EDUCAR PARA LA IGUALDAD

Trabajos presentados al Concurso del Ayuntamiento de Gijón

Dirección: Teresa Jove Sánchez

IES Rosario de Acuña

Curso 2012-2013

EDUCAR PARA LA IGUALDAD

A principios de curso nos llegó al instituto la noticia de que el

Ayuntamiento de Gijón, a través de su oficina de Políticas de Igualdad,

convocaba por primera vez un concurso dirigido a escolares de entre 12 y

18 años. Con esta iniciativa se trataba de promover la educación para la

igualdad de género así como prevenir y sensibilizar a la comunidad

educativa frente a cualquier manifestación de violencia de género. Los

premios estaban divididos en dos categorías: artística y escrita, y en tres

niveles: 1º- 2º ESO, 3º-4º ESO y 1º-2º Bachillerato. Los trabajos

presentados debían estar tutelados por un profesor del centro que, desde

su asignatura, trataría un tema relacionado con la mujer.

Nuestro instituto participó en las dos categorías con 4 alumnos de

3º ESO bilingüe y con 2 de 2º de Bachillerato, todos ellos tutelados por

Teresa Jove, profesora de inglés. Los trabajos tratan temas como la

violencia doméstica, la situación de la mujer en nuestra sociedad actual, la

presencia de la mujer en los diversos campos del saber a lo largo de la

historia o dos trabajos en los que se hizo una pequeña investigación sobre

El Anillo Culper y sobre la figura de Malala Jousafzai.

De los seis trabajos presentados, tres consiguieron llegar a la final.

Durante el acto de entrega de premios, que tuvo lugar en el Salón de

Recepciones del Ayuntamiento y estuvo presidido por la alcaldesa de

Gijón, se proyectaron los tres que presentábamos en la categoría artística.

En cuanto a los escritos, serán publicados por el ayuntamiento. En este

mismo acto se reconoció la calidad de todos los trabajos presentados, un

total de 43, procedentes de 14 centros educativos de Gijón.

TRABAJOS PRESENTADOS

CATEGORÍA ESCRITA:

THE CULPER SPY RING, María Valdés del Tejo, 3º ESO bilingüe.

A LETTER FROM ROSARIO DE ACUÑA, Sergio Junquera Pérez, 3º ESO bilingüe.

AN ACCESS TO THE WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE, Lucía Valiente Cuervo, 2º Bachillerato.

CATEGORÍA ARTÍSTICA:

VIOLENCE, ONE MORE STORY, Deyanera Bermejo Guerrero, 3º ESO bilingüe.

DO YOU KNOW WOMEN, Soraya Lara Ignacio, 3º ESO bilingüe.

JUST OPEN YOUR MIND AND WATCH BEYOND, Dora Martínez Llorente, 2º

bachillerato.

THE CULPER SPY RING

DESCRIPCION DEL TRABAJO PRESENTADO:

Cuando propuse a mis alumnos que pensasen en un tema para participar

en el concurso, María Valdés lo tuvo muy claro desde el principio. Hacía

poco que había visto un documental en el Canal Historia de TV sobre el

papel decisivo que jugaron algunas mujeres en los movimientos

separatistas norteamericanos del poder británico y decidió investigar un

poco más sobre estos hechos que le llamaron tanto la atención y de los

que nunca antes había oído hablar.

En su trabajo nos habla de la formación del Culper Spy Ring y de alguna

(¿o algunas?) de sus componentes más famosas. El Anillo Culper, como se

le conoce en español, fue un grupo de inteligencia creado por George

Washington en el que por primera vez se encomiendan labores de

espionaje a la mujer, justo en una época en la que se suponía que su tarea

principal era la de cuidar de la casa y la familia. Fue precisamente esto lo

que aseguró su anonimato más absoluto y, por consiguiente, el éxito de

las acciones llevadas a cabo.

Este texto será utilizado en la clase de Inglés como lectura de interés para

los alumnos de 3º ESO bilingüe.

THE CULPER SPY RING

British forces occupied New York in August 1776, and the city

remained a British stronghold and a major naval base for the duration of

the Revolutionary War. Getting information from New York was

extremely important to General George Washington. For that reason they

needed an intelligence network. In 1778 a young officer named Benjamin

Tallmadge established a small group of men and women from his

hometown in Long Island known as the Culper Spy Ring. It became the

most effective of any intelligence-gathering operation on either side

during the Revolutionary War. Its heyday was between 1778 and 1781.

Secrecy was so strict that even Washington did not know the identity of all

the members, that’s why they were given code names.

Women were also an integral part of The Culper Ring. They were

seen as critical members of it. At this time in history, women were

expected to share their husbands' beliefs and not to be involved in politics

so they would never be suspect of being spies. The Culper Ring was the

first organization to use spy women, which surprised historians - as I said

before - because at that time women were not allowed to do anything

about politics or war.

Anna Strong was a resident in Long Island, New York. She helped

pass along messages from the spy ring by posting pre-arranged signals to

indicate when one of the spies was ready to submit intelligence. She used

a black petticoat and white handkerchiefs for it.

One of those women who helped in the Culper Ring´s affair was

known as "355". Some historians think that 355 was the first spy woman.

She is called “The Hidden Woman of the Revolution.” Historians believe

that 355 was a member of a noble family so she was able to keep in touch

with British officers. Some of them suggested that she might be the

girlfriend of Major Andre because when he was stationed in New York

there was a lot of information, but when Andre was out of the city there

was not that much. One of her best works was to accuse Benedict Arnold.

The only direct reference to Agent 355 is a Culper Ring's letter from

Abraham Woodhull (Samuel Culper Sr.) to General George Washington in

1778.

Little is known about this mysterious lady who George Washington

considered as the best spy. But in the end she was discovered. In October

1780, 355 was captured and imprisoned in an English prison ship. The

English army tortured her for information, but she did not tell anything

about the spy network. Today 355 is still a hero to the American people.

The identity of the woman known as 355 has yet to be discovered.

Some believe that 355 was Anna Strong. Others feel that 355 was inside

the city. Without the help of 355, the American fight could have taken

longer and it would have cost more lives.

Benjamin Tallmadge and George Washington realized the

importance and the courage of these women and thanks to that they

defeated the English, who never thought that women could have an

important role in the war.

The general public was not aware of the Ring's existence until the

1930s when a trunk full of old letters was discovered.

There are people who think that 355 is the reference to the word

"lady" but the remarkable thing is that this word means that women were

important to the organization. The importance of women in war is

unquestionable. In my opinion, the agent Anna Strong and the agent 355

were two very brave women who, in their own way, fought for equality

between men and women.

WORKS CITED

http://lacuevadesusana.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/355-la-hija-oculta-de-

la-revolucion.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culper_Ring

Canal de Historia, Secretos Desclasificados: La camarilla del Presidente.

María Valdés del Tejo

3º ESO Bilingüe

A LETTER FROM ROSARIO DE ACUÑA DESCRIPCION DEL TRABAJO PRESENTADO:

Sergio Junquera pensó desde un principio en escribir sobre la mujer que

da nombre a nuestro instituto, Rosario de Acuña, y que además destacó

por sus ideas - muy avanzadas para la época - con respecto al papel de la

mujer en la sociedad.

En vez de limitarse a hablar de su vida y obra decidió darle un giro más

original. Se preguntó cuál sería la opinión de la escritora sobre la situación

actual de la mujer y se le ocurrió que Rosario de Acuña le eligiese a él para

dar a conocer al público sus reflexiones. Por este motivo la autora le

manda una carta encomendándole que la haga llegar a los medios de

comunicación. En ella muestra a veces su descontento sobre aspectos

como la imagen que aún se tiene de la mujer, el papel de ésta en la

sociedad o el machismo. Otras, en cambio, se muestra esperanzada

porque reconoce que las cosas han cambiado y van camino de hacerlo aún

más.

Para redactar esta carta desde el punto de vista de Rosario de Acuña,

Sergio se documentó antes sobre la escritora leyendo su biografía y

algunos de sus escritos. Finalmente le dio forma en inglés, lo que nos

permitirá utilizar el texto en nuestra clase de 3º ESO bilingüe. Haremos un

ejercicio de Reading Comprehension y se abrirá un posterior debate en

inglés sobre las diferencias entre la situación de la mujer a principios del S.

XX y nuestros días.

A LETTER FROM ROSARIO DE ACUÑA

Tuesday, 5th

March, 2013

Dear Sergio:

My name is Rosario de Acuña, a writer who lived at the end of 19th

C

and the beginning of the 20th

C. But I’m sure you already know me. After

all, I’m the woman who gives the name to your school. I know it’s weird.

Why me? And how? Maybe you think this is a joke, taking into account

that I died 75 years ago, but you have to believe it. Don’t ask how.

I’ve been thinking about the current situation of the world and I see

that, regarding people’s equality, some things have changed, but others… I

didn’t know how to make my opinion known and that’s why I’m writing to

you. I hope that you tell it to some newspaper or any other media.

I have to admit that women’s situation has changed: Spain, as other

developed countries, is a democratic state in which women can vote; have

jobs which some years ago were only for men; be politicians and even be

leaders in some institutions. But… Is this a total genre equality, or is it a

superficial one?

People’s mind is still old-fashioned. Legal changes happen more quickly

than psychological ones. For example, most of the people think that men

are the main support in a home. When the woman is the economic

support, people feel sorry for her and they see the man as a lazy person.

Is this the equality we want? After all the fighting, all the advertising

campaigns…Why do people think men are the ones who should work and

women the ones who should take care of the house? Sometimes women

receive less money than men for the same job! It’s scandalous! This is one

of the many symptoms of disguised machismo in our society.

Another example could be social and sentimental relationships. Among

uneducated people fruitless relationships are established, in which

women don’t raise over the status of “object woman”. Unfortunately, I

think that uneducated people are over 50% of the people… In addition,

men (generally) have really big egos which want to be fed. What do

women do to solve it? They behave as if they were stupid, so men can feel

they are the center of the world. This behavior sometimes leads to

gender abuse. This is more important than it seems, because people get

used to what I told you before: women depend on men to survive.

Machismo symptoms are present (unconsciouly?) even in the media.

Films, video clips, music… Some of these films are Disney films. Most of

them have the same topic: a princess who finds a knight in shining

armour. This seems really innocent, but if we translate this into 21st

C

meaning, we have this: a woman that finds a cute man who has to support

her. Why do Disney Studios make films of this kind? Cinderella, Snow

White… Maybe this is because they are really famous and people like

them, but I think it’s really weird. The world has changed! Do you think

I’m a paranoid?

If we talk about music, there are kinds of music, like Reggaeton, which

have lyrics that are degrading for women. If we watch the video clips, we

realize that women are also considered “object women”, to say the least.

Even songs written by women are sometimes degrading, showing

themselves as “object women”, which is really sadder.

As a conclusion, I can only ask myself: does society want genre equality?

I don’t know… After every fighting, every advertising campaign… The

things I fought for... Why do people reject them? Is it so difficult? Anyway,

I am absolutely sure that we have to continue fighting. Our ideas will be

heard some day. Legal equality is an important achievement, but people

should change their minds. Will a day come in which society will have a

total equality? Only time will say, though I know it won’t be easy… What

do you think about that?

Before saying goodbye, I repeat my request to you: please, give this

letter to any media. I want society to know my opinion. I hope people

listen to me and change their minds, at least partially…

The best of luck,

Rosario de Acuña

Sergio Junquera Pérez

3º ESO Bilingüe

AN ACCESS TO THE WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE DESCRIPCION DEL TRABAJO PRESENTADO:

Como a los demás alumnos que se presentaron al concurso bajo mi tutela,

a Lucía Valiente le propuse elaborar una actividad en inglés que no fuera

sólo un documento sin más, sino algo que nos sirviera para debatir en

clase, para remover conciencias e invitar a la reflexión.

Lucía me contó que había quedado muy impactada por una noticia que

había visto no hacía mucho en televisión. Se trataba del intento de los

talibanes de asesinar a Malala Yousafzai, una paquistaní de 14 años

empeñada en hacer accesible la educación a todas las niñas de su país.

Con esta idea en mente, buscó información sobre la labor de la joven

activista paquistaní y elaboró un sencillo, directo y completo relato

seguido de una serie de preguntas encaminadas a dirigir un posterior

debate en inglés, que utilizaremos como material de clase.

El título que da nombre al relato de Lucía es una frase con la que la propia

Malala cerró un correo que envió a un corresponsal de la BBC en 2009.

AN ACCESS TO THE WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani school student who is well known for

her activism in Swat Valley, where the Taliban have banned girls from

going to school. The Taliban are anti-communist war veterans from

Afghanistan who follow an extremist Islamic doctrine based on the

suppression of freedom.

Malala loved going to school and her highest aspiration is to be a

doctor and help people, but her life has changed completely. In 2008, the

Talibans arrived and banned watching TV, listening to the radio and they

didn't let women get an education. Malala's city was packed with child

soldiers, corpses and beheaded bodies of people who had opposed the

new military regime.

Later that year, the BBC suggested Malala starting a blog about her

life under this regime. She would show her courage in it. Her parents

refused the idea because they were afraid of the punishment, so she

chose a pseudonym: Gul Makai, which is the name of a hero from a

popular tale in Pakistan. Malala dictated her diary to a BBC correspondent

by telephone every week. Her writings were very successful in Pakistan,

Arab Emirates, USA, India, Canada and in the UK. 'All I want is an

education and I'm not afraid of anyone', she declared on a TV programme.

'I want to be a politician, people need me, I want to help them', she

added.

In December 2009, the Taliban were driven out of Swat Valley and

his father revealed her identity as the BBC correspondent. Then she was

nominated for the International Children's Prize and from then on, she

started to receive written threatens under her house's door.

In October 9, when she was just 14 years old, the Taliban went a

step further and they decided to kill her. A hooded man entered the

school bus in which Malala was travelling and, holding a gun, he shouted:

'Who of you is Malala?' None of the girls answered, but their looks

revealed who she was. He shot Malala. The bullet passed behind her left

eye, it went through her neck and it lodged in her shoulder. But she

managed to survive.

Malala and her family were taken to United Kingdom, where she

was safely operated on and she received a lot of supporting messages.

After undergoing several interventions, Malala is recovering well and she

will soon return to work as announced on television: 'This is a second life, I

want to be helpful, I want every child to be educated'. By now, she is

raising funds to promote female education in Pakistan and she has been

nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Just a 14-year-old girl, she has started a battle to make her country

a place free of fear. Surely no one can stop Malala and nobody knows

what goals this young activist will achieve in the future. Trying to put an

end to her life, Talibans have done her a ‘favour’: they have made her

worldwide famous, which is no doubt the most powerful help to get what

she is fighting for. Good luck Malala!

WORKS CITED

∙http://www.voanoticias.com/content/internacionales-londres-malala-

yousafzai-recuperada-/1596912.html

∙http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/10/09/world/asia/1000000018352

96/class-dismissed.html

∙http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/04/world/malala-surgery-recovery

∙http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/my-small-video-star-

fights-for-her-life/

TIME TO DEBATE -What do you think of the story?

-According to some people, why is it so dangerous that women have

access to education?

-What goals do you think Malala will achieve? Will we hear about her in

the

future?

Lucía Valiente Cuervo

2º Bachillerato

VIOLENCE, ONE MORE STORY DESCRIPCION DEL TRABAJO PRESENTADO:

Con esta impactante poesía Deyanera Bermejo ha querido dejar clara su

postura de rechazo total a la violencia y la convicción de que el tipo de

situación que se describe en el poema tiene salida.

VIOLENCE, ONE MORE STORY

Three more years

with my back to the door

and all I could hear

was you shouting some words.

You knock me down

breaking my heart

I began to cry

don’t mind if it hurts.

I want to run away

I can’t move my legs

so I am her now

for you to do it again.

You see my face

it looks frightening

you listen to the door bell

and you turn away scared.

Shouting ‘what am I doing’

you hide away

and the next day

you knock me again.

I beg you to stop

but you want me

to believe that

it’s my own fault.

I look at myself in the mirror

and I look so strange,

my eyes are so purple

and my face is red.

Red are my hands,

and red is the tap

you know that I’m bleeding

but you won't stop.

Say no to the beating,

better to talk,

don’t let anyone

say that it’s false

don’t let anyone

say that it doesn’t work

sometimes in relationships

you must be strong.

Deyanera G. Bermejo

3 ESO Bilingüe

DO YOU KNOW WOMEN?

DESCRIPCION DEL TRABAJO PRESENTADO:

La cara de Frida Kahlo está formada por 44 nombres de mujeres

destacadas en campos tan variados como la política, las ciencias, las artes

o la sociedad.

Si en tan pequeño espacio es posible reunir a tantas, no cabe la menor

duda de que está más que justificado que el día 8 de marzo en mi instituto

se hable de la mujer.

Esto es lo que Soraya Lara propone con su dibujo. Se trata en realidad de

un juego en el que los alumnos tienen que señalar sólo a aquellas mujeres

a las que conozcan. Los resultados están graduados por tramos, ganando

aquellos que hayan seleccionado al mayor número de mujeres. A

continuación se hace una exposición oral en inglés en la que el alumno

elige a una mujer del dibujo y cuenta a la clase lo que sabe de ella.

Soraya Lara Ignacio

3º ESO Bilingüe

JUST OPEN YOUR MIND AND WATCH BEYOND DESCRIPCION DEL TRABAJO PRESENTADO:

En muchas ocasiones, aún hoy en día, la idea que se tiene de la mujer es la

que se transmite a través de las circunstancias sociales y culturales.

Con su acuarela Dora Martínez reivindica el derecho esencial que tenemos

las mujeres a ser consideradas por lo que realmente somos. Just Open your Mind and Watch Beyond invita a quien mira la imagen a intentar

encontrar entre las ramas a la mujer desnuda, desprovista de todo

artificio. Estas ramas que la esconden no son otra cosa que los prejuicios

sociales y culturales que en ocasiones tanto daño hacen. Lograr el

objetivo es sencillo: sólo hay que abrir la mente.

Dora Martínez Llorente

2º Bachillerato