Is the gender pay gap a reality?

• Introduce the topic by writing 'Gender pay gap' on the board and asking learners to discuss in pairs what they understand by the term.
• Invite learners to share their ideas with the class and combine their ideas to come up with a class definition for the term. Compare with an official definition, e.g. The gender pay gap is the percentage difference between average earnings for men and women.

• Show Slide 2 or give learners a copy of Worksheet 1 with some official statements related to the gender pay gap, and ask them to decide in pairs if the statements are true or false.
• Monitor their discussions and feed back with the correct answers.

Answers:

1. True
2. False (correct answer is Iceland (93.5%) with Australia in 23rd place)
3. False (correct answer is 68.5%)
4. True
5. False (correct answer is a 17% difference)

• Ask learners if they are surprised by any of the true statements.

• Divide the class into groups of four and assign roles.

1. Group leader: this person will make sure that everyone participates and asks questions.
2. Focus keeper: this person will keep the team focused and on track.
3. Reporter: this person will write down important information from the task.
4. Time tracker: this person will keep track of the time and pay close attention to the discussion.

Note: You can change the number of learners depending on your class size. For example, the roles of focus keeper and time tracker may be combined into one for smaller groups. Should you wish to have a larger group, you can add more reporters and/or focus keepers.

• (Slides 3–5.) Tell learners that their groups will take turns working at different stations. Give each group a copy of Worksheet 2, which gives them a description of the task at each station.

Station 1: Learners will read an article to learn more about the gender pay gap, its causes and potential solutions.

Station 2: Learners will create a mind map to consolidate their learning of new words/expressions from the article.

Station 3: Learners must have completed Stations 1 and 2 before they work at this final station. It consists of a mini research task where learners investigate the gender pay gap within a specific country or profession. 

• Give learners a copy of Worksheet 3 and invite them to start working at their first station.

Note: Groups can work at Stations 1 and 2 in any order, but they need to complete Stations 1 and 2 before they work at the final station.

• Monitor groups to make sure they are doing the tasks correctly, and provide help if necessary. Let learners know when their time is about to finish so that they can wrap up their work. The time they spend at each station is up to you, but the recommendation is 20 minutes per station.

• Invite learners to move to the next station and repeat the previous step.

Note: This stage assumes that learners are familiar with making mind maps. If not, you may need to provide an example at the beginning of the class. The mind maps can be done using large paper and marker pens or using digital tools such as Canva or MindMeister if classroom resources allow.

• Monitor groups carefully to make sure that each member of the group is actively involved in this research task. If the groups are larger than three or four, you might want to extend the task so that they research more than one country/more than one profession.

Note: Make sure learners are aware that they will have to present their findings to the class in a follow-up lesson. They can choose whether to do an oral presentation without any visual aids, or use a flipchart or do a PowerPoint presentation, depending on what resources you have available.

• Learners may need more time to research and prepare before giving their presentations to the class. This additional preparation could be done as homework or in a subsequent class.
• Learners present their findings from their research (Station 3 task) by giving their group presentations.