Student Worksheet

Targeted Solutions For Women And Girls - Activity Instructions

A lot of people say that girls’ education is important, but do you know why? This activity will show you an unexpected outcome that comes from empowering women and girls in the context of climate change. You’ll consider the role of community members in generating targeted solutions to gender inequality and use some tools that real leaders use to evaluate their ideas.

In this activity you will explore the relationship between empowering women and girls, and climate change.

Part A: Climate Change Solutions

Step 1.

What could you do to meet the challenge of climate change? Take some time to think about what you think are the TOP FIVE most effective solutions to address climate change and record them below:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Note: if you want to find out more about the effectiveness of climate change solutions, see the Drawdown Solutions website. The second highest-ranking solution is Health and Education, which is made up of (1) Educating Girls and (2) Family Planning.

Part B: Women, Girls And Climate Change

Step 1.

Watch this clip from the film 2040 that explores the topic of women, girls and climate change, then reflect on the clip using the SEE THINK WONDER table below.

Click to watch: 2040 - Empowering Women and Girls (Password: 2040_EDU)

Step 2.

Look back at your ‘Think’ and ‘Wonder’ responses above. Do you see the connection between educating girls and climate change? Record your thoughts below.

Note: You can read more about the link between women’s education and climate change here: https://whatsyour2040.com/educating-girls/

Step 3.

Now read the following information.

In summary:

Education empowers women to be more independent, financially or otherwise, and to manage their reproductive health.
Women who are more educated and more empowered tend to have better jobs and life prospects, and also have fewer, healthier children, slowing population growth.
The UN predicts that if 98 million more girls were able to complete their education, we would have 1.1 billion fewer people on the planet. With that slower rate of population growth, there wouldn't be as many people competing for resources, which puts a lot of pressure on our planet!

Part C: The Role Of Community

Step 1.

Different community members and groups can help support women's education, which in turn will help lessen the impact of climate change.

Choose one of the community roles listed below. Take on the perspective of someone working in your selected community role and fill in the table below.

Community roles:

Educators: Your role is to give people important information and teach them (could be at school, or for adults).
Creatives: Your role is to get people excited about making changes (you could think of ad campaigns, art, films, etc.).
Activist: Your role is to raise awareness about issues in the community. You can also put pressure on government or businesses (you might organise campaigns, protests, etc.).
Government: Your role is to make laws - rules for everyone to follow.
Businesses: Your role is to make products and services that help people and the planet. You can also raise money.
.

Extend: You could repeat this task, taking on a different role. How do your answers change for the different sectors of the community?

Step 2.

Now, select one of the solutions that you created to analyse.

Begin by explaining your solution in some detail (two to three sentences):

Step 3.

You will now complete a SWOT analysis of your solution. You can use the SWOT table below to help you to analyse your idea.

You should first fill out the ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’. In these two areas, you should focus on the idea itself and what your group/community can do.

Then, move onto the opportunities and threats, which are ways that people outside of your group might help or hinder your plan.

Here is an example:

Solution: New laws making school compulsory for all girls up until 16.
Short explanation of the idea: In some places, school is not compulsory for all children. Young girls can be taken out of school to support their families, for example, by watching young children while parents are at work. But if school is made compulsory, parents will have to leave their daughters in school and find someone else to look after the younger children.
.

Strengths
(positives about the idea)

Makes it legally compulsory for girls to attend school and get educated.

Weaknesses
(drawbacks of the idea)

Doesn’t fix the reasons why parents are taking their girls out of school. They still need a babysitter, and they might not be able to afford one.

Opportunities
(ways other groups or people could add to this idea)

If we find out the reasons why girls are being taken out of school, we could create new businesses to do those jobs, so that they're still getting done even though the girls aren't doing them.

Threats
(ways other people or groups might damage this idea)

Some activists might protest about the jobs that aren't being done by the girls any more. Those jobs will still need to get done.

Now, fill out the SWOT table exploring your solution:

Taking It Further

Undertaking a SWOT analysis provides an early indication of the feasibility of a proposal. You might like to make some tweaks to your original idea following the SWOT analysis.

Imagine your community has a climate change solution grant available. What arguments would you present to show your solution is deserving of the grant?

In what other ways could you fund your solution? You might consider the following:

raising funds from the community
selling items for profits
putting on free events
collaborating with other groups to share costs
any other means they can come up with.

2040 - Targeted Solutions For Women And Girls

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