SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

Student’s Name: Grade/Section:

Teacher: Date Submitted:

I. LEARNING SKILLS
A. Most Essential Learning Competency:
Writing 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

B. Objectives:
1. Take note of key ideas about gender-related issues
2. Write a close analysis of a literary text using the feminist approach

II. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPT

A. What is a CLOSE ANALYSIS:
A close analysis requires the writing of 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 one 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.

B. Analyzing a Text through the Feminist Approach

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.

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 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 roles?)
● What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
● How do characters embody these traits?
● Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How do these
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. ACTIVITIES
A. PRACTICE TASK
Practice Task 1: Reading and Note-taking of Important Information from
Gender-related Issues

Directions: 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, try to distinguish
between the important ideas and the unimportant ones. Identify the key/main points and
then write them below.

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 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.

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 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!

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 NOTES:
Main Points
1._____________________________________________________________

2._____________________________________________________________

3._____________________________________________________________

4._____________________________________________________________

5._____________________________________________________________

Practice Task 2 - Concept Mapping

Directions: 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

Directions: Read the speech again and answer the following questions. You may write
your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

1. What did Emma Watson hope to achieve with her speech?

2. In what way was feminism defined in the speech?
3. When does one become a feminist according to the text?
4. According to the speech, what problems confront women in a male dominated
society?
5. What is gender equality?
6. Why did Emma Watson say that gender equality is a men's issue too?

Considering your answers to the given questions above, write a short analysis of
the speech in at least three paragraphs using the feminist approach. Please be guided by
the rubric provided in Part IV. Use a separate sheet for your essay.

B. ASSESSMENT
1. Which of the following would be more relevant and interesting to the feminist?
a. Anarchy c. Aristocracy
b. Patriarchy d. Democracy

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 2. Which of the following is NOT a gender-based assumption?
a. Women are innately caring and connected to the environment.
b. Women outnumber men in last world UN population
c. Gender equality is a women’s issue.
d. Men are not emotional.

3. According to the speech, how can men achieve a complete version of himself?
a. Men must accept and embrace himself as he is.
b. Men must establish control over every one.
c. Men must show prejudice towards women.
d. Men must accept that women are more sensitive.
4. The following statements support gender equality, EXCEPT.
a. Men and women enjoy the same job opportunities.
b. Men and women recognize individual roles.
c. Men and women compete for supremacy.
d. Men and women open up to personal vulnerabilities.

5. Which of these key areas of focus is a concern of the feminist approach?

a. Wealth distribution between the rich and the poor
b. Objectification of women and children
c. Racial discrimination among Asians
d. Educational deprivation in underdeveloped countries

IV. RUBRIC FOR SCORING THE ESSAY

Introduction and Conclusion 10
Main Points and /or Arguments 10
Organization 5
Style 5
Mechanics 5
TOTAL 35 pts.

V. REFLECTION/COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS
What did you learn from this lesson?

Is there any part of the lesson that you find

difficult to understand?

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VI. REFERENCES:

https://www.google.com/search?q=emma+watson+speech+about+gender+equality&

https://www.athenscsd.org/userfiles/37/Classes/970/feminist_criticism.pdf?id=2194

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary%20theory
_and_schools_of_criticism/feminist_criticism.html

https://www.iberdrola.com/social-commitment/gender-stereotypes-women

https://theconversation.com/4-assumptions-about-gender-that-distort-how-we-think-
about-climate-change-and-3-ways-to-do-better-156126

https://www.news18.com/news/world/do-women-really-outnumber-men-latest-un-report-
on-population-reveals-the-truth-2188909.html

VII. ANSWER KEY

1. b 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. b

Prepared by: Quality Assured by:

LIZA P. PACLA – Teacher III CLEOFE D. ARIOLA, EPS

Buhatan Integrated National School Sorsogon City Division

JANET F. PALLE
Sorsogon National High School

CHEENEE H. BUAL, TIII

Cabasan National High School

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