ACTIVITY FOUR: THE WAY THE WORLD IS NOW
What does WAGGGS want to know?
We would like to understand whether girls see that in many Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) jobs, women are underrepresented.
What you need
- The job list from Activity Three
- Pen
What to do
- Prepare: Print or write the jobs and job descriptions (provided below) on one small piece of paper each so you have separate piles of jobs and their descriptions. Prepare one set for each small group.
- Give the jobs and their descriptions to the small groups groups. Challenge them to work together to match the job name with the description. The winning group is the one that matches the most correctly!
- Put the list of jobs on a wall. Ask the group to think about each job in turn. In your country or community, do they think that right now, there are more men, more women, or equal numbers of each in each job?
- Ask the group to vote on each: call out "more men", then "more women", then "equal". To cast their vote, they could stand up or run to one side of the room. You should record the tally of each vote. You could draw a woman or man figure next to each result so it can be seen at a glance.
Suggestion:
If you are concerned girls may not vote on their own opinions, you could do a blind vote where girls close their eyes and stand or raise hands.
JOBS/CAREERS LIST TO PRINT AND CUT
| Aerospace Engineer | Designs, develops, tests and builds aircraft and spacecraft |
| Civil Engineer | Plan and manage big building projects like bridges or transport links |
| Mechanical Engineer | Design machines, from car engines to elevators |
| Manufacturing Engineer | Based in factories, support and improve how products are made, from food to medicine |
| Data Analyst | Gather and organise information and use it to show patterns in the way people think or behave. E.g. how people might vote or how a business could be run better |
| Accountant | Organise the money for a business, making sure payments are made and received, and they pay taxes correctly |
| Bank Manager | Provide services to customers wanting save or borrow money in a bank |
| Financial advisor | Help people and organisations to choose investments, savings, pensions, mortgages and insurance products |
| Zoologist | Study animals and their behaviour, often to help to conserve endangered species |
| Geologist | Study the Earth and what it's made of like rocks and gas. Their work can help predict or protect people from landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions |
| Midwife | Provides expert healthcare to women during pregnancy, giving birth and just after birth |
| Virologist | Study viruses, helping treat and prevent the diseases they cause in people, animals and plants |
| Software developer | Use their coding skills to develop programmes for computers and websites |
| Cyber security expert | Keep online systems safe from hackers by developing technology to keep them out |
| Robotics engineer | Design and build machines that can do actions that are like humans for industries from manufacturing to car design |
| Video game designer | Design and build games people can play on computers |
Online option:
Either of the following methods:
- Discussions in break-out room or plenary, depending on group size.
- Facilitator/leader show the description of each job with a multiple choice of a few jobs and ask participants which job they think fits the description.
- Discuss with group do they think each job has "more men", "more women" or "equal". You can ask them to raise their hands with video on or use reactions/emojis of the platform you are using to indicate what they think.
- Optional: have deeper discussion why they think so.
- Use applications like Kahoot, Slido, AhaSlides, Mentimeter or other interactive online engagement applications.
- Use quiz option, show the description of each job with a multiple choice of a few jobs, then let participants choose which job fits the description.
- Use poll option, show one job on each slide and let participants choose whether they think the particular job has "more men", "more women" or "equal".
- Optional: have deeper discussion why they think so.
RECORDING THE RESPONSES:
Use a table like the format below to record the responses from the group.
|
More men |
More women | Equal | |
| Aerospace Engineer | |||
| Civil Engineer | |||
| Mechanical Engineer | |||
| Manufacturing Engineer | |||
| Data Analyst | |||
| Accountant | |||
| Bank Manager | |||
| Financial advisor | |||
| Zoologist | |||
| Geologist | |||
| Midwife | |||
| Virologist | |||
| Software developer | |||
| Cyber security expert | |||
| Robotics engineer | |||
| Video game designer |
