Jessica – Introduction to Digital Publishing

Gender Roles in the U.S. and Nigeria

Amanda Israel, Erin Stephey, Jessica Merrick

Proposal

Gender roles are “the role or behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms” (Lumen Learning). We see it all the time in the United States, whether its women not being paid the same as men, or people just not taking women seriously overall when it comes to them being in STEM degrees (science, technology, engineering and math). As we continue further research on this topic, we know that gender is a conflicting topic within our society as well as outside of the United States.

For example, in Nigeria, women are “expected to plan office parties because it’s a ‘woman’s job’…..As a woman, I am expected to make my own meals…”(Samiha Nettikkara). Women are considered and expected to be “nurturing, caring, social, emotional” (Treleaven 1). They were also considered to stay at home and become the caretakers . On the other hand, men were considered “aggressive, instinctual, private, promiscuous”, while also expected to be the breadwinners of the family (Treleaven 1).

As we see in Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, gender role conflicts play a major theme, as it continues to be a common issue throughout the book. Whether it be showing Obinze’s constant power struggle overall compared to Ifemelu, or just the lack of independence Aunty Uju has.

Another factor that we see with regards to gender roles is the financial differences. According to Onward Healthcare, male nurses “make an average of about $84,000 annually vs. $80,000 for women”. It is said that even in the same career, males get paid more than females.

For our group project, we are specifically going to use the scene from chapter 5 of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. In this scene, we can see gender roles from when Ifemelu was shocked when she found out that Aunty Uju didn’t have her own money because the General refused to let her handle the money.

For the visual aspect of this project, we are doing a storyboard comic. We thought this would be a great way to show the chosen scene from Americanah because we thought it would be a fun way to show visual representation of the gender/generation roles from the Nigerian aspect.

Script

2 columns of comic- 1 for Nigeria, 1 for US.

Nigeria-

Page 92

Characters- Aunty Uju, Ifemelu, The General

Aunty Uju- concerned about money; asks General about money; feels helpless; Dependent

The General-Prideful/Stubborn; refuses to ask/take money from others who wish to help; more Independent

Ifemelu- Concerned about Aunty Uju

Scene 1

INT. KITCHEN – DAY

Ifemelu

“Hey Aunty Uju, what’s wrong?”

Aunty Uju

(with a sad expression)

“I just spoke to the landlord. He says we could lose the house.”

Ifemelu

“ You don’t have money?”

Aunty Uju

“ My account is almost empty, but The General will give it to me.”

Ifemelu

“ You don’t have money? Ahn-ahn, Aunty, how can you not have money?”

Aunty Uju laughs

Aunty Uju

“The general never gives me big money. He pays all the bills and he wants me to ask for everything I need. Some men are like that.”

Ifemelu has a shocked expression

Aunty Uju

“Ifem, don’t look as if somebody died”. (she laughs)

INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY

The general sits in the living room, looking at a slip of paper that says “Bills Due!”

END

USA

Family of 3- Husband, Wife, Daughter

Daughter-High School; Senior; looking for colleges;Husband and Wife work similar jobs

(Husband:Jeff, Wife: Catherine, Daughter: Rachel)

INT. RACHEL’S BEDROOM – DAY

Scene 1

Meant to depict what it’s like in US

Rachel looking for a college as she finishes her senior year of high school; at her desk; shows laptop screen of colleges.

(Catherine enters)

“What are you doing?”

Rachel

“ I’m just stressed out looking for colleges”.

Catherine

“Well what do you want to pursue a career in?”

Rachel

“Maybe something in the medical field like you and Dad.”

Catherine

“Well the salary difference isn’t that great.”

Rachel

“What do you mean?”

Catherine

“Male nurses make an average of about $84,000 annually, compared to $80,000 for women.”

Rachel

“Really? Is that normal?”

Catherine

“Yea, in a typical job, a woman makes 80 cents of every man’s dollar.”

Rachel

(with a shocked expression on face)

“Well how is that fair?”

Jeff walks in holding paycheck

Jeff

“Catherine, your check from work was too small today, so dinner’s on me.”

END

Storyboard THAT

Annotated Bibliography

BBC Trending. “What it means to be female in Nigeria”. BBC News, 1 Jul, 2015.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33239356

The article is “What it means to be female in Nigeria”. BBC News interviewed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Adichie is a feminist who believes in spreading the word about gender equality, especially dealing with women, had many women use “a hashtag on Twitter to share their experiences of everyday gender discrimination” (BBC). The intended audience is for those who can relate to a similar story of their own about when they were discriminated against. A secondary audience could be those curious about gender roles in Nigeria, specifically females, even though it is based off personal experiences.

The main claim that is taken away from this is the inequality of gender roles between men and women. The article is bias because it only shows tweets about the gender inequality that women face, which is obvious since the focal point in the article is about gender roles of women in Nigeria. Not only that, it’s only about the women in Nigeria and not the general population. This is a weakness that can be noticed in the article. However, some of the tweets are straightforward and help the viewers get an idea of the role of women. It does support and is relevant to the project because the tweets show the gender discrimination and role women of Nigeria.

Long-Crowell, Erin. “Social Roles: Definition and Types of Social Roles”. Study.com, 2018.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/social-roles-definition-and-types-of-social-roles.html

The source used here is a video that gives a quick lecture on “Social Roles: Definition and Types of Social Roles”. The speaker of the lecture is Erin Long-Crowell. Long-Crowell has studied Psychology and has her M.Ed. The lecture is a quick discussion of what a social role is and how we as men and women contribute to a certain role. Based off the lecture, a social role “defines a set of behaviors that are expected of someone who holds a particular status” (Long-Crowell). Women, mothers especially, are meant to stay at home and be nurturing caregivers. Men, especially fathers, are said to be the breadwinners and bring in the money.

The lecture claims a social role and the different types. The audience intended for this lecture is for students or people in general to learn about social roles. This video supports and is relevant to the project because it gives an overall idea on what should be expected of men and women in social roles. Social roles do have an influence on gender roles.

“Gender Roles in the U.S.” Lumen Learning. Retrieved from,

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-sociology-os/chapter/gender-roles-in-the-u-s/

This article helped us with the final project by giving us some ideas of scenarios where the gender roles are different. This website goes into thorough detail about the variety of gender roles not only in United States, yet in different countries. This website uses theories (gender and social role theory, and socialization) to help explain how controversial this topic is. This helped spark the idea of how we can compare the United States gender roles to Nigeria’s.

Brownstein, Ronald. (9 October, 2018). “There is a huge and growing divide on gender roles in the US”. Retrieved from

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/09/politics/us-divide-gender-roles-kavanaugh-women-college/index.html

This source helped us towards our final by helping us give some common ideas of gender roles specifically in the United States. It talks about the “Me Too” Movement, and overall continued to support our point in which we are trying to show how men are supposed to be dominant and strong, while the female is continued to be perceived as weak minded. It continues to talk about how men can basically get away with a lot of questionable issues, yet won’t be questioned in society.

Treleaven, Christina. “Gender, Generation, and Jobs: Differences in Gender Role Ideologies by Age and Occupation”, 2015.

https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=sociology_masrp

This research paper is titled “Gender, Generation, and Jobs: Differences in Gender Role Ideologies by Age and Occupation” by Christina Treleaven. The author of this research paper has a bias towards the argument that there is gender inequality in the workplace. She states that gender inequality is still an issue today and women are getting paid less than men, which is in part due to the gender norms. Her major claim states that it is important to understand the structural factors that our opinions towards gender and gender roles come from, which is important when looking at gender equality.

This source is very relevant to our project because it is giving evidence of gender inequalities around the world that women are facing. This evidence is backed by very reputable sources including whitehouse.gov, text about Segregation in American workplaces by race, ethnicity, and sex, etc.

Searls, D. (2019). Do Male Nurses Earn More? Survey Says Yes. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from https://www.onwardhealthcare.com/nursing-resources/do-male-nurses-earn-more-survey-says-yes/

This article from Onward Healthcare explains that there is a difference between salary for female and male registered nurses. The author of this article gives multiple statistics that were found by the University of California San Francisco. This is a known university and the research conducted seems to be legit information. One weakness to the data given is that no locations are given for the data. By stating that the average salary is lower for women RNs than male RNs, that is beneficial information to know; however, does the salary gap differ depending on the state that these RNs are working in?

The major claim that Searls makes is that while male RNs make more than female RNs when looking at salaries, both males and females make the same average of about $37 an hour. The information given from the conducted research is very beneficial to our project because it gives specific data regarding the pay of male and female RNs, which backs up the claim that there is in fact gender inequality in the workplace.

Final Proposal

Proposal

Jessica, Amanda, Erin

We are completing our final project on Gender and Generation Roles. As we continue further research on this topic, we know that gender and generation roles is a conflicting topic within our society as well as outside of the United States. In this case, Nigeria. In some ways it has lightened up a bit. Even though we are all brought up differently, we all still face similar gender roles. And these roles are affected by future generation and social roles as well.

Let’s start with generation roles. We definitely see generation roles in Nigeria and the United States. In Nigeria, there is more structured parenting, meaning children can’t be disrespectful in any way. And they are more likely to listen to what their parents ask of them. If they disobey, the children get physical punishment. In the United States, parents are more lenient with their children. This isn’t necessarily a good thing because children then become rebellious. On the other hand, children are more allowed to have their own ideas/dreams despite what their parents want for them.

Now onto gender roles. Keep in mind, gender roles are “the role or behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms” (Lumen Learning). For example, in Nigeria, women are “expected to plan office parties because it’s a ‘woman’s job’…..As a woman, I am expected to make my own meals…”(Samiha Nettikkara). In America, women are “nurturing, caring, social, emotional” (Treleaven 1). They were also caretakers . Men were considered “aggressive, instinctual, private, promiscuous”(Treleaven 1). They were also the breadwinners of the family.

With all of this being said, for our group project we are going to use the scene from chapter 5 of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. In this scene, we can see gender roles from when Ifemelu was shocked when she found out that Aunty Uju didn’t have her own money because the General refused to let her handle the money. This also shows generation roles because men are considered responsible for going out to work and handling money. For the visual aspect of this project, we are doing a storyboard comic. We thought this would be a great way to show the chosen scene from Americanah because we thought it would be a fun way to show visual representation of the gender/generation roles from the Nigerian aspect, specifically in Aunty Uju’s case.

“Gender Roles in the U.S.” Lumen Learning. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-sociology-os/chapter/gender-roles-in-the-u-s/

Treleaven, Christina. “Gender, Generation, and Jobs: Differences in Gender Role Ideologies by Age and Occupation”, 2015. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=sociology_masrp

Nettikkara, Samiha. “What it Means to be Female in Nigeria”. BBC News, 1Jul, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33239356

Dana’s Story

After war and chaos commence in Syria, Dana, a widowed mother, is forced to flee her home and travel to Serbia, where all she has is her 3 young children to keep her going and give them a better life.

CARE. “Dana’s Story: We all want the best for our children”, Care. 4 Jan, 2017. https://www.careinternational.org.uk/stories/danas-story-we-all-want-best-our-children

A Refugee Crisis in Europe

A crisis broke out in 2015, by which refugees fled to Europe, creating chaos. Reported by The Baltimore Sun, this was one of the largest migrations after World War ll. This occurred around the time Obama was still President. With the increase in population, managing the number of refugees as well as the people of Europe had been a struggle. Refugees had the courage to go across the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe from Mideast and North Africa. There was a total of 340,000 who made it to Europe. But of course, the travel itself at sea was difficult. So many refugees were traveling using fishing boats or rafts. Unfortunately, a few thousand people did not make it to Europe, as they died from suffocation, inhaling chemical fumes, or drowning. The goal of many migrants was to create a better life for themselves in Europe, as they heard about the economic opportunities and welfare. But the main goal of these refugees was a matter of life or death. They were threatened to be killed. Unfortunately, this had already happened to many. People were involved in rape and executions. Fear had taken over the people of Africa, as they had migrated over to Europe in hopes of a better life.

“A refugee crisis in Europe…” The Baltimore Sun. 21 Aug 2015, https://search.proquest.com/baltimoresun/docview/1705743065/79C67BD60EF549E0PQ/6?accountid=36772

Why Hiring Refugees Is Good For Business

There is a lot of negativity when it comes to hiring refugees for work. But last year, a recent study from News Deeply showed that hiring refugees for employment is actually good for business. Although it may seem like a win-win situation, the article is bias. Many places that have hired refugees feel that there is more diversity and less ignorance in the workplace. More culture will be in the workplace, which is good because then all employees and employers grow their company and bring new things into the company depending on what the business is. Not only that, there is more work to done for a growing company. This is a major plus because this means better pay for employees. Refugees will have a positive outcome when hired for employment. They will feel welcome and feel they have a place and role in society, no matter what country. They will also get more experience from countries outside of their native country. This is good for them because they will become more involved and a well-rounded individual. The money would make great use for things such as welfare. Both sides will benefit because the employers and employees will see business from different perspectives. In this way, both the employers and employees can learn different things from each other. More refugees will be able to feel more comfortable if they are hired in a place outside of their country. The fact that more refugees who are hired in the same workplace will feel better because they won’t feel like outsiders.

Sikorski, Natalie. “Why Hiring Refugees Is Good for Business”, News Deeply, 19, Jun 2018. https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2018/06/19/why-hiring-refugees-is-good-for-business

Refugees Are Coming. Should They Work?

It’s safe to say that it’s difficult to find a job when you’re an immigrant. And now in certain countries, it’s hard to find employment because the countries are now using their money to make sure these refugees stay out. A recent report discovered by US News suggest that countries are spending way too much money on banning refugees from coming into their country. We can see these patterns in different parts of Europe and North America. There is some bias in this report. Apparently, countries who spend more money on keeping refugees out is hurting their economy because those governments are so focused on keeping the door closed for migrants, that they won’t get a chance to work. With that being said, they won’t have taxes to pay, nor will they get the need for welfare, which decreases the chances of the government getting more money. In this way, governments of these countries lose money and time because of how much effort goes into keeping them out, rather than giving them employment and gaining welfare. Refugees getting jobs results in income, which then leads to enough for social services and welfare, this also equals to the government getting money. Not only do the countries themselves become negatively affected, but the refugees as well. The idea that refugees can’t get a job in non-native countries make them become discouraged and feel that they do not have a place in society. This is a lose-lose situation for both sides because the government doesn’t get as much money and refugees feel more like outsiders.

Shinkman, Paul, D. “Refugees Are Coming. Should They Work?”, US News, 19 Sept 2018. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-09-19/study-banning-refugees-from-working-costs-countries-millions.

Carlos Hernandez

For 2/26/19

Carlos Hernandez is a writer/author who has created work that is made up of science fiction and fantasy. Many of his writings are poems, short stories, or novels like his most recent, Sal and Gabi Break the Universe. On the 26th of February, Hernandez came in for a discussion as well as a close read of two chapters from his new book that is expected to come out on March 5th.

After listening to Carlos Hernandez discuss his book and speaking to us about his writing experience, I’ve learned a few things. It’s good to fail many times when trying to write a great piece. The more you fail, the more you learn from your mistakes and become a better writer. It takes so much practice to write a good piece, especially since it’s a good idea to have others review it and critique your work. Most importantly, everything you have a passion for does not always have to be done for money. If you hardly get any money from publishing a novel, don’t get discouraged. If you truly love doing it money should not get in the way of doing what you love.

World Relief

Jessica Merrick

2/20/19

For my grant project, I would like to contribute to working with helping those who are a part of World Relief. World Relief is a Christian-based organization that helps those in need including refugees/immigrants. I thought it would be nice if Stevenson had an event that included a food and clothing drive as well as anyone who wishes to donate money. The event could also include some of the clubs at Stevenson coming together and creating a day full of fun activities. All the donations go to World Relief.

Entreprenuership Panel

Jessica Merrick

2/13/19

Entrepreneurship Panel at Stevenson

The Entrepreneurship Panel consisted of 7 different Entrepreneurs who discussed the process of growing a successful, small business. This included John Dinkel of Dinkel Business Development, LLC., Chris Dealey of Whirlaway, LLC., Andrew Murphy of Flying Frog Publishing, Elizabeth Trimm of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Andy Brown of Eat Pizza, Garret Pfeifer of Maryland Brand Management, and last but not least Jeannine Morber, Lecturer and Internship Coordinator of School of Business and Leadership at Stevenson University. Some things that I have learned from them is that it’s important to start a business early because you benefit from starting at a young age, especially financially, when it starts to grow. Another thing is that starting a small business can be a great way to have a Plan B source of income if Plan A doesn’t go as planned. You can make a business from current trends. People can have interests in what is popular. Speak to as many businessman as you can, this helps with making connections, building relationships, and spreading the word about your business. And most importantly, be consistent, stay positive, work hard and stay determined and you will go very far.

The Entreprenuership Panel connects to Introduction to Digital Publishing because it discusses how to grow a business through technology and other forms of media. If someone wishes to get word out about something, you would usually hear about it or see it from social media, Youtube, a blog, a news article, or other website. This is a great way to get word out about a business or something else. My goals include getting an education and an official degree for Film and Moving Image, and then find a stable/financial job where I could do on/off camera work, as well as edit and produce creative ideas. Overall, I wish to be successful financially and create work that will positively impact society.