Internet Exercises

EXERCISE 1

Information on gender and on women's issues abounds on the Internet. On the liberal side, the Institute for Global Communications maintains WomensNet, which provides many links to sources of information (www.igc.org/igc/womensnet). On their web page, click on one of the links to news reports in the "Headlines" column. What types of issues is this organization most concerned about? A conservative perspective is available from Concerned Women for America (www.cwfa.org).

EXERCISE 2

For an abundance of factual information on labor force issues such as earnings differences between women and men, go to the home page of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/dol/wb). The Women's Bureau is concerned with working conditions, including equal pay, for women employed outside the home. On their statistics and data page, look at their list of the leading occupations for women. In how many of these occupations are 90 percent or more of the workers women? For background on the issue of equal pay, download their report, "Equal Pay: A Thirty-Five Year Perspective."

EXERCISE 3 - The Cost of Gender Discrimination

The United Nations Population Fund has produced a publication entitled, State of the World Population 2000: Lives Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of Change. Go to this site: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/swpmain.htm to find the report.

Click on Counting the Cost of Gender Inequality. Chapter 5 of the report will come up, which covers many topics such as health, economics, education, childbearing, violence, and aging. Read the report for a view of the scope of global gender inequities. Scroll to Table 2 near the end of the report for a summary of indicators of gender equality. What kinds of countries do you think have higher scores of equality based on these indicators? How are we doing as a society?

EXERCISE 4 - The Feminist Majorities

Since the resurgence of the women's movement in the 1960's, many organizations promoting women's equality have emerged. View two of these and make comparisons. The Feminist Majority is an organization dedicated to a liberal agenda on women's equality. View their homepage at http://www.feminist.org/. Compare their site with that of the National Organization for Women at http://www.now.org/. How are the issues presented? What types of issues are in the forefront of each?