The ability to analyze population pyramids and understand the underlying demographics of particular societies is one of the core skills that high school students should master in geography. The case of India's significant gender imbalance between women and men and the underlying dowry system attributed as responsible for the phenomenon is but one example that exemplifies the importance of understanding population dynamics if we are to inform government decisions in an adequate manner.
To facilitate students in both analyzing population pyramids and critically engaging with specific case studies, this series of multimedia activities was developed for my classes. Students learn how to analyze population pyramids and, after formulating their own hypotheses, through a powerful video documentary gain an understanding of why there is a gender population gap in India. In the process, students also engage in free writing, reflecting on what it means to be undesired, and practice introducing their own voice in political dialogues through the creation of a political cartoon on the topic. They are also invited to connect their observations with other similar phenomena and reason through plausible solutions that society could pursue.
The activities take around 140 minutes to complete and can be divided into four parts over several class sessions. It can also be extended with additional assignments. I use it with high school students in my junior Human and Region geography course and have observed that the impact of the topic on people's lives motivates student interest, learning, and critical thinking.
Part one - around 30 minutes
Students are provided with around 15-20 minutes of time to free write on the theme of "undesired". They are encouraged to explore various aspects (who, when, why, how, with what effect, etc…) of this topic in an open-minded manner with no limitations on the content that they can discuss. They may choose to write about particular phenomena in the world or their own experiences. I have found that some students narrate stories and others provide illustrations; some decide to discuss people while others mention objects, feelings, and events. Students are guaranteed the opportunity to keep their writing confidential if they wish. After the free writing time is over, around 15 minutes should be devoted to discussion to allow students time to share what they wrote and further reflect on the topic. This is an opportunity to break down various aspects of the theme of undesired and elicit student knowledge. Possible discussion points: what groups and communities of people are you aware of that that have been undesired at different points in history? By whom? Why? Are they still undesired? How do people become undesired? How can it be prevented? What are the consequences of being undesired? Part two - around 25 minutes
Students are provided with a general introduction to population pyramids. A good introductory source is the TedED developed by Kim Preshoff. Before watching, students can share what they already know about demography and why geographers study populations. After watching, students can review what they learned about what population pyramids show and how they can be useful to public policymakers. At this point, it would be useful to show students a few examples of different population pyramids to make sure they understand the main concepts (e.g. age and sex distribution) and can analyze what different pyramids show in terms of whether a population is expanding, remaining stagnant, or declining. The population pyramid resource linked above also allows the user to track a country's changing pyramid throughout time. To conclude this section, the population pyramid of India should be presented to students and they should be asked to analyze it. Savvy students will make note of the fact that there is a significant gap between the number of males and females in India across a range of age groups. For example, in the 0-4 age group, boys make up 4.5 percent of the Indian population but girls only 4.1 percent. You can make note of the fact that recent analysis (see here, here, and here) has shown that there are indeed 63 million "missing" women in India.
This is a good time to enable students an opportunity to tease out possible reasons for this gender imbalance. Explanations - discussed in the articles linked to above from the Guardian and MediaStorm - include sex-selective abortions and inadequate medical care and diet provided to girls with both of these factors ultimately tied to the dowry system.
Part three - around 35 minutes The third segment of the lesson involves learning about the dowry system in India and its role in shaping the gender imbalance in Indian society. The vehicle I use for this is the powerful documentary titled Undesired developed by Walter Astrada for the Alexia Foundation and MediaStorm. The video explores the link between the dowry system and the harmful effects it has had on girls and women in the pressure to bare a son. Please note: viewer discretion is advised for younger students. To accompany the video, I have developed a worksheet for students to take notes to ensure that they understand key concepts and to provide a basis for discussion and critical engagement afterwards. Worksheet questions include: 1. What’s the situation of Mitu Khurana (the woman at the beginning of the video)?
2. What is a dowry? And what is its relevance with regard to population?
3. What are some of the ways in rural India that parents discriminate against girls in favor of boys?
4. According to Ruchira Gupta, why is the treatment against girls irrational?
5. Why is the situation for women hopeless?
6. What is a pilgrim town?
7. Ruchira Gupta says that courage is contagious. Do you think this is true? After reviewing content information, questions five and seven can provide an opportunity for further discussion. The instructor may wish to encourage students to come up with examples where the sayings "courage is contagious" or "fear is contagious" were true. My students have tended to bring up the Me Too movement as a recent example and have also brought up historical movements (e.g. Civil Rights, the Arab Spring, the Velvet Revolution). Two further post-viewing discussion questions include: 8. What further problems could the gender imbalance in India be expected to create? 9. What are potential solutions to addressing the gender disparity? For #8, it would be useful to steer students towards the phenomenon of human trafficking between India and neighboring countries. For #9, students in my classes have brought up everything from government social campaigns to more policing to the need for financial incentives through childcare subsidies and free education/health care for girls. Part four - 50 minutes
I have also worked with my students on developing their own political cartoons in groups. After being introduced to central elements and examples of political cartoons, they are put into the position of being a civil society activist and asked to make a statement on the dowry system and gender in India through a political cartoon. This exercise has served as a further way to reinforce the topic for students, engage them in critical thinking, and also familiarize them with practical skills of journalism and activism. Students can analyze and share their political art with each other after they are finished.
Further learning
Students can be assigned to read some of the additional resources on the topic, including the accompanying article on MediaStorm and the recent Guardian article linking sex-selective abortions to the price of gold. If students are familiar with similar situations of gender imbalances (e.g. China), they could also compare/contrast similarities and differences in those cases. Students may also wish to explore the phenomena of gendercide/infanticide more generally.