BROADER PERSPECTIVES

TEACHERS
NOTES
2015 ISSUE TWO

THE GENDER ISSUE

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01.
PASTORAL

It is our belief that good writers write out of a strong sense of self. We, too, hope that
our students can grow and develop a deeper understanding of who they are, what they
believe in, and what they stand for. Too often they search for the right answer or the
preferred stand when authenticity and passion in their writing will only emerge from
convictions that are coherent with who they are and what they believe in.

EXERCISE 1 INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION

TEACHING
POINTS:
- Developing a stand

A useful exercise would be to have students read this article and then draw up an identity
chart tracing their growth and the changes in their beliefs over the years. Ask students
to reflect on who they were/are at these stages of life: as a young child before formal
schooling, in primary school, in secondary school, and now. A possible format is: 1) 3
adjectives that describe/described me 2) my top strength 3) my biggest weakness 4) my
ambition 5) a book/movie/person which/who inspired/influenced me most 6) what was
most important for my happiness. Have students reflect on who or what has shaped their
identity, particularly considering what has remained constant and what has changed.
For example, family or religion could have been particularly influential on their identity,
but school and friends might have become more powerful in shaping their sense of self
and happiness over the years; or the media, or a particular dream or ambition might
have captured their heart. It is useful to have students find out who they have things in
common with, particularly in terms of who they are now and what is important to them,
so do consolidate the discussion exercise as a class and collate responses and key
reflections on the board. Alternatively, have students group themselves up to dialogue
with their peers, as talking about the insights they have had can help them to develop
greater resonance with the ideas that have surfaced. As a closing or a follow-up lesson,
experiment to see how identity can shape their stand on different issues and help them
write more personal and passionate conclusions.

EXERCISE 2 IDENTITY POLITICS

For a less individual and more general lesson scope, reading this article allows students
to recognise the struggles behind creating an identity, and gives them an additional
perspective by which to respond to GP topics and questions. Understanding how
identity is created and threatened can help students to see what drives conflicts,
whether clashes between rich and poor, foreigners and citizens, religious and nonreligious groups, or even plastic and natural beauties. Pick some recent newsworthy
clashes and have students analyse their causes before asking them to put on a new lens
of seeing how identity is at stake or being reshaped in these struggles. This should help
them to articulate why the people involved are fighting hard and what is important to
either side of the conflict in terms of values or ideals.

02.
HEALTH

A key skill for argumentative essay writing is being able to see both sides of the argument
and hence nuance and qualify ones rhetoric to be more persuasive and sound. Offered
in this article are some examples that can be broken down, to help illustrate how students
can avoid coming across as simplistic or sweeping.

EXERCISE QUALIFYING ARGUMENTS

TEACHING
POINTS:

Ask students to rewrite the following statements to better reflect the reality/complexity
of the problem. They can extend the argument with statistics or examples from the article.

- Avoiding generalisations/ Giving

nuance to arguments

(It may be helpful for students to first look for arguments for or against each statement,
before putting them together to support their stand.)

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NOTES
a) Legislation will put an end to harmful medical practices targeting women.
Legislation coupled with proper enforcement and education that is culturally sensitive
will help in the case of harmful practices like female genital mutilation. In the case of
abortions, legislation that fails to promote a womans right to choose can be more harmful than good.
b) The trend of mass migration to liberal educated societies means women are
better protected.
Women who migrate to liberal educated societies can only be protected if they are assimilated and if the receiving countries are aware of the unique challenges they face, and
adopt proper legislation and practices to address these problems.
c) Urbanisation and access to technology improve womens health and equality.
Urbanisation and technology will improve womens lot when there are active efforts to
eradicate social and cultural practices that undermine gender equality. These phenomena are just as likely to encourage abuses against women if underlying biases are left
unaddressed.
d) Time and educating the people will bring about gender equality.
Awareness, statistics, and political advocacy are important too for institutional action
and reform that will bring faster and more widespread improvements to gender inequality. To alleviate the problem of HIV amongst young women, health and sex education are
needed to teach them how to protect themselves.

FOLLOW-UP EXERCISE
Students can also be asked to research how these issues relate to Singapore. Some
may also find the pro-abortion stance unsettling and further discussion about abortion
laws may be helpful.

03.
EDUCATION
TEACHING
POINTS:
- Singapore Context

EXERCISE 1 CHARACTERISTICS OF SINGAPORE

Often students take our unique Singaporean context for granted, believing this to be
the norm. After reading this article, students may find it helpful to brainstorm all the
characteristics and factors that enable women in Singapore to be educated. This should
lead them to see that the Singapore experience should not be written about as a general
norm, but qualified and extended into a trend by grouping Singapore with other countries
that share a particular characteristic (higher-income countries, small and cosmopolitan
urban centres, countries with small family sizes, cultures that typically prize academic
qualifications, societies that depend on high-tech, knowledge based industries). It
would also be useful for students to recognise how they may use such characteristics
for the AQ, to discuss general trends and their applicability to Singapore.

EXERCISE 1 ESSAY PRACTICE

Ask students also to reflect on why in most parts of the world more women than men
receive tertiary education and what consequences this might have in society. For a more
personal take, students could write paragraphs on why education is important and what
barriers to educational equality remain in our society (elitism, the cost of overseas/
private institutions, the costs of education for citizens and foreigners, gatekeeping
exams and the lack of recognition for less academic educational qualifications).
Note: Since education and economics are closely linked, students may benefit from
reading both articles before exploring the implications of educational attainment.

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04.
ECONOMICS
TEACHING
POINTS:
- Scope and Balance

NOTES
EXERCISE 1 GENERATING ARGUMENTS
This article could be used as a sample for zooming in on how to create scope and balance.
Trends in gender economic equality are established along with the factors that gave rise
to them (e.g. a growing knowledge-based economy and the increasing capitalisation of
companies on soft skills has allowed women to form a greater presence in the workforce).
Scope is created by covering both developed and developing countries. Students can
consider how extending their essay to cover different country contexts may allow them
to create new arguments, and how the incorporation of 21st century trends can sharpen
or even give rise to additional points. They can practice this by re-writing paragraphs
they have written in previous essays to increase scope or strengthen the trends.

EXERCISE 2 ESSAY PRACTICE

Another useful writing practice is having students reflect on the infographics presented
and translating them into argumentative points with elaboration on how and why
these trends have come about. To begin, ask students to apply these trends to their
own experiences. Since students tend to feel like education in Singapore is equal to
both genders, invite them to discuss which trends were troubling to them in light of
the careers and lives they hope to achieve through their educational qualifications.
Examine how and why there remain barriers to economic opportunity even in light of
increasing educational parity or economic progress, and uncover the assumptions that
underlie differences across economic sectors. Also, extend the discussion of the article
to talk about what can alleviate the male-female gap when it comes to childbearing
and parenting. Since Singaporeans tend to put the bulk of the responsibility on the
government in providing incentives or support, challenge students to break out of this to
corporate and individual responsibility.

05.
HASHTAG
ACTIVISM
TEACHING
POINTS:
- Application Question Practice

EXERCISE AQ PRACTICE
Question:
The writer argues the value and efficacy of social media activism. To what extent do you
agree or disagree with this view? Illustrate your answer by referring to the ways in which
you and your society regard online activism.
Authors points:
The beauty of hashtag activism is that it has managed to take issues frequently confined to small circles and brought them to the masses.
created space for everyone and anyone to express themselves in an amplified sphere
with a ready audience.
has the ability to be immediate and intimate at the same timereal women telling real
stories.
can share their personal stories, and have them recognised and accepted. The catharsis and power that comes from such storytelling should not be underestimated.
sense of collective action women receive support from others all over the world. They
enable people to understand themselves better and to find commonality with others.
It is a new way to reach those who might not ever be interested or deliberately seek out
the message in the first place, and in creating that connection, generating much needed
conversation and dialogue.

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NOTES
Possible points of analysis:
The reach and democracy of social media should be relatable to students though it is
hoped that they will be critical about how this can be used and abused. That Singaporeans
are largely media-savvy and online makes social media activism relevant and powerful,
especially given the less than 6 degrees of separation we enjoy in this small country.
That Singaporeans are busy and often apathetic could be a reason to believe that online
activism is limited in its impact and frequently new trends and issues tend to push other
worthy causes off the public radar. The anonymity and personal nature of social media
that was hailed in the article could also backfire when people uncover the identities of
the posters and cyber bullying and haters hijack well-intentioned posts or testimonials.
That social media activism can cross social boundaries and create dialogue between
moderate and more radical or disenfranchised segments of Singapore society is also
a fruitful point of discussion with government and NGOs becoming more active online.
On a broader scope, whether Singaporean activism remains within the local
community or reaches the rest of the world is arguable since Singaporeans have
personal contacts overseas but local issues tend to remain uninteresting for foreigners.
Often online activism flows from overseas social media outlets to Singapore with
Singaporeans picking up on worthwhile causes and promoting them in local circles.
Students should be encouraged to provide both widely accepted and notable
examples as well as apt examples that have a more personal flavour.

- Further Essay Practice

Ask students to draw on 2-3 articles from this issue to write a paragraph or craft
persuasive stands for these A level essay questions:
2012:
6)

Is violence ever justified?

8)

In your society, how far is equality for all a reality?

11)

The key criterion for good government is how well the economy is
managed. Is this a fair assessment?

12)

How far is it acceptable for technology to be used only for financial benefit?

2013:
1)

The world would be a better place if more political leaders were women.
What is your view?