Lesson 6: The Pursuit of Gender Equality

Students choose a colour, create a symbol, and sketch an image to describe their reactions to one of the following News headlines:

• Norway’s beach handball team fined for breaching uniform requirements by not wearing bikini bottoms
• Gender pay gap narrowing but women still earning average of $25,000 less
• One in three women has had health concerns dismissed. Experts say it’s evidence of a gender gap in medicine

In small groups students score Australia out of 10 in terms of gender equality, explaining their reasons to one another.

As a class brainstorm the contribution of Christianity to women’s rights in 2 columns, positive & negative.

• Clip:  On whether Christianity is good or bad for women (1:09)
• Clip: On what Christianity promised women (2:23)
• Article: International Women’s Day (2 min)

Watch the clips and read the article, then the class adds to the ‘positive & negative’ columns from above contributing information from these resources.

1. Are these videos mostly positive or negative in their assessment of the role Christianity has played in advancing women’s rights?
2. How do you feel about their assessment?

• Article: The forgotten religious roots of #MeToo (4 min)
• Article: The un-silencing of the girls has been a long time coming (3 min)

Students read the articles and respond to the following:

1. What do we learn from these articles about the place and value of women in the Greco-Roman world?
2. How did Christianity challenge the Greco-Roman treatment of women?
3. What kind of influence have Christian teachings had on women’s rights movements today?

• Clip & Transcript: Why Jesus is good news for women (5:13)

Show the clip to the class. Using the transcript students identify three sentences that stand out and are particularly important for the argument being presented, and share these with a partner.

• Article: People just like you (1:00)

Students read the article and make a list of some of the ways society might change if everyone saw women – and all people – as bearing God’s image.

As a class read Genesis 1:26-28 and Galatians 3:26-28, and discuss how these verses establish the inherent equality between men and women.

• Clip: On Jesus’ conversations with women (2:21)

Show the clip. Students choose EITHER the Samaritan woman or Martha and read the relevant passage either John 4:1-26 or John 11:1-44.

Students do a Step Inside thinking routine for the woman they chose, recording what she might:

1. 1. have seen, observed or noticed
   2. have known, understood, held to be true or believed
   3. have cared deeply about
   4. have wondered about or questioned

Explain the impression we get of Jesus from the way he related to the woman you chose.

Students produce an outline for a 5-minute speech on the role of Christianity in the progression of gender equality. They can also create a series of slides to accompany the speech, including quotes, bible passages and key points.

Lead a class discussion around how students would/could respond to a friend who said

‘I would never consider Christianity because of the way it has treated women.’

• Clip: Is Christianity Bad News for Women? (45:55)
• Audio: Is Christianity Bad News for Women? (45:15)
• Clip: Is Christianity Bad News for Women? Q & A (26:07)

Students watch or listen to the whole of CPX’s 2017 Richard Johnson Lecture with Amy Orr-Ewing and the accompanying Q&A session, and answer the following questions:

1. What did you find helpful about the lecture?
2. What (if anything) did you feel was missing from her arguments?
3. What is one question you would like to ask the speaker?

• Article:  Religion v feminism: Which has done more for humanity?

Students read this article by prominent atheist Jane Caro and write a paragraph responding to her argument.