Process
Investigate the question "How do women fit into the international 21st century economy/workforce?"
In order to complete the first part of your task, you need to investigate women in the global economy. You should work together at the beginning, but then may choose to divide the investigation among the members of your group. A word of advice: don't simply give each person one of the following categories; in the end, this will be easier if each person explores some resources from both the global and American perspectives.
To begin, watch this CNN video clip on the 2007 World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report:
Now, go to the United Nations Cyberschoolbus and investigate the economic statistics of six countries (you may choose any six you like, but you are trying to get a picture of women in the economy throughout the world, so choose nations that give you geographic and economic diversity).
Next, use the CIA World Factbook to compare the life expectancies and literacy rates for men and women in those six nations.
Finally, look up those same six nations in the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report; country profiles begin on page 38.
As your group further explores the roles of women in the global economy, you may want to return to some of these resources in order to find information about other nations.
Perspectives on the Global Level:
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World Economic Forum - Gender Gap - be sure to have a look at the Global Gender Gap Index on the right side. You may also want to look at the Global Gender Gap Report for statistics and additional information. Also, have a look at some of the links to video clips - Saadia Zahidi , Laura Tyson, and Richard Haussmann.
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World Economic Forum - Gender Gap - Gender Gap Heat Map and Economic Heat Map
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AFL-CIO - Women in a Global Economy and Women's Rights Denied
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Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World- a synopsis from one of the authors (pdf files of individual chapters are linked at the bottom)
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Global Woman - a review from the British newspaper The Guardian
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AFL-CIO - Women's Rights in Indonesia
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AFL-CIO - Women's Rights in South Africa
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AFL-CIO - Women's Rights in Ireland
- AFL-CIO - Juarez, Mexico
American perspectives:
- National Committee on Pay Equity Pay Equity Quiz (similar information is also given by the National Organization for Women)
- NY Times - "Women are now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy" and accompanying letters and online comments
- WSJ Blog - "Bridging the Pay Gap" - be sure to have a look at the graph and read some of the readers' comments
- WSJ Blog "Outnumbered on the Job" -the readers' comments will probably be more useful than the introductory blurb
- WSJ - "Dress Code Politics: Who Wears the Pants?" -an article about the perceptions of office dress expectations and the differences between men's and women's points of view
- Cornell Institute for Women and Work - news links
- Momsrising.org - Realistic & Fair Wages
- Womenemployed.org - Work Isn't Working
- National Council for Research on Women - factoids (not the best layout for a website - scroll down to find information on various topics) and links to full reports
- Women's Economic Status in the States -compare Connecticut with other New England states and states in other regions. Also have a look at the maps, such as the Ratio of Women's to Men's Earnings

Consider the question "How can the challenge of gender equity be addressed while working toward long term economic growth?"
Now that you are familiar with the way women are seen and the status of women in the worldwide economy, you need to start thinking about how this can be changed to work toward gender equity and long term economic growth.
First, jot down some ideas. I wouldn't want your creative, independently conceived, brilliant ideas to be tainted by some of the possibilities that others have put forward and/or are working on. Again -- thinking and talking to your group are good -- but write your ideas down!
Then scroll down....




Now that you have written down your own thoughts, explore some ideas from others about what to change and how to effect change. Again, your group will probably want to use a divide and conquer strategy.
- United Nations Development Fund for Women - Gender Responsive Budgets
- United Nations Development Fund for Women - Reducing Women's Poverty and Exclusion
- United Nations Development Fund for Women - Women Migrant Workers -be sure to look at "Empowering Women Migrant Workers" and "Migrant Women in Search of Decent Jobs"
- Women Employed Initiatives - The Career Coach Curriculum
- Women Employed Initiatives - Support Paid Sick Days - the Connecticut General Assembly almost passed similar legislation this spring
- National Committee on Pay Equity - Equal Pay Day (be sure to look closely at the coupon at the bottom of the page)
- Momsrising.org - Open, Flexible Work
- Momsrising.org - Maternity Leave
- Women's Economic Status in the States - Policy Recommendations
- AFL-CIO - Free Trade Area of the Americas
Move on to the Conclusion.