A Woman's Place

• This three-part lesson introduces the concept that in many places around the world, women are only valued for their ability to produce children, which negatively impacts these women and increases global birth and fertility rates. 
• Students will read two articles, answer discussion questions, and participate in an eye-opening activity leading to a nuanced understanding of a complex topic.

Positives

• This lesson provides many perspectives, activities, and insights to the lives of girls and women in other parts of the world.
• The lesson can be differentiated or adapted with other articles or videos if needed. 

Additional Prerequisites

• The Los Angeles Times article is only available with a subscription, so you may have to skip that section of part 2.
  
• Students should have some background knowledge regarding fertility rates and how family planning positively impacts women and the environment. 
• Teachers will need to input their email and name in order to download the lesson, article, data set, and student worksheet. 
• You will need enough pennies or other objects that can be "flipped" for the activity and students will need access to the internet to conduct research in groups for part 3.
  

Differentiation

• Cross-curricular connections can be made in language arts classes for reading non-fiction and reading comprehension, in geography classes when considering cultural differences in different areas around the world, and in science and health classes when discussing fertility, the life cycle, and development. 
• After the activity in lesson two, consider having students share out their learning in a format of their choice: podcast, poster, video, or presentation. 
• As an extension, any of the discussion questions could be reformatted to become engaging writing topics for student essays. 
• This lesson should provide students with the opportunity to empathize and understand the hardships and challenges that others face, while also educating them about the current status of women and girls in many countries.
• Connections to the climate crisis, species extinction crisis, and global environmental decline can be made using these resources that connect sustainability, population, and resource use with climate change.