Activity Sheet in 21st Century Literature from

the Philippines and the World

Name ___________________________________ Quarter 2
Grade Level ___________________________ LAS 3

I. Learning Objectives
MELC 1: Write a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts and doing an
adaptation of these require from the learner the ability to identify representative texts and
authors from Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa.
Objectives
Write a critical essay on the suggested material/text using the feminist approach.

II. Learning Concept

A close analysis requires to write a critical evaluation of an argument. Topics can range
from analyzing a modern or historical event, film, book, type of music, and complicated social
and political issues. It helps one better understand a subject and it allows to examine
different controversial points of view. The main purpose of a close analysis is to tell a reader
about a subject and to explain its purpose and meaning. You will also need to present your
personal point of view and critically analyze the subject. There are several approaches in
critical literary appreciation, one of which is through the feminist approach which is a
powerful literary method that you can use to analyze literature. In this approach, the key
areas of focus include discrimination and exclusion on the basis of sex and gender,
objectification, structural and economic inequality, power and oppression, and gender roles
and stereotypes.

As you write your close analysis, be guided by the following process.

1. Carefully read the work you will analyze.
2. Formulate a general question after your initial reading that identifies a problem-tension-
that addresses a key issue relevant to feminist, queer theory, or, masculinity studies.
3. Reread the work, paying particular attention to the question you posed. Take notes, which
should be focused on your central question. Write an exploratory journal entry that allows
you to play with ideas.
4. Construct a working thesis that makes a claim about the work and accounts for the
following:
a. What does the work mean?
b. How does the work artistically demonstrate a theme?
c. “So what” is significant about the work? That is, why is it important for you to write
about this work? What will readers “learn” from reading your interpretation?
5. Reread the text to gather textual evidence for support. What literary devices are used to
achieve the theme?
6. Construct an informal outline that demonstrates how you will support your
interpretation?
7. Write a first draft.
8. Receive feedback from peers and your teacher via peer review and conferencing
with your teacher (if possible)
9. Revise the paper, which will include revising your original thesis statement and
restructuring your paper to best support the thesis. Note: You probably will revise many times so
it is important to receive feedback at every draft stage if possible.
10. Edit and proofread for correctness, clarity and style.

Below are some typical questions one must ask when writing a close analysis using the
Feminist approach.
 How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
 What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming
male/female role?)
 What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
 How do characters embody these traits?
  Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change
others’ reactions to them?

 What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or
psychologically) of patriarchy?
 What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting
patriarchy?
 What does the work say about women’s creativity?
 What does the history of the work’s reception by the public and by the critics tell us about
the operation of patriarchy?
 What role does the work play in terms of women’s literary history and literary tradition?

III. Learning Tasks

Practice Tasks 1
Reading and Note-taking of Important Information from Gender- related Issues
Direction: Read the full transcript of the speech delivered by Emma Watson, the UN Women
Goodwill Ambassador, at the UN Headquarters on September 20, 2014. You may take down
notes as you read it very carefully. For the note-taking part, you must distinguish between
important and unimportant parts. You just identify key words and key points to record.

Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too

Today we are launching a campaign called “HeforShe.”
I am reaching out to you because I need your help. We want to end gender equality- and to do
that we need everyone to be involved.
This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: We want to try galvanize as many men and boys
as possible to be advocates for gender equality. And we don’t just want to talk about it, make
sure it is tangible.
I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have
realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If
there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have equal
rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the
sexes.”
I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called
“bossy,” because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but the boys
were not.
When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the press.
When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out their sports teams because they didn’t want to
appear “muscly.”
When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has
shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too
aggressive, isolating, ant-men and, unattractive.
Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?
I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male
counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I
think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my
country. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can
say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality.
These rights I consider to be human but I am one of the lucky one. My file is a sheer privilege
because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit
me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume I would go less because I might give birth to
a child one day. These influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am
today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world
today. And we need more of those. And if you still hate the word—it is not the word that is
important but the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have been afforded
the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very few have been.
In 1995, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. Sadly, many of
the things she wanted to change are still a reality today. But what stood for me the most was
that only 30 per cent of her audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when
only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?
Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is
your issue too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by
society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother.
I’ve seen young suffering from mental illness unable to ask help for fear it would make them look
less

“macho”—in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49 years of age;
eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and
insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of
equality either.
We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that they
are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men
don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled to be submissive.
If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled. Both men and women should
feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong…. It is time that we
all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.
If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are—
we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom. I want men to take up
this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that
their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too—reclaim those parts of themselves
they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.
You might be thinking who is Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It’s
a good question and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing. I don’t know if I am
qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about the problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I’ve seen—and give the chance--- I feel it is my duty to say something.
English Statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for
good men and women to do nothing.”
In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt firmly—if not me, who, if not
now, when. If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope those
words might be helpful. Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for
me to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same
work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates it
won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able to receive a secondary education. If
you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminist I spoke of earlier. And for
this I applaud you. We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting
movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, to be
the “he” for “she”. And to ask yourself if not me, who? If not now, when? Thank you!
NOTES:
Main Points
1.________________________________________________________________________________
2.________________________________________________________________________________
3.________________________________________________________________________________
4.________________________________________________________________________________
5.________________________________________________________________________________

Practice Task 2: Concept Mapping

Direction: Based on the speech of Emma Watson, identify four characteristics of a man and a
woman on how she revisits the feminist view. Write your answers beside the lines.
Practice Task 3: Comprehension Questions
Direction: Answer the following questions and see how much you have understood the material
you have just read.
1. Who is Emma Watson?
______________________________________________________________________________

2. What did she hope to achieve with her speech?

______________________________________________________________________________

3. In what way was feminism defined in the speech?

______________________________________________________________________________
4. What made her decide to be a feminist?
______________________________________________________________________________

5. When does one become a feminist according to the text?

___________________________________________________________________________
6. According to the speech, what problems confront women in a male dominated society?

What measures do governments implement to address these problems?

___________________________________________________________________________
7. Why did Emma did Watson say that gender equality is a man’s issue too?
_____________________________________________________________________________
8. What is gender equality? In your opinion, do you think this is possible?
_____________________________________________________________________________
9. List down some male gender stereotypes mentioned in the speech. What can be done to
break these stereotypes? __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10.How important is male participation in establishing or achieving gender equality?
__________________________________________________________________
IV. ASSESSMENT: Again, read the full transcript of speech, “Gender equality is your issue too”.
Guided by the questions, write three to seven paragraphs of your critical analysis about the
speech using the Feminist approach.
 What is the speaker trying to espouse?
 How are male and female roles defined in the speech?
 What does the speech reveal about the realities of gender equality/inequality?
 What does the speech reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or
psychologically) of men over women?
 What does the speech imply about possibilities of achieving what the speaker advocates?
Your essay will be rated using the following rubric:
 Introduction and Conclusion 10
Main Points and Contents 10
Organization 5
Stye 5
Mechanics 5
TOTAL 35 pts.
Use a separate sheet of paper in writing your essay.

Prepared by: LIZA P. PACLA, Buhatan IS and JANET F. PALLE, Sor NHS

Quality Assured by: Maricris D. Labayandoy, Ma. Theresa Atutubo, Janeth F. Palle and
Cleofe D. Ariola– Sorsogon City Division