Education for Sustainable Development

Discussion Topic 9: Women in the Workforce

Here is a discussion topic for your class:

1.  Divide into pairs and read the information below

2.  Discuss the information with the other person in your pair

3.  Now have a class discussion on the main the differences for women in the workforce between the developed and developing world

4.  Fill out the rest of the worksheet

5.  Create a simple infographic to explain the differences for women in the workforce between the developed and developing world

Women in the workforce

Developed World e.g. Ireland / Developing World e.g. China
Since the 1970’s a lot of changes have taken place for women, free secondary education, gender equality laws and less tied to traditional roles. / Quality of Chinese women’s lives has increased a lot since the 1940’s.
In rural areas women are still tied to traditional roles.
Women may pursue careers for economic or personal reasons. / Most women are employed in the areas of education, medical or clerical.
Increased cost of living standards means that both parents must work to pay the bills. / They have a huge role in community healthcare e.g. giving vaccinations to infants.
There are still some inequalities, men tend to occupy higher positions, three times more women than men work in part-time jobs, they often earn less and two-thirds are in the same type of jobs e.g. clerical. / A lot of young women are employed in the 124 Export Processing Zones along the East coast of China. They are MNC’s that are attracted by the cheap labour and long hours worked in the sweatshops.

Student Worksheet

Ideas Box for Class Discussion

3 things that I already knew about women in the workforce: ______

3 things that I have learned from the class discussion on women in the workforce:

______

1 thing I would still like to learn about women in the workforce:

______

Women in the Workforce Infographic