Becky Piper-Hayhurst
Speak to women, ask them my questions, document responses and take pictures. This includes the women who pick me me up at the airport as well as other women I meet in the cities and the home stay in the village and village women I work with.
I teach World Civ and Sociology so this topic would fit in to a unit for each class, the roles of family members and gender socialization. Prior to the trip I will research the role of women in the Indian family and in Indian society with regard to expectations, behaviors, duties, customs as well as rights. While in India I will compare the role of women in the city (drivers picking us up, other women I meet) to women living in villages (home stay and working with village women). I will do a comparison of past and present and incorporate this into a powerpoint presentation. If possible I'm interested in finding out if the caste system still has an impact on women's lives. I'd like to have students do research on women's issues in India, past and present on various topics such as the perceived value of being born female vs male, roles /expectations of female children, roles/expectations of female women, professional opportunities, women's rights and how all of these are impacted by locations (city vs village) and caste and how have they changed over time.
I will research the traditional role of women in the family and society, past and present and prepare questions for women I interact with in the city and villages.
