Childhood Unbound Unit 3 Preview

UNIT 3. GIRLS

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Girls This unit will help students understand the role that gender discrimination plays in perpetuating the economic disadvantage of girls and women. Gender-based violence excludes girls from education and participation in society, families, and communities, especially where there is poverty.

Learning Outcomes Define and provide examples of gender inequality.

Assess short- and long-term impacts that gender inequality has on girls and in communities.

Examine how gender intersects with other backgrounds/identities, and how that impacts human rights protections.

Essential Questions: What is gender inequality?

How does gender inequality vary for girls from different backgrounds (i.e., socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, cultural)?

Why are girls considered to be especially vulnerable to human rights abuses in child labor?

How do both institutional and societal barriers hinder the realization of girls’ human rights?

Which industry mostly affects girls in child labor?

Why is girl’s education important for them as individuals and for society as a whole?

How does access (or lack thereof) to menstrual products and the stigma

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surrounding periods affect education?

Lessons: Gender Inequality in Child Labor Girls in Domestic Work Girl’s Education & Gender Based Violence Politicized Periods

Lesson 1 Gender Inequality in Child Labor It is proven that maternal educational achievement boosts the successful development of future generations. Also, better maternal health impacts the child's health and nutrition; a child's proper nutritional access impacts successful educational participation in society. Financial empowerment of women in the form of ownership, control, and economic participation contribute to overcoming poverty and reducing inequality. Women invest a higher proportion of earnings or cash transfers in their family and community and by doing so, enhance the local economy. The promotion of credits and financial services for women is a great way to develop their businesses, according to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Conditional cash transfer programs, such as the Brazilian Bolsa Familia Program, are most effective when the benefit is given to the mothers. Financial empowerment of women gives them a sense of autonomy

UNIT 3: LESSON 1

and independence that can lead to deeper changes rather than just poverty alleviation.

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Lesson 1 Gender Inequality in Child Labor Worldwide, people who identify as women face abuse and discrimination in many forms throughout their lives. Women with disabilities, women of color, and women from impoverished communities are especially at risk. Gender discrimination affects multiple aspects of every single woman’s life: their health, professional development, education, income, food, the right to live free of violence, and opportunities. According to the World Economic Forum, it will take us 136.5 years to close the global gender gap. This discrimination damages society as a whole, including - of course - men and boys. To tackle child labor, it is crucial to understand how discriminatory gender roles set girls at a particular disadvantage due to ideas and social constructs that do not acknowledge women and girls as equal to men and boys.

Girls in child labor are much more likely to be underreported, overburdened with tasks, their presence and contributions unacknowledged, mostly due to damaging stereotypes and gender roles. Their labor is not seen as real work. Girls are often hidden doing domestic work, working within their own families and as other families’ household help, caring for others, fetching water or fuel. They are denied opportunities to pursue their dreams and aspirations, without a chance to get an education and a better future for themselves and for their children, trapped in a vicious cycle of generational poverty.

Girls who are not in school are more vulnerable to child marriage, economic stress, gender-based violence (GBV), and early pregnancy. Their children are more apt to fail in school and work earlier, thus repeating the cycle in the next generation. Gaining awareness on gender issues and equality, as well as educating and empowering women and girls is critical to tackling child labor and generational poverty. The first step towards equality for girls is to acknowledge and recognize gender-based violence (GBV) as a human rights violation. GBV perpetuates the subordination of women to men and the disproportion of power in relationships between them. Girls are exposed to violence not by choice, not because they were not careful, not because they provoked it, not by accident, or because of an intrinsic vulnerability they are born with.

Rather, GBV is the result of structural, deep-rooted discrimination against women and a socially constructed set of ideas that program people to think of feminine qualities as inferior to masculine ones to maintain a patriarchal power structure.

GBV is any act “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,” according to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. These behaviors are rooted in harmful social norms and abuse of power that leads to barriers to education and economic disadvantage. Among the most pervasive and impactful limits on women worldwide is the fact

UNIT 3: LESSON 1

that in many countries they cannot own property, conduct business, borrow money and they have no family rights to divorce, control their bodies, or receive an inheritance.

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TERMS TO KNOW

Gender-Based Violence Gender-Based Discrimination

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What is gender inequality?

How does gender inequality vary for girls from different backgrounds (i.e., socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, cultural)?

SUGGESTED RESOURCES Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides Scotland’s Case Study Gender Inequality Index UN Women Mission Pact Data Dashboard Understanding Conditional Cash Transfers Gender Equity Starts at Home Malala

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Lesson 1 Gender Inequality in Child Labor ACTIVITY INTRODUCTION: Gender Inequality at Home and Abroad This activity serves as an introduction to gender inequality and related issues associated with girls rights around the world.

PREPARATION BEFORE THE ACTIVITY: Separate the whiteboard into four categories: School State Country World Prepare yourself to take notes and lead a class discussion pertaining to gender inequality in your community and beyond.

ACTIVITY DURATION: 40-45 MINUTES ACTIVITY OUTLINE: 1. Define the difference between gender and sex and explain that this activity centers around people who identify as female.

2. After dividing your board into categories, explain to students that as a class, you will be investigating gender inequalities that take place at home and worldwide.

3. Start by asking students to consider what gender inequalities might be present in their school or their day-to-day lives. What do girls their age in their community have to deal with regularly?

Examples: dress codes, online bullying, catcalling, sl*t shaming, etc.

4. Continue to a statewide level. Where might you spot gender inequality on a state level?

Examples: representation in government, local laws.

5. Now on a country level. What issues persist in the country?

Examples: reproductive laws state by state, sex trafficking, wage gap.

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6. And lastly, what issues take place worldwide that we haven’t already listed?

Examples: child marriage, dowries, female genital mutilation (FGM).

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