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Women Around the World: Rights and Wrongs

By KRISTEN STERNBERG | NIE Educational Consultant

What do you think about the state of Women's Rights around the world? What restrictions or other issues do girls and women face in other regions? What freedoms do they enjoy? Take a look at news articles about women's issues worldwide: changes for Iranian women, the plight of Chinese women and one woman's long journey from Mexico. They'll give you a good sampling of some problems women face in the 21st century.

In the United States, during the past century, women gained many of their civil rights. Today's females enjoy more legal, cultural and societal freedoms than ever before. In the last half-century alone, many changes have taken place. Read the article about Representative Joyce Cusack to get to know an inspiring woman who grew up a victim of the Jim Crow laws, involving racial segregation, and went on to be elected to the Florida State House of Representatives.

Are you getting mixed messages about the role of women in our culture today? Think about contrasts as you read the following articles. Consider the pros and cons of beauty pageants. What do you think about the restriction of trade claim? Do you think there was a double standard in play at the tennis court? If these newspaper articles were the only information about our culture to which you had access, what conclusions might you draw?

Women in the United States, as well as in many other regions and cultures around the world, planned and participated in meaningful activities to celebrate International Women's Month in March. Find out how the day was commemorated in parts of Southeast Asia, Africa and other locations. If you were able to do so, what changes would you make for women in America? How would you deal with women's issues around the world?

You will have further opportunities to explore this topic as you complete the newspaper activities, and then check out the recommended web sites, below.

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Try these fun activities using The News-Journal!

1. Browse through recent newspaper issues for articles about women's achievements. Try to read at least one article about an American woman or women, and at least one article about women elsewhere in the world. Think about what you know about the history of women's rights. For each article, write a sentence explaining whether you think you would have found the same kind of article one hundred years ago. Why or why not? (Sunshine State Standards: LA.A.1.2.2, LA.A.2.2.5, LA.B.2.2.6, SS.A.1.2.1, SS.A.1.2.3, SS.A.5.1.2)

2. Why, in some sports, do males and females compete together and on an equal basis, while other sports are segregated by gender? On a sheet of paper, draw lines to make three columns. At the top of the column on the left side, write the heading "Integrated." Label the middle column "Segregated," and head the last column "Possible Reasons." Now, using your newspaper's Sports section, write the name of each sport mentioned under its appropriate heading on your paper (for example, Women's Basketball" goes under the column marked "Segregated" while Little League Baseball would be placed in the "Integrated" column). Jot down a few words explaining why you think men and women do or do not compete together for each sport you listed. Can you draw any conclusions? (Sunshine State Standards: LA.B.2.2.6, PE.A.1.2.4, PE.C.1.2.1)

3. How are girls and women portrayed in the newspaper? Search a recent issue for words and pictures of or relating to females. Use a variety of your newspaper's sections to clip words, photos, cartoons, drawings, ads and so on. Make a collage of your newspaper clippings. Overall, what kind of statement does your collage make about how females are viewed in our society? (Sunshine State Standards: SS.A.2.2.3, VA.A.1.2.1)

4. In a current newspaper issue, find and read a review of a female performer: singer/musician or actor, for example. Act out some of the show's highlights as reported by the reviewer. (Sunshine State Standards: TH.A.1.2.1, TH.B.1.2.1)

5. Read your newspaper's Obituaries section and keep track of the age and gender of each person whose death was reported in that issue. Express the ratio of female to male deaths that day. Use the newspaper and other reference materials to find current, average life span data about men and women. Compare those statistics to your own, mini-sample of obituaries. Make graphs of your data. (Sunshine State Standards: MA.A.1.2.2, MA.B.2.2.1, MA.D.1.2.1, MA.E.1.2.1, MA.E.3.2.1)

A copy of Florida's Sunshine State Standards can be found at intech2000.miamisci.org.

Check out these links to learn more

Check out the web site of the National Women's History Project as it honors the accomplishments of women of courage and vision.

Issues of civil rights, including women's rights, are featured at a web site titled "The American Experience: U.S. History for Kids." Use the link to explore the section about women and the vote, take a fun quiz about civil rights and much more.

American women and men who fought (and continue to fight) for equal rights, including women's right to the vote, are known as "suffragists". You'll find tons of information about the American Suffrage Movement and related topics at this worthwhile web site.

You could explore for hours at the About.com web site devoted to women's history. See the 100 most important women, featured in such diverse categories as heads of state, scientists and writers, to name a few. Check out the Subjects index in the left hand column, too, for more information on women in fields including the military, sports and the arts.

The Newspaper Association of America's web site contains links to many newspapers in the U.S. and around the world. Visit the site and check out some of them to see if they have recently published any articles on this topic. To access the newspapers at the Newspaper Association of America's site, click on the "Hot Links" button and then either select a state or click on the "Internationals" button to choose a country

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