The Guardian article and photo essay, The Bystanders with your students and discuss what a journalist’s responsibility is when reporting a story.

• The Bystanders Article: www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/28/gutted-photographers-who-didnt-help

• The Bystanders Photo-Essay: www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/jul/28/bystanders-photographers-who-didnt-help

• Have students select a photojournalist featured in the story and consider if they agree or disagree with the journalist’s decision.

• Ask them to draft a letter from perspective of the journalist to one of their photograph’s subjects explaining their decision: why they feel that it was the correct choice or what they wish they had done differently. The completed letters can be presented as a monologue.

4. The silent war against women and girls. Violence against women and girls was a hallmark of the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone but these atrocities are not unique to this conflict. Rape has long been used as a weapon of war, and violence against women during or after armed conflicts has been reported in every war-zone. Between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and between 20,000 and 50,000 women were raped during the conflict in Bosnia in the early 1990s. In 2009, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution classifying rape as a war tactic and posing grave threat

Extensions




http://www.whiteribbon.ca

http://www.tcfv.org/pdf/mensguide/EngagingMenandBoys.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/28/gutted-photographers-who-didnt-help


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/jul/28/bystanders-photographers-who-didnt-help


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to international security. The resolution describes sexual violence as a deliberate weapon that humiliates, dominates, instills fear and worsens conflict situations by forcibly dispersing or relocating communities.

• Ask students to consider why violence against women and girls is especially prevalent in war zones.

• Divide the class into groups of 3-5 students and instruct each member of the group research a different contemporary conflict and the role that gender-based violence plays in it. Each student should identify root causes of the violence, how violence against women was used as a tool of war, and what the long-term impact was/is for the communities that were affected.

• Once each member of the group has completed their individual research, have them compare their results with their partners and identify areas of commonality.

• Groups can present their collective findings as a multimedia presentation including their research, photo-essays, video footage, audio clips, and infographics using the following websites as resources:



Prezi: prezi.com

Infographic tools from the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website: www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/05/eight-free-tools-for-teachers-to-make.html

5. Students Rebuild! Have your students participate in the global campaign to improve the health, opportunities, and safety for youth around the world. Students Rebuild is an initiative of the Bezos Family Foundation that mobilizes young people worldwide to “connect, learn and take action on critical global issues.” The program’s goal is “to activate our greatest creative resource—students—to catalyze powerful change. Working together, we identify the need, create the challenge, and forge strong partnerships. Then, we provide the tools and support to ensure our collective efforts are sustainable—now and into the future.”

Students Rebuild has joined the One Million Bones project in a global effort to cover the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 2013 with 1,000,000 handmade bones as a visible petition against humanitarian crises. Students Rebuild is challenging students worldwide to make bones, as a symbol of solidarity with victims and survivors of ongoing conflict. Each bone made generates $1 from the Bezos Family Foundation for CARE's work in conflict-affected regions, up to $500,000! CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty.

Students can speak out against the violence in Sierra Leone, Burma, Syria or other struggling regions by joining Students Rebuild and bringing the One Million Bones project to their community. Students can learn more about CARE’s work in the DRC here: www.studentsrebuild.org/congo and in Somalia www.studentsrebuild.org/somalia.

Students can connect directly with fellow students across the world to learn more about the causes and of the ongoing conflict and the challenges youth are currently experiencing by joining Interactive Videoconferences where they will see and speak to the students of ETN, a CARE supported vocational school in eastern DRC. Or they can participate in webcasts to connect directly with students and aid workers in the DRC. Learn more and sign up for IVCs and webcasts here: studentsrebuild.org/connect-field

6. Further Discussion: Hillary Clinton draws a parallel between the attitudes toward and treatment of women around the world today and the experience of African American slaves during the height of the slave trade explaining that both communities were not seen as “fully human” they were both “some other kind of being.” Have students view the entire Gender-Based Violence segment from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and discuss the following:

- What do you think she means by this statement?

- Do you agree? Why or why not?

- What similarities do you think she sees in both communities’ experiences?

- Is this an accurate parallel to draw? Why or why not?

Extensions

http://animoto.com


http://prezi.com



http://www.studentsrebuild.org/congo

http://www.studentsrebuild.org/somalia

http://studentsrebuild.org/connect-field

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B O O K S


F I LM S



W E B S I T E S


ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead is an innovative public media campaign designed to celebrate, educate, and activate women, girls, and their allies across the globe to address the challenges of the 21st century. womenandgirlslead.org

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. www.rescue.org

CARE International is an organization fighting poverty and injustice in more than 70 countries around the world and helping 65 million people each year to find routes out of poverty. www.careinternational.org

The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) works through local partnerships to give women tools to improve their lives, families, and communities. CEDPA’s programs increase educational opportunities for girls, ensure access to lifesaving reproductive health and HIV/AIDS information and services, and strengthen good governance and women’s leadership in their nations. www.cedpa.org

UNiTE to End Violence against Women was launched in 2009 by UN Women to engage people from all walks of life to end gender-based violence in all its forms. endviolence.un.org

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking and their work has put them on the forefront of the national movement to end the sexual slavery of women. www.gems-girls.org

Futures Without Violence works to prevent and end violence against women and children around the world. www.futureswithoutviolence.org

The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization and created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE). www.rainn.org

Man Up Campaign is a global campaign to activate young women and men to stop violence against women and girls. www.manupcampaign.org

Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE) is “a national initiative, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which takes a public health approach to preventing youth violence before it starts.” www.safeyouth.gov

The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a social change organization, is dedicated to creating a social, political, and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists. www.nnedv.org






http://www.rescue.org



http://endviolence.un.org

http://www.gems-girls.org

http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org

http://www.rainn.org


http://www.safeyouth.gov

http://www.nnedv.org

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W E B S I T E S

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States and works to bring about equality for all women. www.now.org

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. www.amnesty.org

Médecins Sans Frontières is “an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters.” www.msf.org

Save the Children is an organization that works to save and improve children’s lives in more than 50 countries worldwide. www.savethechildren.org

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man, and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. www.unfpa.org/public


http://www.now.org

http://www.amnesty.org

http://www.msf.org

http://www.savethechildren.org

http://www.unfpa.org/public

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3. (9-10, 11-12) Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

4. (9-10, 11-12) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

6. (9-10, 11-12) Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.


1. (9-10, 11-12) Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grade 9-12] topics, text, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

4. (9-10) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.

4. (11-12) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

5. (9-10, 11-12) Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.


1. (9-10, 11-12) Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

4. (9-10, 11-12) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

7. (9-10, 11-12) Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

9. (9-10, 11-12) Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.






National Standards for Arts Education Grades 9-12



Standards

HALF TH E S KY: G E N D E R-BAS E D VI OLE N CE: CHALLE N G I N G I M PU N ITY

Gender-Based Violence Glossary

Defining Violence Against Women and Girls

The Declaration of the Elimination of Violence Against Women, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.” This includes:

Domestic violenceA pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. This can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats. It also includes any behaviors that intimidate, isolate, frighten, threaten, blame, hurt, or wound.

Economic violenceMaking or attempting to make an individual financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding an individual’s access to money, or forbidding an individual’s attendance at school or employment.

Emotional abuse and psychological abuseUndermining an individual’s sense of self-worth or self-esteem is abusive. This may include constant criticism, name-calling, damaging a woman’s relationship with her children, causing fear by intimidation, and threatening physical harm.

Female genital mutilation/cutting Female genital mutilation (also known as female circumcision or genital cutting) is the removal of part or all of the external female genitalia, and in its most severe form, a woman or girl has all of her genitalia removed and then the wound is stitched together, leaving a small opening for urination, intercourse, and menstruation. This practice has a direct effect on women and girls’ reproductive and maternal health and can have grave consequences during childbirth. Female genital mutilation is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15 and is motivated by a mix of cultural, religious, and social factors within families and communities.

Honor killing Acts of vengeance, usually death, committed against female family members who are believed to have brought dishonor on the family. A woman can be targeted for a variety of reasons, including refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce (even from an abusive husband), or allegedly committing adultery.

Human trafficking A crime against humanity that involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving a person through the use of force, coercion, or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.

Physical abuseHitting, slapping, shoving, grabbing, pinching, biting, hair pulling, etc. are types of physical abuse. This type of abuse also includes denying medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use on the victim.

Sexual abuse and rape Coercing or attempting to coerce any sexual contact or behavior without consent. Sexual abuse includes attacks on sexual parts of the body, marital rape, forcing sex after physical violence has occurred, or treating another person in a sexually demeaning manner.

Sexual harassment and intimidationUnwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

P O W E R&

C O N T R O L

physical V I O L E N C E sexual

phys

ical V I O L E N C E sexual

COERCION AND THREATS:Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt her. Threatening to leave her, commit suicide, or report her to welfare. Making her drop charges. Making her do illegal things.

INTIMIDATION:Making her afraid by using looks, actions, and gestures. Smashing things. Destroying her property. Abusing pets. Displaying weapons.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE:Putting her down. Making her feel bad about herself. Calling her names. Making her think she’s crazy. Playing mind games. Humiliating her. Making her feel guilty.

ISOLATION:Controlling what she does, who she sees and talks to, what she reads, and where she goes. Limiting her outside involvement. Using jealousy to justify actions.

MINIMIZING, DENY-ING, AND BLAMING:Making light of the abuse and not taking her concerns about it seriously. Saying the abuse didn’t happen. Shifting responsibility for abusive behavior. Saying she caused it.

USING CHILDREN:Making her feel guilty about children. Using children to relay messages. Using visitation to harass her. Threatening to take the children away.

ECONOMIC ABUSE:Preventing her from getting or keeping a job. Making her ask for money. Giving her an allowance. Taking her money. Not letting her know about or have access to family income.

MALE PRIVILEGE:Treating her like a servant: making all the big decisions, acting like the “master of the castle,” being the one who decides men’s and women’s roles.


Gender-Based Violence Glossary

Power and Control

This chart uses a wheel to show the relationship of physical abuse to other forms of abuse. Each part shows a way to control or gain power.

directed specifically against women. During the conflict, violence against women was routinely used as a tool of war and women and girls were sexually and physically abused in extraordinarily brutal ways, including rape, torture, amputation, forced pregnancy, trafficking, mutilation, and slavery. Although the war has long since ended, the mistreatment of women continues.

Sierra Leone emerged from this war in 2002 with the help of a large United Nations peacekeeping mission. More than seventeen thousand foreign troops disarmed tens of thousands of rebels and militia fighters, but several years on, the country still faces the challenge of reconstruction. Rape, abduction, and sexual slavery are part of the brutal legacy of the civil war, which left over half the country’s population displaced and destitute. Over a decade since conflict ended, many fear that rape is more of a problem in postconflict Sierra Leone than it was during the war.

Truth and Reconciliation: Breaking the SilenceFollowing the end of the civil war, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in Sierra Leone to create an impartial record of the abuses that occurred during the conflict. The commission’s investigators soon found that gathering information, specifically about sexual violence, was not easy. In Sierra Leone, as in many other countries, women and girls are afraid to speak publicly about rape and other sexual violence. They are shunned in their own communities when they admit they have been sexually abused. To help break through such barriers, the UN Development Fund for Women (now UN Women) intervened with advice, training, and other support. Based on their findings, the commission urged reforms in Sierra Leone’s legal, judicial, and police systems to make it easier for women to report cases of sexual and domestic violence.

Sources:www.unfpa.org/women/docs/gbv_sierraleone.pdf

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094194

www.rescue.org/video/stop-violence-against-women-irc-sierra-leone

www.un.org/en/africarenewal/vol18no4/184sierraleone.htm

www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/b8dedfadc369a158c1256b81005a84f9?Opendocument

www.irinnews.org/Report/78853/SIERRA-LEONE-Sex-crimes-continue-in-peacetime

www.halftheskymovement.org/pages/amie-kandeh

The Republic of Sierra Leone is located on the Atlantic coast of West Africa and is a country rich with natural resources, including gold, titanium, and diamonds. Despite its natural wealth, approximately 70 percent of Sierra Leone’s population lives in poverty and the country is struggling to recover from a recent, brutal civil war that cost tens of thousands of lives and has left a legacy of violence against women and girls.

From Colonization to the Founding of FreetownFrom 1495 until the middle of the 20th century, Sierra Leone endured over 450 years of colonization and oppression, primarily under British rule, and became a major departure point for thousands of West Africans who were enslaved during the height of the transatlantic slave trade.

As the slave trade continued to grow in the Americas, the abolition movement in Great Britain was also growing. By the time of the American Revolution, slavery had been outlawed in Great Britain but was still practiced in many of its colonial outposts. In 1791, Thomas Peters, who had served in the Black Pioneers (the African American regiment of the British Army), collaborated with British abolitionists to establish a free settlement in Sierra Leone for over eleven hundred former African American slaves. These settlers had escaped from the American colonies during the Revolutionary War and sought sanctuary with the British Army. They established the settlement of Freetown in Sierra Leone, which is now the country’s capital.

Independence and Internal ConflictDuring Sierra Leone’s long colonial history, its people mounted several unsuccessful revolts against British rule. In 1951, the Sierra Leone People’s Party oversaw the drafting of a new constitution for an independent Sierra Leone, which began the process of decolonization. Almost a decade later, constitutional conferences were held in London to bring an end to British rule, and in 1961, the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, with the respected politician and medical doctor Sir Milton Margai as its first prime minister.

Sierra Leone enjoyed several years of relative stability and progress following independence, but after the death of Sir Milton Margai, political rivalries and power struggles began to fracture the newly established government. Over the next three decades these clashes continued and resulted in several coups, the rise of an authoritarian system of one-party rule, and widespread corruption.

Civil War and a Legacy of Violence against WomenSierra Leone’s brutal civil war stretched from 1991 to 2002 and was driven by a complex web of forces, including the legacy of exploitation by colonial forces, rivalries between ethnic groups, and pressure and influence from other countries who had political, military, and economic interests in Sierra Leone and its resources — especially its diamonds.

The Sierra Leone Civil War was known internationally for its horrific atrocities, but until recently, little attention was devoted to abuses


Student Handout A:

Sierra Leone in Context

http://www.unfpa.org/women/docs/gbv_sierraleone.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094194

http://www.rescue.org/video/stop-violence-against-women-irc-sierra-leone

http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/b8dedfadc369a158c1256b81005a84f9?Opendocument

http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/b8dedfadc369a158c1256b81005a84f9?Opendocument

http://www.irinnews.org/Report/78853/SIERRA-LEONE-Sex-crimes-continue-in-peacetime

http://www.halftheskymovement.org/pages/amie-kandeh

Name: Date:

Class:

Take notes while watching the Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone film module, using the following list of questions as a guide:

• What happened to Fulamatu?

• What actions did she take?

• What consequences did Fulamatu face for speaking out?

• What consequences did the perpetrator face?

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out most for you and/or illustrate the culture of impunity that Fulamatu is facing.


Student Handout B:


Read Gwen’s story and work with your group to complete the activity below:

Gwen was a single mother who had been struggling financially and personally. She had her first child at a young age but was determined to stay in school and get her education, so she worked part-time and relied on government support to help with her tuition and child care.

One day she was riding in a car with a male friend, on the way to pick up some food. Without warning, her friend turned off the road, parked behind some buildings, and attacked her. He choked her almost to death and raped her. He later claimed that she deserved it because of what she was wearing that day and because she had already had a child but was not married.

How do you think Gwen’s story turns out? Work as a group to create two endings for Gwen’s story based on the following scenarios:

1) Imagine that Gwen lives in Fulamatu’s community in Freetown, Liberia:

• What steps will Gwen take?

• Who will she turn to for support?

• What reactions will she get from her friends, family, and community?

• Will she reach out to her local law enforcement? How do you think they will respond?

• What do you think will happen to the perpetrator?

• What impact do you think this event will have on Gwen and her family?

2) Imagine that Gwen lives in a community in the United States:

• What steps will Gwen take?

• Who will she turn to for support?

• What reactions will she get from her friends, family, and community?

• Will she reach out to her local law enforcement? How do you think they will respond?

• Will she have access to family support programs or community programs? What kinds of services will they provide? What do you think will happen to the perpetrator?

• What impact do you think this event will have on Gwen and her family?


Student Handout C:

Gwen’s Story

“Gwen’s Story” is based on the experience of Congresswoman Gwen Moore, representative for Wisconsin’s Fourth Congressional District. She is the first African American and second woman to be elected to Congress from the state of Wisconsin and has served since 2005.

In the mid-1970s, Rep. Moore was attacked and raped by her friend in his car. She said that her attacker later challenged her story in court on the grounds that she was dressed provocatively and had a child out of wedlock. She remembers, “I was literally on trial that day.” Rep. Moore said her rapist was found not guilty and she was fired from her job as a file clerk for not calling in to work the day after the attack.

Rep. Moore shared her story on the floor of the House of Representatives in March 2012 in support of renewal of the Violence Against Women Act that was first passed into law in September 1994. She stressed that the attack happened before the Violence Against Women Act had been passed, and if current laws providing stronger protection and support for victims of gender-based violence had been in place, the outcome for her might have been different.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was the first major law to help government agencies and victim advocates work together to fight domestic violence, sexual assault, and other types of violence. It created new punishments for certain crimes and started programs to prevent violence and help victims. Since the law was passed, there has been a 51 percent increase in reporting of domestic violence by women and a 37 percent increase in reporting by men. The number of individuals killed by an intimate partner has decreased by 34 percent for women and 57 percent for men.

Despite this progress, there is still work to do. In the United States today, a woman is abused — usually by her husband or partner — every 15 seconds, and is raped every 90 seconds.


Student Handout D:

Representative Gwen Moore and the Violence Against Women Act

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Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational Prostitution


Modern-day slavery is relatively unknown, in part because it does not fit our historic image of slavery. Contemporary human slavery can take many forms, including forced labor, child marriage, debt bondage, and commercial sexual slavery. Modern slaves can be garment workers, domestic help, agricultural workers, and prostitutes. They might work in factories, build roads, or harvest crops.

Although slavery was officially abolished worldwide at the 1926 Slavery Convention, it continues to thrive thanks to the complicity of some governments and the ignorance of much of the world. Sexual exploitation is the most widespread form of human trafficking, making up 79 percent of all recorded human trafficking cases. One in five victims of human trafficking are children and two-thirds of victims are women. Gender-based discrimination and the devaluing of women and girls are at the root of this exploitation, which is compounded by religious and cultural traditions and other social and economic inequalities. Sexual exploitation and trafficking exist because it is acceptable for those in the society with more power — often adult men — to purchase and use those with less power: women and children, and among them especially, ethnic minorities, the poor, and the disabled.

Through this lesson students will learn that there are more people living in slavery today than at any time in history and consider the causes and consequences for women and children, who are disproportionately victimized by the commercial sex trade and who constitute the vast majority of the estimated two million people sold into sex slavery around the world every year.

OV E R V I E W

AudienceHigh School (grades 11–12), Community College, Youth Development Organizations

Time Two to three 50-minute class periods + assignments

Subject AreasWomen’s Studies, Social Studies, Global Studies, Media Studies, English Language Arts

“No child, no woman, no human being should be selling their bodies for survival.”

Urmi Basu Founder of New Light

“I want to empower the survivors to stand up and say no if they want to say no.”

Somaly Mam Founder of AFESIP Cambodia

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Objectives:

Students will:• understand the status and context of

modern slavery;

• develop a working definition for human trafficking;

• consider the global impact of the modern slave trade and the role that gender plays in human trafficking;

• understand what it means to be an Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, and Survivor; and

• examine the complex relationships of individuals who are affected by the sexual trafficking of women and girls and how their interactions with that issue and with each other overlap using the lenses of Upstanders, Bystanders, Perpetrators, and Survivors.

Resources:

• Film modules: Intergenerational Prostitution in India (10:44) Sex Trafficking in Cambodia (10:11)

• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Film Series Trailer (5:48): itvs.org/films/ half-the-sky



- Teacher Handout A: Mapping Modern Slavery

- Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational Prostitution Discussion Guide (Download Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide discussion guide PDFs from the Independent Television Service [ITVS] Women and Girls Lead website: www.womenandgirlslead.org.)


- Student Handout A: What Is Modern Slavery?

- Student Handout B: Cambodia and India in Context

- Student Handout C: Film Module Screening Guides

- Student Handout D: Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, Survivor

- Student Handout E: Responsibility, Culpability, and Understanding





OV E R V I E W

Note for Teachers about the Lesson Plan Breaking the Chains of Modern Slavery: Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational Prostitution and Its Contents:This lesson and the accompanying film module from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide address the challenging issues of sex trafficking and prostitution directly and honestly, but the discussions and topics might not be suitable for all audiences. Teachers should prepare for the lesson by reading all the materials thoroughly and watching the complete film module to determine if this topic and lesson are appropriate for their class. Teachers should also brief students on what they will be viewing in advance and identify students who might be personally or adversely affected by this material. Prior to launching the lesson, please contact your school counselor or social worker to discuss policies and procedures for addressing a disclosure of violence or abuse and be prepared to provide students with support or the option of not participating in the lesson where appropriate.

For additional information about the documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and the global crisis of human trafficking and violence against women and girls, please download the free Sex Trafficking and Intergenerational Prostitution Discussion Guide from the Women and Girls Lead website (www.womenandgirlslead.org), visit the project’s official website (www.halftheskymovement.org), and read Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.









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Time: 40 minutes

You will need: Student Handout A: What Is Modern Slavery?; Student Handout B: Cambodia and India in Context; Teacher Handout A: Mapping Modern Slavery; a wall map of the world with country names; pens/pencils; writing paper; and map pins, stickers, or small Post-its

Goal: Students will challenge their preconceptions about slavery and discuss the status and nature of slavery in the 21st century. Students will develop working definitions for modern slavery and human trafficking and an understanding of the different forms that trafficking takes. Students will brainstorm contributing factors and complete the activity by considering the role that gender plays in human trafficking.

Part 1: What Does Slavery Mean to You?• Ask the class to consider the following question and give students one minute to quickly

write their responses: What does the term slavery mean to you?

• Ask for volunteers to share and discuss their answers, and use the prompts below to further explore their responses:

- Do you think slavery still exists? Why or why not?

- What do you imagine modern slavery looks like?

• Record the responses on the board to refer to them later in the activity.

Divide the class into small groups of two to three and distribute Student Handout A: What Is Modern Slavery? Give the groups seven to ten minutes to read and discuss the summary of modern slavery using the questions in the handout.

• Ask the pairs to share the results of their discussions with the class and track the groups’ speculations about question #4 (Where in the world do you think modern slavery exists today?) on a wall map with pins, stickers, or small Post-its.

Distribute two Fast Facts from Teacher Handout A: Mapping Modern Slavery to each group. Each Fast Fact will contain a brief summary about slavery in a different country of the world. The groups will discuss their facts and try to identify which country they think each fact applies to.

• Each group will share their fact and the countries they believe they represent. Once the correct countries for each fact have been identified, groups will mark their countries on the map.

• The class will review the map and compare their speculations with the reality of the modern slave trade suggested by their country facts.

• Complete the activity by sharing the following information:

Trafficking affects all regions and the majority of countries in the world. Both men and women may be victims of trafficking, but the primary victims worldwide are women and girls, the majority of whom are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Traffickers primarily target women and girls because they are disproportionately affected by poverty and discrimination, factors that impede their access to employment, educational opportunities, and other resources. (www.stopvaw.org)


http://www.stopvaw.org

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Part 2: Cambodia and India in Context• In preparation for viewing the film modules, ask a volunteer to locate Cambodia and India on

the wall map.

• Provide students with the fact sheet Student Handout B: Cambodia and India in Context. Have them read the fact sheet and discuss briefly with a partner.


Part 3: Kenya in Context• In preparation for viewing the film module, ask a volunteer to locate Kenya on the wall map.

• Provide students with the fact sheet Student Handout C: Kenya in Context. Have them read the fact sheet and discuss briefly with a partner.



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Class time: 35 minutes

Note: If time permits, we recommend that you begin this section by watching the Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Film Series Trailer (5:48): itvs.org/films/half-the-sky

You will need: Pens/pencils, writing paper, LCD projector or DVD player, Student Handout C: Film Module Screening Guides, the Breaking the Chains of Modern Slavery: Cambodia — Sex Trafficking and Breaking the Chains of Modern Slavery: India — Intergenerational Prostitution film modules

• Distribute Student Handout C: Film Module Screening Guides and instruct students to take notes during the screening using the worksheet as a guide. and reviewed briefly before viewing the film module to save paper.

Part 1: Intergenerational Prostitution in India• Screen the Intergenerational Prostitution in India film module, then review the students’

notes and follow with the discussion questions below:

- Based on the stories in the film, what are some factors that contribute to women in the Kalighat district of Kolkata becoming prostitutes?

- What strategies did the brothel owners use to keep them obedient?

- Why do they remain prostitutes?

- What impact have their experiences had on their expectations for their daughters?

- In the film module, Basu relates a common parental fear: “Maybe someday when my child is empowered and educated and moves away, he or she is going to abandon me.” What other factors contribute to the parents’ or community’s reluctance to see the next generation change their fate? How would you react if someone more privileged than you were to offer to take your children away to a better life?

- Can you give examples of quotes from the film that stood out the most for you?

Part 2: Sex Trafficking in Cambodia• Screen the Sex Trafficking in Cambodia film module, then review the students’ notes and

discuss briefly:

- How did Somaly Mam and Somana become prostitutes?

- What strategies did the brothel owners use to keep them obedient?

- How are they using their experiences to help others?

- Why do you think Mam refers to the young women and children in the AFESIP program as survivors rather than victims?

- Somana chose her name because it means “forgiveness.” She tells the story of returning from the brothel and says, “The moment I became a victim, no one would forgive me. They would say I am a bad girl. If that mentality continues, I couldn’t live with myself. But I am not angry, I’ll stand taller to help other girls.” What did you think of Somana’s story? What role do you think forgiveness can play in reintegrating survivors into their communities? Would you have taken the same path if you were in Somana’s shoes? If you were a survivor, what name do you think you would choose?

- Mam has said that “the girls and me are the same because we have the same life. I am them. They are me.” Is it important that Mam is both a Cambodian and a survivor of sex slavery? Why or why not? How do you think her experience informs her work?

- Can you give examples of quotes from the film that stood out the most for you?

Viewing the Module



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Time: 50–65 minutes

You will need: Student Handout D: Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, Survivor; Student Handout E: Responsibility, Culpability, and Understanding; pens/pencils; whiteboard/blackboard; dry-erase markers/chalk

Goal: Students will discuss the film modules and share their notes. They will then consider what it means to be an Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, or Survivor and examine the roles that subjects from the film play in relationship to each other and to the broader global crisis of sex trafficking.

Part 1: Postscreening Discussion Questions • Begin by comparing and discussing the Sex Trafficking in Cambodia and the

Intergenerational Prostitution in India film modules, using the following questions to guide the class discussion:

- What did you think of the film? Was there anything that surprised you?

- How does each film represent modern slavery?

- What are the similarities and differences between the circumstances for women and girls in Cambodia and India?

- Do any of the women’s families play a role in their trafficking? Can you give some examples from the films?

- Based on what we saw in the films and our earlier discussion, why do you think the families (and the girls themselves) may see prostitution as an option?

- In the film, America Ferrera says, “It’s not just saving them from prostitution, it is saving them from a world where these women themselves have never been taught to value their own lives.” What do you think she means by this? Do you agree with this statement?

- How is sexual exploitation connected to the cycle of poverty?

- What role, if any, could access to education and economic empowerment play in combating this form of gender-based violence?

- Nicholas Kristof says that one of the “global paradoxes is that countries with the most conservative sexual traditions tend to have the most prostitution.” Why do you think that is? What value do women have in these societies?

- Somaly Mam talks about the global crisis of sex trafficking and sexual slavery and says, “Sometimes people want to do too much and they do nothing. Sometimes they feel like, ‘I can’t help you, I cannot.’” But she then goes on to say, “Everyone can help. Everyone can do one thing.” Do you agree with this statement? Do you think this issue is connected to your life in any way? If so, how, and if not, why not? What responsibility, if any, do each of us have to take action on the issues of sex trafficking and the sexual slavery of women and girls?



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Part 2: Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, Survivor• In this activity, students will consider what it means to be an

Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, or Survivor and examine the roles that each of the subjects from the film plays in relationship to the broader crisis of sex trafficking.

• Divide the class into small groups of three students and distribute Student Handout D: Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, Survivor.

• Ask the groups to review the definitions for each term and rewrite each in their own words using the handout as a guide. Have each group share its results with another group and refine its own definitions and understanding of the terms based on the discussion.

• Distribute Student Handout E: Responsibility, Culpability, and Understanding and have each group identify a collection of three subjects from one of the films to focus on for the activity.

• Ask each member of the group to select one individual from their collection of subjects and have each student complete a copy of Student Handout E with their character in mind. While completing their handouts, the students should consider the complex relationship that each subject has to sexual exploitation of women, using the lenses of Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, and Survivor, and how their interactions with that issue and with each other overlap.

• When the students have completed the handout, have each take turns sharing their subject’s profile with the other members of their group. Ask the members of the group to imagine and share how their own subjects might respond to the others’ responses and statements.

• Complete the process by instructing each group to discuss how the subjects who were Bystanders or Perpetrators could make different choices in order to be Upstanders. Have students share what they think the benefits and consequences of different choices might be for him or her and for the other subjects involved. Students can draw on their own experiences and share the tools they might use to be an Upstander in this situation.

• If time and resources allow, provide a large sheet of kraft paper to each group and have them create and illustrate speech bubbles for their responses to the discussion. Give the class five minutes to walk around the room and review each group’s work.

• Review the results of the activity and discuss as a class using the following prompts:

- What surprised you most about this activity?

- Did any of your subjects play more than one role?

- What role do factors such as gender, age, and economic status play in the options each subject had and the choices available to them?

- In what ways does understanding the subjects’ relationships to each other help you better understand the circumstances that led to the violation of these women’s rights?

- How has your understanding of slavery changed since the beginning of this lesson?

- There is a culture of silence surrounding sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children. Survivors often experience social stigma, fear of retribution, and emotional trauma and are reluctant to share their stories. What are some of the ways that Somaly Mam’s programs in Cambodia and New Light in India are breaking those taboos and helping Survivors become Upstanders and challenging Bystanders and Perpetrators to reconsider their choices?

- What are the consequences of being an Upstander? What are some of the consequences for survivors who come forward to speak on their own behalf?

- Now that we know about this issue, what responsibility do we have? How can we be Upstanders for the Survivors of sexual trafficking?


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1. The Institution of Sexual Slavery One of the primary reasons that sex trafficking and sexual slavery continue to flourish is that there are too few penalties for traffickers, brothel owners, and the patrons that keep this economy running. In what ways do governments and social institutions participate in these issues? How might their collective actions make them Upstanders, Bystanders, Perpetrators, and/or Victims of the trafficking industry?

• Instruct students to work in groups and research and review domestic and international policies and agreements aimed at preventing and eradicating trafficking, including the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, The UN General Assembly’s Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations’ (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000: www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime: www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4720706c0.html

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

• Using the U.S. Department of State’s “Trafficking in Persons Report 2012” as a resource (www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/index.htm) have each group identify a country from each of the three tiers described below and read the country summary.

- Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards.

- Tier 2/ Tier 2 Watch List: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

- Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

• Instruct each group to compare and contrast the Protection, Prosecution, and Prevention policies described in each country’s summary and find areas of overlap and difference.

●

• Groups should supplement their research for each country by examining their countries’ economies, education systems, social services, and status of women.

• Ask students to consider how trafficking flourishes in some regions and not in others.

- What role do equal opportunities for women, a strong civil society, a robust economy, access to education, lower rates of government and private sector corruption, the rule of law, and educational opportunities play in the rate of trafficking?

- Why are some countries the suppliers of trafficking victims while others are the destinations?

- What are the economic forces that are driving the trafficking industry and how might these forces impact countries’ responses to the crisis?

- What role do social and religious restrictions on women’s status play in their vulnerability to trafficking?

• Ask students to consider how governments and social institutions can function as Upstanders, Bystanders, Perpetrators, and/or Victims of the trafficking industry. What role can individual citizens play to eradicate an institutional culture that allows trafficking to flourish in their own country and in other parts of the world?

• Students should report their findings by creating a profile for each country and developing an infographic that illustrates the factors that contribute to the country’s success against or struggle with trafficking. They should also identify at least three actions that students in their community can take against human trafficking and sexual slavery and develop fliers, brochures, and a social media site to spread the word about their campaign.

• Students can use the following websites for additional research, resources, and information:

Polaris Project: www.polarisproject.org

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

HumanTrafficking.org: www.humantrafficking.org

Tumblr: www.tumblr.com



Prezi: prezi.com


Assignments

http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4720706c0.html

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/index.htm


http://www.polarisproject.org

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

http://www.humantrafficking.org

http://www.tumblr.com

http://animoto.com


http://prezi.com



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2. Epistolary Poems: An Open Letter To… Building on the postscreening activity, students will write two epistolary poems (poems in the form of letters) in the voices of two characters from the films.

• Ask each student to select an Upstander or Survivor from one of the films and write an epistolary poem to one of the story’s Bystanders or Perpetrators. In the poems, have the subjects explain the impact that the Bystander or Perpetrator had on their lives, why they made the choices they made, what they hoped to achieve, and how they feel about their choices.

• Ask students to watch the module again and write down words, quotes, and actions that speak to the themes of their poems. Let them know that they can speculate when needed but should draw from the actual words and actions of the characters as much as possible.

• Next, have the students write a response epistolary poem from the Bystander or Perpetrator. In the poems, have the subjects explain why they made the choices they made, what their motives were, and how they feel about their choices.

• The following websites provide detailed information about and resources for developing epistolary poems:

Poets.org: www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22718

Epistolary Poetry FAQ: www.tabayag.com/epistolary-poetry/epistolary-poetry-faq

PBS NewsHour Extra: Poetry www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/poetry

3. Human Trafficking at HomeSex trafficking is not just a problem in the developing world. Approximately 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. What impact, if any, do you think sex trafficking and sexual exploitation are having in your community? What more could or should the United States do to combat sexual exploitation on the national and international levels?

• Divide the class into groups and instruct each group to research and examine the impact of human trafficking in their community.

• Have them identify and connect with local and national groups that are working to help survivors and eradicate trafficking and find out how they and their peers can contribute to and participate in those campaigns. Students should examine what impact, if any, that trafficking is having in their region, what forms trafficking takes in the United States, which communities are most affected, and the effect of the growing sex-tourism industry among Americans traveling to places like Thailand, Cambodia, and the Dominican Republic.

• Instruct each group to develop an action plan to address the problem in their community or region.

• Groups should complete their projects by designing websites and creating social media campaigns that will provide fact sheets, resources, and information about the issue and how survivors and volunteers can connect with service providers. The following websites can be used as resources:

Polaris Project: www.polarisproject.org

CARE’s “Human Trafficking” section: www.care.org.uk/advocacy/human-trafficking

UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking: www.ungift.org

Weebly for Education: education.weebly.com

TodaysMeet — Microblogging for the Classroom: www.todaysmeet.com

Assignments (cont.)

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22718

http://www.tabayag.com/epistolary-poetry/epistolary-poetry-faq

http://ww.pbs.org/newshour/extra/poetry

http://www.polarisproject.org

http://www.care.org.uk/advocacy/human-trafficking

http://www.ungift.org

http://education.weebly.com

http://www.todaysmeet.com

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1. Buying in to SlaveryWhen we think of modern slavery, we often imagine that it is something very separate from our own lives being perpetrated by criminals and thugs operating in a world very different from ours. In reality, we encounter the products of slavery every day in our grocery stores, shopping malls, restaurants, and the buildings we live and work in. How do our daily choices contribute to modern slavery?

• Display a range of items (a pair of sneakers, a cotton shirt, a chocolate bar, a cup of coffee, a photo of a car, a silk scarf, a bowl of rice, etc.) and ask students what they think the items have in common. Explain that each of these items is directly or indirectly the product of modern slavery.

• Ask students to select one item and research its production and distribution from its source to the stores where we buy it.

• Where possible, students should contact the companies and individuals involved with the production and conduct interviews about their relationship to the product.

• Have students document the product’s journey and their research process with video, photos, interviews, journal writing, and social media sites such as Pinterest and Tumblr. Their process documents and research can be compiled into a multimedia presentation.

• Students can also create an interactive map of the story of the product’s journey and the ripple effect of its production using Google Maps.

• The following websites can provide resources and information for the projects:

This interactive website can calculate your individual “slavery footprint”: slaveryfootprint.org

Stories of modern survivors of slavery: www.freetheslaves.net/SSLPage.aspx?pid=386

Prezi: www.prezi.com

Weebly for Education: education.weebly.com

TodaysMeet — Microblogging for the Classroom: www.todaysmeet.com

2. Caste, Class, and Women’s RightsUrmi Basu describes the cycle of intergenerational prostitution thus: “Women who are in prostitution have very little ability to make their daughters aspire to do something different. It’s not that trans-generational prostitution happens because they want to make it happen. It’s because they have no option, they have no escape.”

• Have students research the caste system in India and how it intersects with intergenerational prostitution.

• Ask them to examine that system in relationship to the United States, which is among the least socially mobile of the industrialized countries.

Once the students have completed their research, have the class discuss and debate the following questions using the “fishbowl” teaching strategy, which helps students practice being contributors and listeners in a discussion: (www.facing.org/resources/strategies/fishbowl)

- Is there a caste system in the United States?

- What impact, if any, does our lack of social mobility have on women’s rights?

3. Legalize ItShould prostitution be legalized? There is an international debate raging around the subject of prostitution and whether women will be better protected — and more empowered — if it is made legal and regulated by national and international laws and policies. Some believe that legalizing prostitution legitimizes the commercialization of women’s bodies and increases practices such as trafficking, slavery, and child rape.

- Screen the complete films for both Cambodia: Sex Trafficking and India: Intergenerational Prostitution and have students consider what they think the impact that legalizing prostitution would have.

- Ask students to share their feedback and what they know about the debate. What are the main points of those who oppose legalized prostitution? What are the main points of those supporting it?

- Have students work individually or in groups and assign each student/group one side of the debate to research.

- Following their research, have students engage in a formal debate about the issue. Education World offers a selection of debate resources that provide guidelines and rules for classroom debates: www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml

Extensions

http://slaveryfootprint.org

http://www.freetheslaves.net/SSLPage.aspx?pid=386

http://www.prezi.com

http://education.weebly.com

http://www.todaysmeet.com

http://www.facing.org/resources/strategies/fishbowl

http://www.facing.org/resources/strategies/fishbowl


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4. The Modern Triangular TradeHillary Clinton states in Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide that “A lot of the brutality against girls and women is rooted in deep cultural stereotypes about the worth of women. And it's not that different from the way African American slaves were viewed in 18th- or 19th-century America or Europe. These [people] were not fully human, these were some other kind of being that under the Bible or under a convenient social rationale were put on Earth to serve somebody else.” From the late 16th to early 19th centuries, the transatlantic slave trade carried slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, North America, and the European colonial powers. The use of African slaves was fundamental to growing colonial cash crops, which were exported to Europe. European goods, in turn, were used to purchase African slaves, who were then brought by sea from Africa to the Americas, a treacherous journey known as the Middle Passage. Today, women and girls are trafficked around the world in exchange for money, goods, weapons, etc. and they are kept in slavery to provide sex and cheap labor. But today’s trade routes are often more complex and more difficult to track.

• Have students research the history of the Transatlantic Triangle Trade in relation to the contemporary slave trade.

• Building on the earlier activity, have students create an interactive Google Map that tracks both the transatlantic slave trade and the modern movement of people, goods, and money.

• Have them consider the similarities and differences between our historical understanding of slavery and its modern manifestation.

- What challenges did abolitionists face during the transatlantic slave trade and what strategies did they employ?

- How do those challenges compare to the ones faced by the modern abolition movement?

- Are there strategies from the past that would be effective today?

- In Mississippi in 1850 an agricultural slave cost the equivalent of fifty thousand to a hundred thousand dollars at today’s prices. An equivalent slave in India today costs just ninety dollars. If the average price of a trafficked human is at a historic low, how does that impact the way that slaveowners treat the people they are enslaving? For example, what is the incentive for traffickers to provide adequate conditions and health care when it might be more “cost effective” to allow their victims to die?

5. Hey Man, Keep it Real and Be CoolWhat role do men and boys have in eradicating the sexual slavery of women and children? How can they collaborate in the international campaign? Antitrafficking efforts frequently address only the victims of sex trafficking, ignoring the force that fuels the trade — male demand for purchased sex. Without demand for purchased sex, traffickers, pimps, and brothel owners will be driven out of business. Have students check out the Demi and Ashton Foundation’s “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” Campaign and Apne Aap’s “Cool Men Don’t Buy Sex Campaign” and develop their own social media campaign using viral video, photography, and social media to help end sex slavery and the sexual exploitation of women and girls in their own communities.

• The Demi and Ashton Foundation’s “Real Men Gallery”: demiandashton.org/realmen

• Apne Aap’s “Cool Men Don’t Buy Sex Campaign”: apneaap.org/cmdbs/cool-men-dont-buy-sex-campaign

6. Journalism vs. Activism:In the full length segment on Cambodia in the film Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Nicholas Kristof actively participates in Somaly Mam’s brothel raid story. He considers the journalistic ethics of his involvement and concludes that he is comfortable with his decision.

• Have students view the entire Sex Trafficking in Cambodia segment from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

• Ask students to consider the following questions: What do you think about Nicholas Kristof’s decision? Is there a distance that journalists should maintain in order to remain objective? Is it more ethical to simply observe and report or to actively participate

• Share The Guardian article and photo essay, The Bystanders with your students and discuss what a journalist’s responsibility is when reporting a story. The Bystanders Article: www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/28/gutted-photographers-who-didnt-help, The Bystanders Photo-Essay: www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/jul/28/bystanders-photographers-who-didnt-help

• Have students select a photojournalist featured in the story and consider if they agree or disagree with the journalist’s decision.

• Ask them to draft a letter from perspective of one of the journalists from the story to one of their photograph’s subjects explaining their decision: why they feel that it was the correct choice or what they wish they had done differently.

• The completed letters can be presented as a monologue.

Extensions (cont.)

http://demiandashton.org/realmen

http://apneaap.org/cmdbs/cool-men-dont-buy-sex-campaign







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B O O K S


F I LM S



W E B S I T E S



AFESIP Cambodia was founded by Somaly Mam to care for those victimized by trafficking and sex slavery. The primary objective of AFESIP's work is to secure victims' rights by providing holistic care through a victim-centered approach, with the long-term goals of successful and permanent rehabilitation and reintegration. www.afesip.org

Voices for Change is a project of the Somaly Mam Foundation “designed to give survivors an opportunity to help themselves by helping others, to have their voices heard in the courts of law and public perception, and to have influence and impact on effectuating change. It is our vision that from those who have struggled through the pain of slavery will arise a new generation of leaders who stand for justice and free will.” www.somaly.org/survivor-empowerment

Apne Aap organizes “groups of women and girls who are at the risk of or are affected by trafficking” into self-empowerment groups and ensures their access to “three fundamental rights — education, sustainable & dignified livelihood, and legal empowerment” as per their 3L model. They also develop and participate in nationwide education and outreach programs to support victims of sexual exploitation and end trafficking. www.apneaap.org

New Light provides shelter, educational opportunities, recreational facilities, health care, and legal aid for the children, girls, and women in Kalighat, one of the oldest red-light districts in the city of Kolkata. www.newlightindia.org

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. www.rescue.org

CARE International is an organization fighting poverty and injustice in more than 70 countries around the world and helping 65 million people each year to find routes out of poverty. www.careinternational.org







http://www.afesip.org

http://www.somaly.org/survivor-empowerment

http://www.apneaap.org

http://www.newlightindia.org

http://www.rescue.org



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W E B S I T E S

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking and their work has put them on the forefront of the national movement to end the sexual slavery of women. www.gems-girls.org

ECPAT International is a global network of organizations and individuals working together for the elimination of child prostitution, child pornography, and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. www.ecpat.net

UNiTE to End Violence against Women was launched in 2009 by UN Women to engage people from all walks of life to end gender-based violence in all its forms. endviolence.un.org

Additional Resources (cont.)

http://www.gems-girls.org

http://www.ecpat.net

http://endviolence.un.org

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1. (9–10, 11–12) Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grade 9-12] topics, text, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

4. (9–10) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.







9. (9-10, 11-12) Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.









Standards

Group Names:

Class:

Read the following summary of modern slavery and discuss your reactions with your group by answering the questions below:

Modern-day slavery is relatively unknown, in part because it does not fit our historic image of slavery. Contemporary human slavery can take many forms, including forced labor, child marriage, debt bondage, and commercial sexual slavery. Modern slaves can be garment workers, domestic help, agricultural workers, and prostitutes. They might work in factories, build roads, or harvest crops.

There are more people living in slavery today than at any other time in history. According to Anti-Slavery International (ASI), the world’s oldest human-rights organization, there are at least 27 million adults and children, in countries all over the world, who are being forced to live and work as slaves or in slave-like conditions; the majority of these are women and girls.

The act of forcing an adult or child into slavery for financial or personal profit is known as human trafficking. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity which involves recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving a person through the use of force, intimidation, trickery, or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.

Every country has passed laws against slavery, and by doing so they have promised to end it within their borders. Many countries, however, fail to enforce antislavery laws. In the United States only a tiny fraction of law enforcement resources are directed at slavery and trafficking, in spite of the fact that as many people are newly enslaved each year in the United States, according to U.S. government estimates, as are murdered.

1. How do you feel about this information? Did it surprise you? If so, what surprised you most?

2. How often do you see stories about modern slavery in the news or depicted in the media? Why do you think that is?

3. Why do you think the majority of modern slaves are women and girls?

4. Where in the world do you think modern slavery exists today?

HALF TH E S KY: S E X TRAFFI CK I N G AN D I NTE R G E N E RATI ONAL PR OSTITUTI ON

Student Handout A:

What Is Modern Slavery?

Cambodia continues to be burdened by its long history of violence, and women and children often pay the highest price. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and relies heavily on foreign aid. Millions of unexploded land mines and bombs from decades of war continue to kill and maim civilians, despite an ongoing demining drive. Thousands are infected with HIV/AIDS and the numbers increase every year, making it among the worst-affected countries in Asia. International organizations, foreign donors, and foreign governments have urged the Cambodian government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, to clamp down on Cambodia’s pervasive corruption and address the ever-growing sex-trafficking crisis.

Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmer descendants of the Angkor Empire. The Khmer people have lived in the Indochina area in Southeast Asia for at least two thousand years and the Khmer Kingdom was the most powerful mainland Southeast Asian state for most of the period from 802 to 1432. At its height, the capital at Angkor was one of the largest cities in the world.

France colonized Cambodia in the 19th century and ruled the country until Cambodian forces, led by King Norodom Sihanouk, achieved full independence in 1953. Sihanouk led Cambodia until 1970, when Marshal Lon Nol forced him out in a coup d’état. Spurred on by the secret bombing campaign in Cambodia carried out by United States forces during the Vietnam War, the militant left-wing group the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, defeated Lon Nol and ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

As the new ruler of Cambodia, Pol Pot set about transforming the country into his vision of an agrarian utopia. The cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property were abolished. Anyone believed to be an intellectual, such as someone who spoke a foreign language, was immediately killed. Skilled workers were also killed, in addition to anyone caught in possession of eyeglasses, a wristwatch, or any other modern technology. Prostitution was completely banned and punishable by death, resulting in its virtual elimination in the highly authoritarian social system. During this period, an estimated 2 million Cambodians were killed, approximately 25 percent of the country’s population.

The Vietnamese army overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, but civil conflict continued in Cambodia for the next two decades. After the dismantlement of the State of Cambodia in 1992, about twenty thousand male troops and civilian personnel from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) arrived together with many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and business interests from abroad. Ironically, the increase of foreign humanitarian workers in the country created a larger market for sexual services in this very poor country and drove the increase in sex trafficking and the exploitation of women and children, which continues to grow today.

Cambodia Sources:www.ecpatcambodia.org/index.php?menuid=2&submenuid=17&menuname=ECPAT%20Cambodia

www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/cambodia.htm

www.cambodia.org/khmer_rouge

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13006539

www.hrw.org/news/2011/06/24/cambodia-khmer-rouge-trial-justice-delayed


Student Handout B:

Cambodia in Context

http://www.ecpatcambodia.org/index.php?menuid=2&submenuid=17&menuname=ECPAT%20Cambodia

http://www.ecpatcambodia.org/index.php?menuid=2&submenuid=17&menuname=ECPAT%20Cambodia

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/cambodia.htm

http://www.cambodia.org/khmer_rouge

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13006539

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/06/24/cambodia-khmer-rouge-trial-justice-delayed

In Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta), there are over ten thousand women and girls who live and work as prostitutes. Many were trafficked into the country from Nepal and Bangladesh, while others were born into the commercial sex trade, having been the children of generations of prostitutes. While not all of these women are forced into sex work, the reality is that few other options are available.

Around India, there are castes that traditionally engage in familial, intergenerational prostitution. A caste system is a type of social structure that divides people on the basis of inherited social status. Within a caste system, people are rigidly expected to marry and interact with people of the same social class and are relegated to specific types of occupations and labor. For impoverished girls born into lower-caste families where prostitution has been practiced for generations, becoming a sex worker is not only seen as a means of survival but also a family duty.

Starting from around age 13, girls are sold by their parents or family or are married off and subsequently prostituted by their husbands. Earnings are higher for younger girls so there is an urgency to marry or sell them before their value diminishes. For many rural, uneducated parents, it is difficult to imagine how a female child could bring any value to the family beyond prostitution. And for the girl who has been denied education and training, it is equally difficult to imagine a brighter future. In this context, the caste system and cultural traditions provide easy justification for a practice driven by poverty, economics, and gender-based discrimination.

The heartbreaking reality of India’s intergenerational prostitution is especially apparent in Kalighat, one of the oldest red-light districts in Kolkata. Here, narrow alleys lined with small “apartments” form a confusing maze and the buildings lean into the street across crowded roads. Life is a constant struggle in this society where sex workers are regarded as nonhumans, and opportunities for these women are limited after working in the business.

India Sources:site.ruchiragupta.com

www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CF0QFjAF &url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fga%2Fpresident%2F62%2FThematicDebates %2Fhumantrafficking%2Fgupta.pdf&ei=B4XrT7X0BKOT0QHenInKBQ&usg=AFQjCNE bly1TJFCBOwJxKxHpmi4tO8dvNQ


Student Handout B:

India in Context

http://site.ruchiragupta.com

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CF0QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fga%2Fpresident%2F62%2FThematicDebates%2Fhumantrafficking%2Fgupta.pdf&ei=B4XrT7X0BKOT0QHenInKBQ&usg=AFQjCNEbly1TJFCBOwJxKxHpmi4tO8dvNQ




Name: Date:

Class:

Take notes while watching the film module, using the following questions as a guide:

• How did Sushmita’s mother Shoma become a prostitute?

• What are some other factors that cause women to become prostitutes?

• What strategies did the brothel owners use to keep Shoma obedient?

• Why does she remain a prostitute?

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out most for you.


Student Handout C:

Film Module Screening Guide: Intergenerational Prostitution in India

Name: Date:

Class:

Take notes while watching the film module, using the following questions as a guide:

• How did Somaly Mam and Somana become prostitutes?

• What strategies did the brothel owners use to keep them obedient?

• How did they escape?

• How are they using their experiences to help others?

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out the most for you.


Student Handout C:

Film Module Screening Guide: Sex Trafficking in Cambodia

Name: Date:

Class:

Read each of the following definitions and rewrite the definitions in your own words. Provide an example from history, fiction, or your own life that illustrates each of these roles:

Upstander: An individual who sees an injustice taking place or someone being wronged and takes action. They might intervene directly and tell the Perpetrator(s) to stop, but Upstanders do not need to put themselves at risk in order to be helpful; they might also respond in other ways, such as seeking help from authorities, supporting the survivor, working to improve an unjust social system, and lending their time and voice to campaigns and initiatives that are working to bring about positive change.

In your own words:

Example of an Upstander:

Bystander: An individual who sees an injustice occur but attempts to remain uninvolved in the situation, often by looking on silently or finding an excuse to walk away. Individuals who witness — but are not directly affected by — the actions of Perpetrators help shape society by their reactions. Not taking action in the face of an injustice is a choice that can influence the outcome of an event and the culture of a community.

In your own words:

Example of a Bystander:

Perpetrator: Someone who commits crimes, violates the fundamental human rights of an individual or group, or actively participates in supporting systems or individuals who engage in unjust behavior.

In your own words:

Example of a Perpetrator:

Survivor: An individual who has been subject to an act of wrongdoing, including intimidation, theft, violence, sexual aggression, or any violation of their fundamental human rights.

In your own words:

Example of a Survivor:


Student Handout D:

Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, Survivor

Name: Date:

Class:

Select a collection of three subjects from the films and consider the role each one plays in the sexual exploitation of women and girls, using the roles of Upstander, Bystander, Perpetrator, and Survivor as a guide. Each member of your group should select one subject and complete the handout using your understanding of the subject from the film and the class discussions.

Collection 1

Subject A: Somana

Subject B: Her family

Subject C: Somaly Mam

Collection 2

Subject A: Shoma

Subject B: Her husband

Subject C: Sushmita

COLLECTION #: _______ SUBJECT: _______________________________

1. Which of the following applies to your subject?

UPSTANDER: ___YES or ___NO

Why or why not? Give an example from the film that supports your response:

BYSTANDER: ___YES or ___NO


PERPETRATOR: ___YES or ___NO


SURVIVOR: ___YES or ___NO



Student Handout E:

Responsibility, Culpability, and Understanding (page 1)

Name: Date:

Class:

To Be an Upstander or to not Be an Upstander:

1. Fill in the bubble below with the thought you imagine went through your subject’s mind when she/he was faced with the option to be an Upstander.

2. What options did your subject have in this situation (list at least three examples)?

3. What role do factors such as gender, age, and economic status play in the options your subject had and the choices available to them?

4. Why do you think she/he chose the path she/he is on? Based on what we learned from the film and what we know from our activities and handouts, what factors influenced her/his choice?

5. Imagine you are your subject and you have the chance to explain your choice to each of the other individuals in your group’s collection. What do you think you would say?

Subject: ___________________________________

What would you say?

Subject: ___________________________________

What would you say?


Student Handout E:

Responsibility, Culpability, and Understanding (page 2)

Adapted from the U.S. Department of State’s “Trafficking in Persons Report 2011”www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/index.htm


Teacher Handout A:

Mapping Modern Slavery (page 1)

Cut out each of the facts below and distribute to the student groups.

A. Forced labor occurs in at least 90 cities across this country and at any given time, ten thousand or more people are forced to toil in sweatshops, to clean homes, to labor on farms, or to work as sex workers. Trafficking occurs for commercial sexual exploitation in street prostitution, massage parlors, and brothels, and for labor in domestic service, agriculture, manufacturing, janitorial services, hotel services, hospitality industries, con-struction, health and elder care, and strip club dancing. The top countries of origin for foreign victims in 2010 were Thailand, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic.

E. About three hundred thousand of the children of this Caribbean country are restaveks — children working as domestic slaves. Thirty percent receive only one meal per day.

B. In this African country, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has kidnapped twenty thousand children over the past 20 years and forced them into service as soldiers or sexual slaves for the army. Children are also exploited in forced labor within the country in fishing, agriculture, mining, stone quarrying, brickmaking, road construction, car washing, scrap collection, bars and restaurants, and the domestic service sector, and are exploited in prostitution.

F. Between 1988 and 1998 there were over one hundred thousand slaves working in the fields, harvesting crops, and doing domestic labor on 226 agricultural estates in this large South American country. Sex trafficking of women and girls occurs in all 26 states and an estimated two hundred and fifty thousand children have been involved in prostitution. A large number of women and children are found in sex traffick-ing abroad, often in European countries, including Spain, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, and Luxembourg, as well as in the United States, and as far away as Japan.

C. In Asia, this is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially women coming from the Philippines and Thailand. Organized-crime syndicates (the Yakuza) are believed to play a significant role in trafficking, both directly and indirectly. Traffickers strictly control the movements of victims, using debt bondage, threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, and other coercive psychological methods.

G. An estimated four thousand trafficking victims are in this European island country at any given time for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, including construction, food processing, domestic servitude, and food service. They come from a broad range of countries, including Lithuania, Russia, Albania, Ukraine, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Nigeria, and Ghana.

D. In this African country, women and girls — particularly those from rural areas or who are internally displaced — are vulnerable to forced labor as domestic workers in homes throughout the country; most are believed to be working without contracts or government-enforced labor protections. Some of these women and girls are subsequently sexually abused by male occupants of the household or forced to engage in commercial sex acts. In 1998 alone, three thousand children from a Christian popu-lation of one hundred and fifty thousand were abducted to work as laborers.

H. This Scandinavian country is a destination for women and girls subjected to sex trafficking, and for men and women subjected to conditions of forced labor. Female sex trafficking victims originate in Russia, the Baltic countries, the Caucasus, Asia, Africa, central eastern Europe, and the Caribbean; forced labor victims come primarily from India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Forced labor victims are exploited in the construction industry, restaurants, agriculture, berry-picking fields, and as cleaners and domestic servants.



Teacher Handout A:



I. Approximately 85 percent of identified victims of sex traffick-ing in this major European nation originate in Europe, including 25 percent from within the country. Non-European victims originate in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, as well as in Asia and the Western Hemisphere. The majority of identified sex-trafficking victims have been exploited in bars, brothels, and apartments. Victims of forced labor have been identified in hotels, domestic service, construction sites, meat-processing plants, and restaurants.

M. Low-skilled workers from Thailand, China, Nepal, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and, to a lesser extent, Romania, migrate voluntarily and legally to this eastern Mediterranean country for temporary contract labor in construction, agriculture, and home health care provision. Some, however, subsequently face conditions of forced labor through such practices as the unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, inability to change or otherwise choose one’s employer, nonpay-ment of wages, threats, sexual assault, and physical intimidation.

J. Women and children are found in forced and child prostitution within this Central American country, as well as in Mexico and the United States. Men, women, and children are subjected to forced labor within the country, often in agriculture or domestic service, and particularly near the Mexican border and in the highland region. Indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to labor exploitation.

N. NGOs report that the most common form of trafficking in this Caribbean country is sex trafficking, which allegedly occurs in nightclubs, bars, and private homes. The populations most vulnerable to trafficking include women and children from poor and single-parent backgrounds. People living in the country’s poverty-stricken garrison communities, territories ruled by criminal “dons” that are effectively outside of the government’s control, are especially at risk.

K. The forced labor of millions of its citizens constitutes the largest trafficking problem in this highly populated southern Asian country. Men, women, and children are forced to work in places such as brick kilns, rice mills, agricultural worksites, and embroidery factories. A common characteristic of bonded labor is the use of physical and, in many instances, sexual violence — including rape — as coercive tools, in addition to debt, to maintain these victims’ labor. Ninety percent of traf-ficking in this country is internal, and those from the most disadvantaged communities, including the lowest castes, are particularly vulnerable to forced or bonded labor and sex trafficking. Children are also subjected to forced labor as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, agricultural workers, and, to a lesser extent — in some areas of rural Uttar Pradesh — as carpet weavers.

O. Traffickers, who gain poor families’ trust through familial, tribal, or religious ties in this large African country, fraudulently recruit children through offers to raise and educate them and women through offers to place them in lucrative employment. Men, women, and children voluntarily migrate to other eastern African nations, Europe, and the Middle East — particularly Saudi Arabia — in search of employment, where they are trafficked into domestic servitude, massage parlors and brothels, and forced manual labor, including in the construction industry.

L. Children are trafficked within this country for commercial sex-ual exploitation – sometimes through forced marriages, in which their new “husbands” force them into prostitution and involuntary servitude as beggars or laborers to pay debts, provide income, or support drug addiction in their families. There are reports of women and girls being sold for marriage to men in neighboring Pakistan for the purpose of sexual servitude. Some NGOs report that religious leaders and immigration officials are involved in the sale of young girls and boys between 9 and 14 years old to men in the Gulf states for commercial sexual exploitation. According to these sources, a young girl or boy could be sold for as little as five dollars.

P. Men, women, and children from this landlocked Southeast Asian country are found in conditions of forced labor in Thailand, Malaysia, and China. Many migrants, particularly women, pay broker fees to obtain jobs in Thailand — normally ranging from $70 to $200 — but are subjected to conditions of sexual servitude and forced labor in Thailand’s commercial sex trade or in domestic service, garment factories, or agricultural industries upon their arrival. Ethnic minority populations are par-ticularly vulnerable to trafficking in Thailand, due to their lack of Thai language skills and unfamiliarity with Thai society.



Teacher Handout A:



Q. This West African country is a source and destination coun-try for young women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Most trafficking victims originate from within the country’s borders and are subjected to domestic servitude; forced begging to support religious instructors; sex trafficking; or forced labor in street vending, on rubber plantations, and in diamond mines. Traffickers operate independently and are commonly family members who may promise poorer relatives a better life for their children. Children sent to work as domestic servants for wealthier relatives are vulnerable to forced labor or – to a lesser extent — commercial sexual exploitation.

T. Many sex-trafficking victims from rural areas of this South American country are forced into prostitution in urban centers or wealthy provinces. The border area with Paraguay and Brazil is a significant area for sex- and labor-trafficking victims. A significant number of foreign women and children, primarily from Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru, are subjected to sex traffick-ing. Bolivians, Paraguayans, and Peruvians, as well as citizens from poorer northern provinces of the country, are subjected to forced labor in sweatshops and on farms.

R. Most trafficking victims in this African country are exploited within the country, though victims of sex and labor trafficking have also been identified in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and parts of Europe. Within the country, children are subjected to domestic servitude and other forms of forced labor, including in cattle herding, agricultural labor, and menial work in small businesses. At local bars and rest houses, own-ers coerce girls and women, who work at the establishments, to have sex with customers in exchange for room and board. Forced labor is often found on tobacco plantations.

U. Men and women from several Pacific Islands, India, China, South Korea, and the Philippines are recruited to work tem-porarily on this island continent. After their arrival, some are subjected by unscrupulous employers and labor agencies to forced labor in sectors such as agriculture, horticulture, con-struction, cleaning, hospitality, manufacturing, and domestic service. They face confiscation of their travel documents, confinement on the employment site, threats of physical harm, and debt bondage. Some traffickers attempt to hide their foreign victims from official notice or prevent victims from receiving assistance by abusing the legal system in order to create difficul-ties for victims who contact authorities for help.

S. This North American country is a large source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Groups considered most vulner-able to human trafficking include women, children, indigenous persons, and undocumented migrants. Women, girls, and boys from poor rural areas are subjected to sexual servitude within the United States, lured by fraudulent employment opportunities or deceptive offers of romantic relationships, including marriage. Trafficking victims are also subjected to conditions of forced labor in agriculture, domestic service, construction, and street begging, in both the United States and their home country.

V. In this southern African country, Thai women are subjected to prostitution in illegal brothels, while eastern European organized-crime units force some women from Russia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria into debt-bonded prostitution in exclusive private men’s clubs. Chinese traffickers bring victims from Lesotho, Mozambique, and Swaziland to Johannesburg or other cities for prostitution. Migrant men from China and Taiwan are forced to work in mobile sweatshop factories. Taxi drivers and criminals at the border transport Zimbabwean migrants, including children, into the country and may subject them to sex or labor trafficking upon arrival.




Teacher Handout A:



W. Media reports indicate that there are between two hundred thousand and four hundred thousand women engaged in prostitution in this western European country, with over three thousand entertainment establishments dedicated to prostitution. According to media reports and government officials, approxi-mately 90 percent of those engaged in prostitution are victims of forced prostitution, controlled by organized networks operating throughout the country.

Y. The Migration Research Center estimates that one million people in this large northern Asian country are exposed to “exploitative” labor conditions that are characteristic of traffick-ing cases, such as withholding of documents, nonpayment for services, physical abuse, or extremely poor living conditions. Instances of labor trafficking were reported in the construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and domestic services industries. There are also reports of exploitation of children, including child prostitution in large cities and forced begging.

X. In this North American nation, women and girls, particularly from aboriginal communities, are found in conditions of com-mercial sexual exploitation across the country. Foreign women and children, primarily from Asia and eastern Europe, are sub-jected to sex trafficking; sex-trafficking victims have come from China, Hong Kong, Fiji, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova, in addition to other countries and territories. Law enforcement officials report the involvement of organized crime in sex trafficking. Most suspected labor-trafficking victims are foreign workers who enter the country legally, but then are subjected to forced labor in agriculture, sweatshops, and processing plants, or as domestic servants.

Z. Men, women, and children from this Southeast Asian country migrate to Thailand, Malaysia, and other countries for work, and many are subjected to sex trafficking or forced to labor in the Thai fishing and seafood processing industry, on agricultural planta-tions, in factories, in domestic work, or in begging and street selling. Within the country, women and children are trafficked from rural areas to major cities and tourist centers for commercial sexual exploitation. Children are also subjected to forced labor, including being forced to beg; scavenge refuse; and work in quar-ries, as domestic servants, or in the production and processing of bricks, rubber, salt, and shrimp. According to the International Labor Organization, there are an estimated twenty-eight thousand child domestic workers in Phnom Penh alone.

KEY

A. UNITED STATES OF AMERICAB. UGANDAC. JAPAND. SUDANE. HAITIF. BRAZILG. GREAT BRITAINH. FINLANDI. GERMANYJ. GUATEMALAK. INDIAL. IRANM. ISRAEL

N. JAMAICAO. KENYAP. LAOSQ. LIBERIAR. MALAWIS. MEXICOT. ARGENTINAU. AUSTRALIAV. SOUTH AFRICAW. SPAINX. CANADAY. RUSSIAZ. CAMBODIA


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Women’s Economic Empowerment


Women and girls play a vital role in the economic prosperity of their families, communities, and countries, yet in every part of the world, women often work longer hours than men, are paid less for their work, are at a higher risk of unemployment, and are far more likely to live in poverty.

A growing body of research shows that enhancing women and girls’ economic opportunities plays a critical role in reducing poverty as well as gender-based discrimination and violence, improving women and girls’ access to education and civic participation, and raising the quality of life for future generations. When women are in charge of their financial destinies, income, and capital — such as land and livestock — they gain more control over their own lives and personal security and as a result have greater access to decision-making and leadership roles in their homes and communities. Women are also consistently more likely to reinvest profits back into their families, which — in addition to improving their own children’s nutrition, health, and education — contributes to the economic growth and security of their communities and countries.

This lesson will consider how and why women and girls are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty and will examine the ripple effects of women’s economic empowerment on individuals, families, communities, and societies.

OV E R V I E W

AudienceHigh School (grades 11–12), Community College, Youth Development Organizations

Time 90 minutes or two 50-minute class periods + assignments

Subject AreasWomen’s Studies, Social Studies, Global Studies, Economics, Media Studies, Financial Literacy, English Language Arts

“If we empower women we empower society. There is a direct correlation. We are not just changing a life, we are changing a community.”

Roshaneh Zafar Founder and managing director of the Kashf Foundation

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Objectives:

Students will:• consider the challenges associated with

living in extreme poverty and develop a one-week budget for a family of three living on two dollars a day;

• examine the relationship between gender and poverty and discuss the possible factors for and consequences of the substantial economic disparity between women and men;

• identify the location of Kenya on a map and understand the social and political context of the economic challenges faced by the women in the film module;

• consider the role that men and boys can play to improve economic independence for women and girls and how empowering women empowers men; and

• understand the beneficial ripple effect of women’s economic empowerment on individual women, their families, their communities, and their countries.

Resources:

• Film module: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kenya (10:41)

• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide Film Series Trailer (5:48): itvs.org/films/ half-the-sky



- Women’s Economic Empowerment Discussion Guide (Download Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide discussion guide PDFs from the Independent Television Service [ITVS] Women and Girls Lead website: www.womenandgirlslead.org.)


- Student Handout A: Living on $2 a Day

- Student Handout B: Poverty and Gender

- Student Handout C: Kenya in Context


- Student Handout E: Expert Fact Sheets

- Student Handout F: The Ripple Effect Worksheet



• Calculators (if available)



OV E R V I E W

Note for Teachers about the Lesson Plan Women’s Economic Empowerment and Its Contents:This lesson and the accompanying film module from Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide illustrate a range of challenges facing women in a frank and honest manner, but the discussions and topics might not be suitable for all audiences. Teachers should prepare for the lesson by reading all the materials thoroughly and watching the complete film module to determine if this topic and lesson are appropriate for their class. Teachers should also brief students on what they will be viewing in advance and identify students who might be personally or adversely affected by this material. Prior to launching the lesson, please contact your school counselor or social worker to discuss policies and procedures for addressing a disclosure of violence or abuse and be prepared to provide students with support or the option of not participating in the lesson where appropriate.

For additional information about the documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, please download the free Women’s Economic Empowerment Discussion Guide from the ITVS Women and Girls Lead website (womenandgirlslead.org), visit the project’s official website (halftheskymovement.org), and read Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.







http://halftheskymovement.org

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Time: 30 minutes

You will need: Student Handout A: Living on $2 a Day, Student Handout B: Poverty and Gender, Student Handout C: Kenya in Context, pens/pencils and writing paper, and calculators, if available

Goal: Students will consider the challenges associated with living in extreme poverty and develop a one-week budget for a family of three living on two dollars a day.

Part 1: Living on $2 a Day• Hold up two dollars and ask students the following questions:

- If I told you that you had to feed yourself for a whole day using just two dollars, what would you spend it on? Discuss as a class and record feedback.

- If I told you that you had to feed your whole family for a day with just two dollars, how would you spend the money? Discuss as a class and record feedback.

• Share the following information with the class: More than one-half of the world's people live below the internationally defined poverty line of less than U.S. $2 a day — including 97 percent of the population in Uganda, 80 percent in Nicaragua, 66 percent in Pakistan, and 47 percent in China.

• Divide the class into groups of two to three students and distribute Student Handout A: Living on $2 a Day. Ask them to use the information in the handout to develop a one-week budget for a family of three living on only two dollars per day. (Note: The costs included in the worksheet are adapted from Student Voices against Poverty: The Millennium Campaign Curriculum Project: www.un.org/works/Lesson_Plans/MDGs/MDG_Curriculum_US.pdf). Have them collaborate with their group to decide which items and expenses they should spend money on and which they would not be able to afford. (For example: Would they choose school fees over paying the electric bill? Would they put any money in their savings account?)

• When they complete their budgets, have them illustrate their results using a pie chart. They can create the charts using either their worksheets, large sheets of kraft paper and markers, or an interactive online tool such as the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Kids’ Zone “Create a Graph” tool: nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=3037a0d01a0d43a99e136a4ce8a03347.


http://www.un.org/works/Lesson_Plans/MDGs/MDG_Curriculum_US.pdf

http://www.un.org/works/Lesson_Plans/MDGs/MDG_Curriculum_US.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=3037a0d01a0d43a99e136a4ce8a03347

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=3037a0d01a0d43a99e136a4ce8a03347

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• Discuss the groups’ results as a class, using the following discussion prompts:

- What surprised you most while completing this activity?

- What was the biggest challenge your team faced when making the budget?

- What was your biggest expense?

- Were there any “essentials” that you could not afford? What were they? What did you have to sacrifice?

- Were you able to put any money in your savings account?

- Were you able to pay for your children’s school fees?

- Would you be willing to ask your child to work instead of going to school to help support the family? How young is too young for a child to go to work if a family is trying to survive on two dollars per day?

- What do you think would happen if you or someone in your family got sick? What expenses would you cut to pay for their medical bills?

- How did it make you feel, knowing that you could not provide all of the needed resources for your family?

Part 2: Global Poverty and Gender• Introduce the following information:

Seventy percent of the world’s poor are women and girls. Although women play a vital role in the economic prosperity of their families, communities, and countries, in every part of the world, women work longer hours than men, are paid less for their work, are at a higher risk of unemployment, and are far more likely to live in poverty.

• Divide the class into groups of four students and assign each student in each group a number from one to four (this is commonly known as the “numbered heads together” activity).

• Distribute Student Handout B: Poverty and Gender to each group and have them review the fact sheet and respond to what they have read by discussing the questions that are provided.

• When the discussion is complete, call out a number from one to four and have the student from each team who was assigned that number present their group’s results to the class. (This will help ensure that all of the students are actively involved in the activity.)

Part 3: Kenya in Context• In preparation for viewing the film module, ask a volunteer to locate Kenya on the wall map.

• Provide students with the fact sheet Student Handout C: Kenya in Context. Have them read the fact sheet and discuss briefly with a partner.



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Class time: 10–15 minutes


You will need: Pens/pencils and writing paper, LCD projector or DVD player, the Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kenya film module (10:41), and Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide

• Distribute Student Handout D: Film Module Screening Guide and instruct students to take notes during the screening using the worksheet as a guide.

• Variation: The questions from Student Handout D can be projected or written on the board and reviewed briefly before viewing the film module to save paper.

Viewing the Module


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Time: 50 minutes

You will need: Student Handout E: Expert Fact Sheets, Student Handout F: The Ripple Effect Worksheet, pens/pencils and writing paper, and computers with internet access, if available

Goal: Students will discuss the film modules and share their notes. Students will work in groups to research and understand effects of economic empowerment of women on the individual level, the family level, the community level, and the national level. They will use their collective research to create a written and/or visual narrative illustrating the ripple effect of empowering a single woman.

Part 1: Postscreening Discussion Questions • What did you think of the film? Was there anything that surprised you?

• What were some of the economic challenges that the women faced?

• What were some of the unsuccessful and successful strategies for women’s economic empowerment that the film highlighted?

• Ingrid Munro says that in order to “get people out of poverty you need to deal with every aspect of their life.” What does she mean by this? Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

• While walking through the market, the women from Jamii Bora tell Nicholas Kristof and Olivia Wilde that “the men buy the sodas, the women buy the milk.” Why is this exchange so significant? What does it reveal about the financial dynamics of Kenyan families?

• What role do men have to play in women’s economic empowerment? How does empowering women improve quality of life for men?

• When we read about problems in communities, our minds tend to go immediately to aid programs and aid organizations, but what about business as a solution? What are the benefits and pitfalls of social entrepreneurship in comparison to traditional aid?

• Many economists and development experts believe that the social-entrepreneurship model highlighted in the film ignores the bigger social and institutional issues such as discrimination, corruption, and corporate greed that are the actual roots of extreme poverty and places too large a burden on the individual. Do you think the entrepreneur approach is unfair to individual women by making them responsible for overcoming the failings of their society? What are some other strategies shown in the film that help to improve the economic security of women and their families?

• All of the strategies that were highlighted in the film show women working with others to overcome the economic challenges and barriers that they face. What benefit is there in facing individual economic challenges in collaboration with one’s peers and community? Is this an approach that could be used in our communities?

• How did the lives of the women change when they became financially independent?

• How can women’s economic independence break the cycle of poverty?

• What role has the issue of women’s economic empowerment played in your life? Were there different economic expectations for girls and boys in your community or family? Were you expected to be financially independent when you grew up? How did your experience compare to that of the women in the film?



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Part 2: Women’s Economic Empowerment Jigsaw• Divide the class into groups of four students each and explain that they will work in groups

to research and understand effects of economic empowerment of women on the individual level, the family level, the community level, and the national level. They will use their collective research to create a written and/or visual narrative illustrating the ripple effect of empowering a single woman.

• Jigsaw Activity: From the following list, assign each student in the group an “Area of Expertise” about the impact of women’s economic empowerment on various entities:

- An individual woman

- Her family

- Her community

- Her society

• Ask the “experts” from each group to work together to research their topic. Distribute Student Handout E: Expert Fact Sheet to each group and ask students to supplement their research with online sources. The following websites can be used as resources:

- The United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) report on women’s economic empowerment: www.unfpa.org/public/global/pid/382

- The “Women, Poverty & Economics” section of the UN Women website: www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics

- The “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” section of the USAID website: www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment

• When the research is complete ask the “experts” to return to their original groups and share their findings.

• Distribute Student Handout F: The Ripple Effect Worksheet to each group and ask them to read the brief paragraph describing extreme poverty in the United States.

• Instruct them to imagine that they are working with Jamii Bora and have been assigned to help improve economic empowerment for women in their local community. Have the groups complete the worksheet using their research and expertise.

• Finally, have students use what they have learned to develop a brief written and/or visual narrative illustrating the ripple effect of providing economic empowerment to women in their community. The following websites provide resources that can be used to create infographics and visual representations of their research:

- Infographics in Education: infographicsineducation.wikispaces.com

- “Teaching with Infographics: Places to Start”: learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/teaching-with-infographics-places-to-start

• The groups should display their results and discuss with the class:

- Why is women’s economic empowerment an important issue?

- How does women’s economic empowerment empower men and boys as well? What role can men play in improving the economic independence of women?

- How can women’s economic independence help break the cycle of poverty?



http://www.unfpa.org/public/global/pid/382

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics

http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment

http://infographicsineducation.wikispaces.com


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1. Women’s economic empowerment in our community. Ask students to work alone or in groups to research services and organizations that provide support to women and girls in their communities and consider the impact that gender and factors such as race, religion, and class play in the economic security of an individual and of a family.

• Students should use their strategies from the postscreening activity as a guide and incorporate resources and organizations in the area that provide support and services.

• They can also contact organizations in their communities that provide entrepreneurship support for low-income women who want to start their own businesses.

• If possible, they should interview one of an organization’s clients to discuss the benefits and challenges of entrepreneurship and develop a profile of their subject or the organization.

• Students can present their completed projects to their school community and can also reach out to their local city council to discuss their project and their findings. The following website can help you contact your local elected officials: www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml.

• Multimedia presentation resources:

- Zentation, where you can combine videos, slides, and audio into presentations: Zentation.com

- VoiceThread, a video, audio, and slide editing program: Voicethread.com

- VCASMO, an easy-to-use multimedia presentation tool: Vcasmo.com

- “Writing Copy for Voiceovers”: peterdrewvo.com/html/tips_for_writing_for_voiceover.html

2. Journaling Exercise: How would you live on less than $2 a day? As we have seen, extreme poverty is not something that only exists in developing countries; nearly 1.5 million Americans are living on less than two dollars per day. Ask students to imagine that they are one of these 1.5 million Americans and have them do a series of short diary entries using a social media site such as Tumblr describing a week in their life. Have them consider what life would be like if they had to survive with extremely limited resources and then write their journal entries using the following questions as a guide:

• What would your biggest challenges be each day?

• What would you have to sacrifice?

• What would you spend your money on or save up for?

• Would you continue to come to school? If so, how would your limited resources shape your experience? If not, what would you use your time for instead?

• What impact would living on two dollars a day have on your expectations for your future?

Assignments




http://Voicethread.com

http://Vcasmo.com

http://peterdrewvo.com/html/tips_for_writing_for_voiceover.html

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1. This Land is My Land (Too)Studies show when women have secure rights to their land, their family nutrition and health improve, they may be less likely to be victims of domestic violence, and their children are more likely to receive an education and stay in school longer. Despite this, women around the world are struggling to gain the right to own their own land. Have students research the importance of land rights in ensuring women’s economic empowerment.

• Instruct students to work in groups to research the status of land rights around the world, and identify countries where women are struggling to own their own land. Have them also identify countries that have improved women’s access to land rights in the past 20 years.

• Have each group select one country that lacks adequate land rights and one country where women’s rights recently improved and compare the status of women and their quality of life in each country.

• What impact has owning/not owning land had on women’s lives and the lives of their families?

• How have women’s lives changed since they began owning their own land?

• Has the introduction of land rights for women had an impact at the community or national level?

• Students can use the following websites for research and information and should complete their projects by creating multimedia presentations of their research using Prezi (prezi.com).

Landesa: www.landesa.org

International Land Coalition: www.landcoalition.org

The “Women’s Land & Property Rights” section of the UN Women website: www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics/land_property_rights.php

2. Small Loans, Big DebatesMicrofinance was once believed to be a key strategy in poverty alleviation, but in recent years, questions about its broad effectiveness beyond individual success stories, along with a series of scandals — including reported suicides among indebted borrowers in Andhra Pradesh, India — have overshadowed stories of small loans helping pull women out of poverty. The debate has been characterized by extreme claims on both sides, but what is the bottom line on microfinance?

• Screen the complete segment from the film on Women’s Economic Empowerment and have students consider why microfinance has been moderately effective in some countries but not at all in others.

• Ask students to share their feedback and what they think about the debate about microfinance.

• Have students work individually or in groups and research the issue. What are the main points of those who support microfinance? What are the main points of those who are against it?

• Assign each student/group one side of the debate to research in detail. Following their research, have students engage in a formal debate about the issue. Education World offers a selection of debate resources that provide guidelines and rules for classroom debates: www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml

• Resources on this topic can be found at the following websites:

Women’s World Banking: www.swwb.org

Grameen Bank: www.grameen-info.org

Microfinance Open Book Blog by David Roodman of the Washington-based Center for Global Development: blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2009/02/summary-and-outline.php

Extensions

http://prezi.com

http://www.landesa.org

http://www.landcoalition.org

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics/land_property_rights.html

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics/land_property_rights.html



http://www.swwb.org

http://www.grameen-info.org

http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2009/02/summary-and-outline.php

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3. Millennium Development Goals: Empowering Women Empowers the WorldIn September 2000, the United Nations signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with the aim of halving the number of people living in poverty, reducing maternal and child mortality, fighting disease, and improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries by 2015. Have your class screen the complete series of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and examine the connection between the issues addressed in the documentary and the Millennium Campaign’s focus on women. Have them consider how and why improving rights and resources for women and girls is considered key to eradicating global poverty.

• Divide the class into eight groups, assign each an MDG, and instruct the groups to develop a “We Are the Goal” presentation, which should include the following:


- Information on the public perception and understanding of the MDGs; students can investigate the public’s knowledge and understanding of the Millennium Campaign by recording “person-on-the-street” interviews and including the footage in the presentation



- A plan of action for the group and the school community to contribute to the Millennium Campaign

• The presentations should be multimedia and can include photo-essays, video footage, audio clips, animations, and infographics, using the following websites as resources:



Prezi: prezi.com





The “Get Involved” section of the UN MDGs website: www.un.org/millenniumgoals/getinvolved.shtml

The “Millennium Development Goals” section of the UN Women website: www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals


4. Kick-Start a ConversationWomen’s World Banking (WWB) is a global network of 39 financial organizations from 27 countries and the only microfinance network with an explicit focus on women. Have your students visit the WWB website to learn how they can host an event at their school or in their community to kick-start the conversation about women’s economic empowerment and find out how they can work with WWB to make a difference. The website provides complete details for planning events and a multimedia tool kit to help bring the issue to life for your community.

Women’s World Banking: www.swwb.org

The “Host Your Own WWB Event” section of the WWB website: www.swwb.org/content/host-your-own-wwb-event

5. Connect with CommunitiesKiva is a grassroots nonprofit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Kiva relies heavily on its team of committed volunteers and offers a range of opportunities to get involved, including the Kiva Translation Program and the Kiva Fellows Program, which has offered over four hundred individuals an opportunity to put their skills to work in support of global microfinance. Visit Kiva’s website for more information: www.kiva.org.

Extensions

http://animoto.com


http://prezi.com





http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/getinvolved.shtml




http://www.swwb.org

http://www.swwb.org/content/host-your-own-wwb-event

http://www.kiva.org

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B O O K S


F I LM S



W E B S I T E S



Jamii Bora works to strengthen and utilize all the skills, determination, and hard work of the people of Kenya to build a better nation through better families. www.jamiibora.org

The Umoja Uaso Women’s Group in Kenya is a refuge for victims of domestic abuse where women support themselves and their families through the sale of traditional crafts and promote human rights, economic empowerment, and the preservation of indigenous art. www.umojawomen.org

Women’s World Banking (WWB) is a global network of 39 financial organizations from 27 countries and the only microfinance network with an explicit focus on women. www.swwb.org


Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through life-changing programs and experiences that help girls

navigate gender, economic, and social barriers. www.girlsinc.org

The Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights recognizes that the lack of secure land rights is a root cause of global poverty. Their land law and policy experts help poor countries develop and implement land laws, policies, and programs that provide ladders out of poverty for their citizens and promote long-term economic growth. www.landesa.org

Kiva is a grassroots nonprofit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. www.kiva.org

The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed USA) fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change. us.camfed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home_index

The Girl Effect is a collective movement to lift 50 million women and girls out of poverty by 2030 through the education and empowerment of girls. www.girleffect.org

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet children’s basic needs, and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. www.unicef.org

Women for Women International “provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We’re changing the world one woman at a time.” www.womenforwomen.org






http://www.jamiibora.org

http://www.umojawomen.org

http://www.swwb.org


http://www.girlsinc.org

http://www.landesa.org

http://www.kiva.org

http://us.camfed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home_index

http://us.camfed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home_index


http://www.unicef.org

http://www.womenforwomen.org

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1. (9–10, 11–12) Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grade 9–12] topics, text, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
















Standards

HALF TH E S KY: WOM E N’S E CON OM I C E M P OWE R M E NT

Student Handout A:

Living On $2 A Day

The Cost of Living in Liberia on $2 per Day

*all values listed in LRD 1. HousingMonthly rent $12,250Cooking gas/ $300/month Kerosene/CoalElectricity $14,700/monthWater $7,350/month

2. TransportationOne-way bus ticket to work $25

3. Meal PlanningPound of rice $245 Pound of sugar $73.50Ten tea bags $98Pound of grain $65Pound of tomatoes $98Pound of zucchini $49Pound of onions $49Bottle of Coca-Cola $85Small goat $500Small chicken $250

4. Education FeesSchool fees $900/month/child and materials

5. ClothingWork shirt $245Work trousers $245Shoes $98

6. Cost of Personal ItemsSoap $1.50 for pack of six barsShampoo $1.50Toothpaste $147Toothbrush $49Toilet paper $250 for six rolls

7. MedicineAntimalaria drugs $343

8. Other Assorted ItemsTV $14,700

Budget Worksheet

Imagine that you are part of a family (you, your spouse, and one child) living on $2 per day in Liberia. Using the Cost of Living Worksheet for reference, work with your team to fill out the budget chart below.

Step 1: In the Need column, list the costs in Liberian dollars for each of the items that a family of three would need during one month. Add up the total costs and compare that total with your monthly income of $3,000 LRD. Are your total expenses more or less than your income?

Step 2: Revisit your need list and eliminate or add items and expenses to keep your monthly budget at or below your income. List the amounts for all of the items and expenses that remain in the Can Afford column.

Step 3: List the cost of all of the items that you need but cannot afford in the Can’t Have column.

BASICS NEED CAN AFFORD CAN’T HAVE

Rent

Water

Electricity

Cooking fuel

School fees

7 lbs. rice

4 lbs. tomatoes

5 lbs. zucchini

20 bottles Coca-Cola

1 lb. sugar

7 lbs. onions

2 small chickens

Soap (1 bar)

Toothpaste (1/2 tube)

Antimalaria drugs

TOTAL

Adapted from the UN Millennium Campaign’s Student Voices against Poverty: The Millennium Campaign Curriculum Project

www.un.org/works/Lesson_Plans/MDGs/MDG_Curriculum_US.pdf

Exchange Rate: US $1 = 50 Liberian dollars (LRD)

Living on $2 per day = Living on 3,000 Liberian dollars per month

Financial dependence: Women who are denied the opportunity to earn and control their own income and participate in important decisions regarding their personal finances and the economic security of their families are at greater risk of poverty and domestic violence and are more vulnerable to reproductive and maternal health challenges.

Limited participation in the workforce: Worldwide, women are more likely to work in the informal sector (in jobs such as domestic services and child care), where wages are unregulated and workers lack basic rights and job security. Women who work in the formal sector are more likely to experience discrimination and occupy fewer leadership positions than their male co-workers.

Unequal pay: Despite doing the majority of the world’s work, women earn on average between 10 and 30 percent less than men. According to a 2009 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, women who work full-time, year-round earn on average 23 percent less than men who work the same job.

Child care: Traditional gender roles limit women’s ability to participate equally with men at work and also limit men’s responsibility for child care and unpaid work duties.

Access to land: Women’s ability to own and inherit land is limited or denied in many countries as a result of social and cultural traditions, legal restrictions, and the lack of information and education available to women.

$

=

Barriers to Women’s Economic Security Discussion Questions

• How do you feel about this information? Did it surprise you? If so, what surprised you most?

• What impact, if any, has economic equality had on your life, your family, or your community?

• How often do you see stories about women’s economic empowerment in the news or depicted in the media? Why do you think that is?

• What traditional expectations or stereotypes about women might help to reinforce economic inequality? How often do we see these stereotypes represented in our media? Why do you think that is?


Student Handout B:

Poverty and Gender

Women play a vital role in the economic prosperity of their families, communities, and countries, yet in every part of the world, women work longer hours than men, are paid less for their work, are at a higher risk of unemployment, and are far more likely to live in poverty.

Fast Facts

• Approximately 70 percent of the world’s poor are women and girls.

• Women earn less than 10 percent of the world’s wages, but do more than two-thirds of the world’s work.

• In the United States, a woman earns approximately $0.76 for every $1.00 that a man earns in a similar job.

• In one out of three households around the world, women are the sole breadwinners.

• Economically empowered women tend to have fewer children.

• Each additional year in school raises a woman’s earnings by about 15 percent.

• Women reinvest 90 percent of their income into their families while men invest only 30 to 40 percent. In Brazil, when income is in the hands of the mother, the survival of a child increases by about 20 percent.

• Women in sub-Saharan Africa own less than 2 percent of the land, but produce more than 90 percent of the food.

• Studies show that when women have secure rights to their land, their family’s nutrition and health improve, they are less likely to be victims of domestic violence, and their children are more likely to receive an education and stay in school longer.

• In developing countries, women and girls are most often responsible for household and community water management and travel great distances in search of water, which limits their time for other activities, including doing income-generating work.

• South African women collectively walk the equivalent of a trip to the moon (384,400 kilometers or 238,855 miles) and back 16 times a day to supply their households with water.

Kenya is a relatively stable African country with a truly multicultural population, whose ethnic diversity has produced a vibrant culture. It is also a country that spent 80 years fighting for freedom from colonial rule only to face four decades of political corruption that has undermined its economic and civic development and contributed to the disempowerment of millions of women.

The colonial period in Kenya was a time of vicious political and cultural oppression and economic exploitation for the indigenous communities who had lived in that region for centuries. In 1894, Britain declared protectorate over Kenya, and the new state’s boundaries were drawn without the consultation of Kenya’s people. This act arbitrarily brought together over 40 previously independent communities into one territorial entity. The ongoing civil unrest that Kenya faces finds its roots in the painful legacy of violence and ethnic tension from the country’s colonial era.

After achieving independence from Britain in 1963, Kenya’s leader, Jomo Kenyatta, consolidated the political parties under the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party, and by 1969, banned all other political parties. He was succeeded in 1978 by Daniel arap Moi, who maintained one-party rule under KANU and remained in power for 24 years. In the early 1990s, violent unrest and international pressure led to the restoration of multiparty politics, but it took another decade before opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki ended nearly 40 years of KANU-party rule with his landslide victory in 2002’s general election.

Despite President Kibaki’s pledge to tackle corruption, mismanagement of international aid has been a continuing issue, with some donors estimating that up to $1 billion was lost between 2002 and 2005 alone. In addition to high-level corruption and graft, Kenyans also face crippling daily challenges including high unemployment, widespread crime, reoccurring droughts, and extreme poverty, with most Kenyans living on less than one dollar a day.

For Kenyan women, poverty and pervasive traditionalism are the two major obstacles to obtaining equal rights. Although government policy, legislation, and the media favor women’s rights, the traditional view of women’s low status has proven difficult to overcome. Violence against women is a serious problem, with many traditional cultures permitting and even encouraging men to physically discipline their wives. The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is prevalent, with about 50 percent of Kenyan women having suffered FGM. Rape is also widespread despite legal prohibitions, and there is substantial evidence that incidences of child rape are growing. Underlying all of these violations of women’s rights is a deeply entrenched economic discrimination linked to cultural traditions and customary laws that deny women the right to make decisions about their own resources or to inherit and own land.

Recent political improvements — including the new constitution adopted in 2010 that delegates more power to local governments and gives Kenyans a bill of rights — have inspired cautious optimism for many Kenyans. These changes are especially important for women, who hope to benefit from policies that seek to end gender discrimination and support women’s leadership and participation, such as a quota guaranteeing a minimum of 47 women members of Parliament in the National Assembly.

*For more information on Kenya, visit the ITVS website and view the educational materials for Taking Root, a documentary film that tells the story of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement and follows Wangari Maathai, the movement’s

founder and the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize: www.itvs.org/educators/collections/womens-empowerment/lesson-plans/from-roots-to-branches.


Student Handout C:

Kenya Past and Present

http://www.itvs.org/educators/collections/womens-empowerment/lesson-plans/from-roots-to-branches

Name: Date:

Class:

Take notes while watching the Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kenya film module, using the following list of questions as a guide:

• ●What are some of the economic challenges that the women in the film face?

• ●What strategies do the women use to become financially independent?

• What impact does the women’s economic security have on their lives, the lives of their families, and their communities?

• Write down two or three quotes from the film that stand out most for you and illustrate the value and role of economic empowerment in the lives of the women featured in the film.


Student Handout D:


Benefits of Women’s Economic Empowerment

A growing body of research shows that enhancing women and girls’ economic opportunities plays a critical role in reducing poverty as well as gender-based discrimination and violence, improving women and girls’ access to education and civic participation, and raising the quality of life for future generations. When women and girls are in charge of their financial destinies, income, and capital — such as land and livestock — they gain more control over their own lives and personal security and as a result have greater access to decision-making and leadership roles in their homes and communities. Women are also consistently more likely to reinvest profits back into their families, which — in addition to improving their own children’s nutrition, health, and education — contributes to the economic growth and security of their communities and countries.

What Is Needed?

Women and girls have an essential role to play in the global campaign to eradicate poverty, but progress on women’s economic empowerment continues to be slow and uneven. Limited access to land and property, housing, credit, technology, and markets has undermined women’s livelihoods and restricted their ability to benefit from the economic growth they help to generate. The following strategies have been identified as critical to ensuring women’s economic empowerment:

• Promote equal opportunities for women in employment and tackle gender-based discrimination in all areas of the public sphere.

• Support professional-development programs that target women and girls and provide leadership training and mentorship.

• Provide resources and enact policies that support women who are juggling paid work and family responsibilities, and provide support for men, such as paternity leave, so they can take a greater role in child care and domestic tasks.

• Increase the number of female entrepreneurs and the size of their businesses by giving them greater access to financial services such as microfinancing, training, technical assistance, and networking to share best practices.

• Improve women’s access to a range of financial services, including savings, credit, and insurance, as well as to the right to own and inherit land.

• Increase women’s leadership and participation in economic decision-making bodies at every level.

Expand Your Research

Work with your expert group and investigate the impact of women’s economic empowerment using the following websites as resources:

• The United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) report on women’s economic empowerment: www.unfpa.org/public/global/pid/382

• The “Women, Poverty & Economics” section of the UN Women website: www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics

• The “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” section of the USAID website: www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment


Student Handout E:

Expert Fact Sheet (Page 1)

http://www.unfpa.org/public/global/pid/382

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics



Name: Date:

Class:

Economic Expert Worksheet

Topic of expertise (check one below):

The impact of women’s economic empowerment on:

___ An individual woman___ Her family___ Her community___ Her society

1. Research your topic and list at least five benefits of women’s economic empowerment in your area of expertise.

2. Identify at least three strategies for women’s economic empowerment that have made improvements in your area of expertise.

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

5

+

+


Student Handout E:

Expert Fact Sheet (Page 2)

Name: Date:

Class:

When we think of extreme poverty we often think of communities in developing countries, but more and more women and their families in the United States are facing financial crisis. According to a 2012 study by the National Poverty Center, the number of U.S. households living on less than two dollars per person per day more than doubled between 1996 and 2011, from six hundred and thirty-six thousand to 1.46 million. The number of children in extremely poor households also doubled, from 1.4 million to 2.8 million

Imagine your team is working with Jamii Bora and you have been assigned to help improve economic empowerment for women in your community. Based on your research, respond to the following questions:

• What strategies would you use?

• What outcomes would you hope to achieve?

• How would empowering women benefit the individual women, their families, their communities, and their society?

• How would men and boys benefit from women’s economic empowerment?


Student Handout F:

The Ripple Effect Worksheet

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Purchasing the Full-length FilmNew Video, a Cinedigm company, is a leading entertainment distributor and the largest aggregator of independent digital content worldwide. New Video’s Docurama Films is proud to offer Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide as part of its roster of acclaimed, award-winning documentaries. Educators may purchase the full-length film through their website: www.newvideo.com/institutional.

Purchasing the BookFrom two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the devel-oping world. With Pulitzer Prize-winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic prog-ress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part.

Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

The book may be purchased through amazon.com.

http://www.newvideo.com/institutional

CreditsWR ITE R

Allison Milewski

I TVS STAF F

Director of Engagement & Education Duong-Chi Do

Education Manager Annelise Wunderlich

Engagement & Education Coordinator Renee Gasch

Women and Girls Lead Campaign Manager Locsi Ferra

National Community Engagement Manager Sara Brissenden-Smith

Engagement & Education Assistant Nallaly Jimenez

Media Services Manager Benita Stills

Designers Michael Silva Brittany Truex

Copyeditor Jocelyn Truitt

S H OW O F FO R C E STAF F

Maro Chermayeff, Executive Producer and DirectorRachel Koteen, Co-ProducerJoshua Bennet, Producer

TEAC H E R ADVI S O R S

David MaduliCrystal Fresco Gifford

N G O ADVI S O R S

The Centre for Population and Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) (Maternal Mortality) Laurette Cucuzza Eva Cantrell Rose Amolo

International Rescue Committee (IRC) (Gender-Based Violence) Heidi Chase

Kiva (Economic Empowerment) Chelsa Bocci Erin Viray

Polaris Project (Sexual Slavery) Audrey Roofeh

Room to Read (Education) Sonia Torres

Women’s World Banking (Economic Empowerment) Mary Ellen Iskenderian Phoebe Rock Julie Slama

Independent Television Service (ITVS) email: [email protected] web: itvs.org/educators/collections

C OM M U N IT Y CLAS S RO OMCommunity Classroom is an innovative and free resource for educators, offering short-form film modules adapted from ITVS’s award-winning documentaries and standards-based lesson plans for high school and community colleges, NGOS, and youth organizations. To learn more, visit itvs.org/educators

IT VSIndependent Television Service (ITVS) funds, presents, and promotes award-win-ning independently produced documentaries and dramas on public television and cable, innovative new media projects on the Web, and the Emmy® Award-winning series Independent Lens on PBS. ITVS receives core funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead campaign is a strategic public media initiative to support and sustain a growing international movement to empower women and girls, their communities, and future generations. To learn more, visit womenandgirlslead.org

S HOW OF FORCEDedicated to creating feature documentaries and television series events of the highest caliber, Show of Force is known for dynamic, character-driven storytell-ing that consistently engages, entertains, and inspires. Show of Force is a media production company represented by CAA (Creative Artists Agency), with 20 years of combined experience and excellence between partners Maro Chermayeff and Jeff Dupre. They have produced over 20 hours of television and media content per year with a staff of excellent young producers and are the recipients of numerous awards and accolades for their work on both U.S. and international media broad-casts. Show of Force is the production company overseeing the multiple platforms of the Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide movement. To learn more, visit showofforce.com

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