Handout for Case Study (30 Min)

Handout for Case Study (30 Min)

WHAT	·         Each group discusses the case study. ·         Form 4 groups: ·         Trainees discuss in groups the current situation of the family. ·         Trainees discuss what the dream could be like. Keep in mind the situation of the men and women in the household. ·         Would such a dream remain a dream? Is it unrealistic to dream? Under which conditions could such a dream become a reality? ·         What impact would it make to husband, wife and family? ·         Write your findings down on Flip-Chart or Meta cards as per these categories ·         Groups briefly present their findings as per these categories
HOW WELL	Gender roles and inequalities can be assessed and highlighted
TIME	30’: 20’ Group Work and 10’ presentation by groups 5’ Summary by Trainer

Assignment: the impossible dream

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM - A SUMMARY The mother is the first to rise. Her daily routine starts by waking her children up, cooking breakfast, taking care of the baby, getting the children ready for school and preparing lunch boxes for everyone. The father and son become impatient if their breakfast is not ready fast enough. Before leaving the house for the factory, the mother must finish her morning household chores. Her work - piece-rate, repetitive sewing in a garment factory - is tedious and exhausting. She is under pressure from a male supervisor who harasses the workers to work faster. By comparison, her husband's work is made easier by modern machinery and he has a regular well-paying job. He can even find the time to greet and say a few words to his colleagues. They all harass the women workers. After work, the husband joins his friends at a restaurant to smoke and spend his wages. His wife shops, fetches the baby from the nursery and returns home to face yet more work - cooking, washing, ironing, cleaning- and taking care of the baby. Her daughter is obliged to help. When the husband comes home, he changes from his work clothes and drops them on the floor. He and his son enjoy a leisurely evening, relaxing in front of the TV. From time to time, he orders his wife to bring him tea or some snacks. If the woman can manage to snatch a few moments to sit down, she knits-for her son- so as not to waste time. The television programme shows a woman farmer working with a baby on her back. A male farmer is shown driving a tractor - a labour-saving machine. The contrast between men's and women's work is well illustrated in this example. When the man gets tired, he goes to bed. The woman has to finish all her household chores before retiring. At night, while asleep, she has a dream ............. Discuss potential answer: She dreams that in the morning she and her husband get up at the same time, that he helps to get the children ready for school and assists with the housework, that wife is a supervisor at work treating women at work with respect and responding to their needs, that husband, wife and both children share family responsibility, that the husband and son perform tasks traditionally reserved for females, that her husband even learns to knit... What impact would it make? Who would benefit most from such changes? Highlight that while immediately, the wife and the girl child would most benefit, overall the family would benefit, since women would feel encouraged to engage in more demanding jobs and fetch higher incomes. Is this an impossible dream? Or could it be a reality? Source: UNESCO Gender Sensitivity. A training manual. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001376/137604eo.pdf