Half the Sky Essay Assignment
Spring 2010
We have been reading Half the Sky for over a month now and have had many discussions in the class about the issues raised about global gender equity. It is now time for students to formulate their thoughts and develop a question to answer in a persuasive essay.
If students like some of the topics we have already explored and their freewrite responses, certainly they can expand on previously contemplated topics such as microfinance as a way to purchase freedom for many women in the world of Half the Sky, the benefits of education, and the power of alliances with other women and men within and without one’s society.
Other topics we have explored are the semantics of freedom—what is “power” or “empowerment”? Does the definition change when we compare regional change in the worlds of the women we meet in Half the Sky, or is the definition relatively consistent?
Is there a prototype or archetype for this philosophical empowered woman? What does she look like? Can we do selective breeding and mass produce these women so that the world changes overnight? Can we inject girls with a serum to prevent oppression once and for all?
Cultural traditions supported by women often continue oppressive practices many men are opposed to. How do women participate in their own oppression and disempowerment (if this is a word)?
Half the Sky is a sobering look at women abroad. It is written, however, in a way which makes all readers look for inequities at home, gender-based inequities at home. Yet, despite the huge job in front of us (empathetic readers) the writers seem to balance despair with hope. How do they accomplish this task? Look at the text’s organization for clues.
Rape is one of the worse forms of violence against women. In societies which have centered its core values in the chastity of its women, a rape mares the reputation of the entire family. Rape dishonors the family name and often causes irreversible harm to the woman’s status thereafter—no one will marry her. These women and girls are often tacitly encouraged in some cultures to end their lives. In Half the Sky, though, we are introduced to women who do not think their vagina is a symbol of their worthiness. Who are these women and how are they fighting back?
Feel free to develop your own questions to explore. We will talk about this further next week. Each question needs to look at Half the Sky as a resource, of course, and then use two articles outside the book to support the movement (thinking) of these issues outward. Try to find a local or western or first world nation connection in your search for related materials. Use the library database where possible. Students do not have to cite the source in-text, just read it.
The essay will be between 3-5 typed pages long. This includes a works cited page. Each essay will include 3-5 citations, one of the 3-5 citations, 1 should be a block quote and another, a free paraphrase. Students will also have to use ellipses in their block quote or in-text citation.
NOTE: The 3 page essay can only have 3 citations. 1 citation per page. English 201 students need only write a 500-750 word essay.
Half the Sky DUE DATES:
Planning March 15-17
Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis due March 17_________
First Draft March 24_________
Final Draft emailed by March 26__________
In package include Half the Sky freewrites, also include reading logs
Turn all of this in with essay. Students can email me the essay and print me a copy as well.
Spring 2010
We have been reading Half the Sky for over a month now and have had many discussions in the class about the issues raised about global gender equity. It is now time for students to formulate their thoughts and develop a question to answer in a persuasive essay.
If students like some of the topics we have already explored and their freewrite responses, certainly they can expand on previously contemplated topics such as microfinance as a way to purchase freedom for many women in the world of Half the Sky, the benefits of education, and the power of alliances with other women and men within and without one’s society.
Other topics we have explored are the semantics of freedom—what is “power” or “empowerment”? Does the definition change when we compare regional change in the worlds of the women we meet in Half the Sky, or is the definition relatively consistent?
Is there a prototype or archetype for this philosophical empowered woman? What does she look like? Can we do selective breeding and mass produce these women so that the world changes overnight? Can we inject girls with a serum to prevent oppression once and for all?
Cultural traditions supported by women often continue oppressive practices many men are opposed to. How do women participate in their own oppression and disempowerment (if this is a word)?
Half the Sky is a sobering look at women abroad. It is written, however, in a way which makes all readers look for inequities at home, gender-based inequities at home. Yet, despite the huge job in front of us (empathetic readers) the writers seem to balance despair with hope. How do they accomplish this task? Look at the text’s organization for clues.
Rape is one of the worse forms of violence against women. In societies which have centered its core values in the chastity of its women, a rape mares the reputation of the entire family. Rape dishonors the family name and often causes irreversible harm to the woman’s status thereafter—no one will marry her. These women and girls are often tacitly encouraged in some cultures to end their lives. In Half the Sky, though, we are introduced to women who do not think their vagina is a symbol of their worthiness. Who are these women and how are they fighting back?
Feel free to develop your own questions to explore. We will talk about this further next week. Each question needs to look at Half the Sky as a resource, of course, and then use two articles outside the book to support the movement (thinking) of these issues outward. Try to find a local or western or first world nation connection in your search for related materials. Use the library database where possible. Students do not have to cite the source in-text, just read it.
The essay will be between 3-5 typed pages long. This includes a works cited page. Each essay will include 3-5 citations, one of the 3-5 citations, 1 should be a block quote and another, a free paraphrase. Students will also have to use ellipses in their block quote or in-text citation.
NOTE: The 3 page essay can only have 3 citations. 1 citation per page. English 201 students need only write a 500-750 word essay.
Half the Sky DUE DATES:
Planning March 15-17
Planning Sheet, Outline, Thesis due March 17_________
First Draft March 24_________
Final Draft emailed by March 26__________
In package include Half the Sky freewrites, also include reading logs
Turn all of this in with essay. Students can email me the essay and print me a copy as well.
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 12:09 AM
2 Comments:
Juan Li
English 1A 8:00-9:00am
Prof Wanda Sabir
Homework 15 Mar 2010
Howevern the struggle for independence for women has not been easy. As the book "Half the Sky"mentioned:
The neglect of women's issues...does reflect some level of unconscious bias against women at every level, from the community to high-level decision -makers...while we may ignore it, maternal health does involve sex and sexuality;it is bolldy and messy;and I think many men(not all,of course)have a visceral antipathty for dealing with it.
Here is an example of that mentality, when Zova Najabi talks about living with her huaband:
My feet were beaten until they were like yogurt, Zoya saiD. "All my days there were unhappy, but that was the worst." "Mostly those kinds of beatings happen because the huabands are illiterate and uneducated," she added. "But it also happens that the wife is not taking care of her husband or is not obedient. Then it is appropriate to baeat the wife." Zoya smiled a bit when she saw the shock on our faces. She explained patiently:"I should not have been beaten, because I was always obedient and did what my husband said. But if the wife is truly disobedient, then of course her husband has to beat her.
As Harper Jabbers said in the book "Half the Sky":
There are times when all I want is a fast internet connection, a latte,and a highway to drive on . Yet the greetings I receive int he morning form my coworkers are enough to keep me here. The main factor that separates me from my friends here is the opportunities I was given as a first-world citizen, and I believe it is my responsibility to work so that these opportunities are available to all.
Mokhtar Mohamed
E 1A 8-9 am
m.s Sabir
Sex trafficking is one of the major causes of AIDS in Half of the Sky:
Being sold to a brothel was always hideous fate, but not usually a death sentence. Now it often is. And because of the fear of AIDS, customer prefer younger girls whom they belief less likely to be infected. In both Asia and Africa there is also legend that AIDS can be cured by sex with a virgin and that has nurtured demand for young girls kidnapped from their villages. (Half of the Sky 12)
Mahbouba stand as an example of slight and disregarding of women around the global as Half of the Sky noticed: Mahbouba's uncle wanted to help the girl, but his wife feared that helping someone cursed by God would be sacrilegious. She argued her husband to take Mahbouba outside the village and leave the girl to be eaten by wild animals… sure enough after darkness fell the hyenas came… she held a stick in her hand, shouting at them. All night long, the hyenas circled her; all night long Mahbuba fended them off. She was fourteen years old. (Half of the Sky 95)
Maternal death or maternal morality is a woman death during or shortly after pregnancy. Allan Rosenfield is a social entrepreneur who dedicated his life to improve the public health especially maternal morality. Half of the Sky mentioned:
Allan Rosenfield struggled to combine this public health perspective with particle medicine… he said "because it was a different an approached, I would have a trouble getting in approved today… but because I was in my on I could do it" he developed global network with allies in the field, and in 1995 published a landmark article along with Debroah Maine, a colleague in the lancet, the British journal that has been at the forefront of global health issues. Half of the Sky 104)
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