- How did you feel playing that role?
- Did your role reflect your personality?
- Was it easier or more difficult to play a very different role than your personality?
- What would you do differently?
- What do you think you learned at the end of this activity?
Break the rules in literature: a role playing on gender in inequality related to women writers
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Break the rules in literature: a role playing on gender inequality related to women writers
MATERIALS: Paper and pens
TIME: 90 minutes. It is possible to structure the activity on several days/lessons
GROUP SIZE: Whole class, divided in small groups (4-5 students each)
OBJECTIVES:
- Implement critical thinking about gender issues
- Foster empathy
METHODOLOGY: Cooperative Learning, Role Playing, Learning Scenarios
CROSS-CURRICULAR: Psychology, IT, Literature, Art
AUTHOR: Noemi Marchiotto, STePS
STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION
INTRODUCTION
Many poets, short story writers, dramatists, and novelists have used fictitious names for their works in the arena of literature. It gave them enough freedom to express their feelings and thoughts. Although many male authors have decided throughout the history of literature to voluntarily use “pen names” to hide their identity, the choice of a female writer’s “pen name” was dictated by necessity rather than the sheer pleasure of doing so. Some classical women writers published their literary works under pseudonyms to hide their identity from their friends and family since, in the late 18th and 19th centuries, writing as a profession was largely considered an activity unsuitable for women. Some examples:
The Brontë Sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, respectively Currer Bell, Ellis Bell e Acton Bell.
Mary Anne Evans was George Eliot, famous for “Middlemarch”.
Louisa May Alcott, whose masterpiece is “Little Women”, was A.M. Barnard at the beginning of her career.
Nelle Harper Lee, author of “The Darkness Beyond the Hedge”, decided to eliminate the first part of the name to give the impression of being a man, simply signing Harper Lee.
The reasons that led the writers to use a pseudonym are various: to be taken seriously and avoid that their novels were read with the preconception that it was only literature “for ladies”, (e.g. “romance novels”) and therefore minor, not comparable to great literature; to publish without prejudice in male-dominated circles; to experiment with the freedom of anonymity; to encourage male readership or to avoid the scandal that the writing could bring on the good name of the woman.
Not up to par, inappropriate, too feminine: women writers have been fighting against gender stereotypes for centuries, working twice as hard to achieve the results of their male colleagues. Today, anonymous publication is rare, but the use of pseudonyms continues, as does the use of initials that mask an author’s gender. For example, the author of “Harry Potter” J.K. Rowling was asked by the publisher to use a pseudonym, to avoid the difficulty of the audience to accept a woman as the creator of a fantastic text for young people.
This phenomenon around female writing is reflected not only in the publication of books but also in the most prestigious awards. According to this article On Sexism in Literary Prize Culture: “Since its inception in 1969, the Man Booker Prize has been awarded to 16 women and 31 men. The Pulitzer, established in 1917, has been bestowed on 67 men and only 30 women, and, in Australia, only 14 women, compared to 28 men, have won the Miles Franklin. This ratio is particularly shocking when you consider that, as Macquarie University found, 65 percent of literary fiction authors, 76 percent of genre fiction writers and 87 percent of children’s authors in Australia are women.”
IMPLEMENTATION
STEP 1 (suggested time 10 minutes): You must introduce the topic using the “Introduction” you have just read and the “Related resources” section at the bottom of this document. We suggest making a PowerPoint presentation about the content. In the end, tell the class that the activity consists of a role-playing game about the gender inequality that women writers suffer in the literary world.
STEP 2 (suggested time 10 minutes): Introduce the scenario to the class and then create mixed teams (both male and female) with 4-5 students each. The scenario will be the same for all groups.
The scene to be represented consists of: a daughter tells her parents that she wrote a book and that she would like to publish it under her real name. The scene takes place at the end of the 19th Century.
The roles to be played in each group are a daughter and her parents. Depending on how many students you have, you can add the following characters to the game: brothers, sisters, boyfriend/girlfriend, neighbours, a representative of the publishing house etc. Remember: in Greek times, men played female roles in the theatre. So, tell the students not to be afraid to play with the roles, have fun!
STEP 3 (suggested time 25 minutes): Leave some time for the groups to research and write down their plot and dialogues. It is possible to give them some resources to help writing texts and make it more realistic. They could be online articles or texts taken from books written at that time (Jane Austen’s books are perfect for the purpose). Tell the groups to organize their notes and to make some rehearsal in view of the presentations. This phase can last longer according to the needs.
STEP 4 (suggested time 30 minutes): It’s time for the presentations. Each group has to show what they have planned to the rest of the class. Tell students to imagine that they are at the theatre and that it is therefore important to be silent when a group is presenting. It may be difficult for some people to speak in front of others, so it’s important to support your teammates.
TIP FOR TEACHER: the classroom spaces should be large, adaptable, and flexible with areas dedicated to the preparation of the game and its staging.
STEP 5 (Recommend time 15 minutes): At the end of the activities, propose to the class a moment of Debriefing which is a technique in which people who have had common experience are led to an intentional discussion of what has been lived to arrive, through an accurate analysis, to have “insight” shared on it. The Debriefing is therefore the final evaluation of a process. The questions to ask are the following (you can select the ones you think most appropriate with your group of students):
Further activities:
- Multiple Role Playing: each group can take turns experimenting with the different roles proposed by the teacher. Then in the end the students confront themselves in a shared way on the experience and reflect on the strengths/weaknesses of each role experienced.
- Make the scenarios: you can plan a cross-curricular project with the subjects of Art and IT allowing students to create different props or costumes to be used during Role Playing. This would favour the engagement of the class.
- Digital Role Playing: you can propose the activity of role playing using online applications and creating an e-learning environment. Be sure to take some time to illustrate how the app works and let the students do some tests before the real activity. We suggest the following applications: https://www.vedamo.com/knowledge/role-playing-virtual-classroom/ ; https://bizplay.ee/
Related resources
Rosalind Elsie Franklin: a passionate researcher, a sexist environment, a sensational photo, a double helix, a revolutionary discovery, a data theft, a huge injustice. After the Second World War, the scientific world was in turmoil trying to discover better form and function of DNA, that is, the molecule that transmits genetic information from one cell to another. In this climate, Rosalind joined the study of DNA structure at King’s College (UK). Unfortunately for her, the research team was composed of too different personalities: Rosalind and Wilkins do not get along and find themselves working on their own. Wilkins would like her to be his assistant, but Rosalind rebels so much that she was called abrupt at work and deserves the nickname “the terrible Rosy”.
The moment for her came when Rosalind managed to perfect the X-ray diffraction and discovered the 2 forms of DNA, A and B, a decisive step to the description of its structure. Between 1951 and 1952, Franklin obtained Photograph 51, revealing the double helix structure of the DNA’s molecule.
This photo was shown, unbeknownst to Rosalind, to the other scientists who were working on the research who took credit, even winning the Nobel Prize for medicine a few years later. None of those scientists ever recognized the importance of Franklin’s contribution to one of the most important discoveries of all time. She will remain “The Dark Lady of DNA”.
Look here: Rosalind Franklin: DNA’s unsung hero – Cláudio L. Guerra
