Feminism in Family Life Education 2 - Essay Example

How to develop a program about feminism in the family life education: In the contemporary age, issues like teen pregnancy, family violence and substance abuse among girls are commonly explored in the family life education. Scholars of the studies of feminism share the opinion that the human interaction is fundamentally shaped by the gender relations (Informal Feminism, 2011). Family life programs are directed at bringing improvement in the commonly encountered feministic issues. This paper discusses the essentials to design a program about feminism from the perspective of family life education and some ethical issues concerned with the practice.

A program about feminism is fundamentally based upon the context information and research, theoretical content, and practice. The content is translated to reveal instructions. Ways to implement the instructions are determined. These processes are compulsory to make the teaching effective. The last stage of the process of development of the feminism program is evaluation. This is a very critical stage in that all aspects of the program are reviewed and thoroughly analyzed in it. Important considerations: The program should essentially be research based.

It is important for the developers of the program to document all research about its content. However, there may occasionally be cases when it might not be possible for the developers to devise research based programs owing to the lack of sufficient research about a relatively unexplored area. In such cases, the educators of family life should base the program on their personal clinical and teaching experiences. The developers should clearly state the basis of formulation of the program so that the audience may understand its foundation accordingly.

Considering the subject under consideration here, i.e. the development of program about feminism, there is sufficient literature to make room for a thorough research. Rights of women have conventionally been subdued by the men in the family (Allen and Barber, 1992, p. 378). Hence, it would be beneficial to base the curriculum on the theme of gender equality. Likewise, several other themes concerning the feministic issues should be made part of the course. It is advisable to study the efforts of such agencies as the National Organization for Women (NOW) (2011) to realize the extent of work done and the way it has been done so far.

Finally, the stage of implementation comes. Review of the state of the art practices and ways of intervention is just as important as the literature review in the development of a program about feminism. In order to improve people’s confidence in the usability of the program, the developers should frequently make reference to the stories of success. It is essential to base the new program on the ways and means found useful in other programs in the past. Ethical considerations: Accurate functioning of the family and the provision of a preventive approach is the fundamental goal of family life education (National Council on Family Relations, 2011).

While formulating the feminism program, the developers should check the consistency of the various activities that form part of it with the program’s objectives as well as with the targeted audience i.e. women. Moreover, a thoroughly researched and carefully evaluated program about feminism makes use of a wide range of the teaching formats and activities including both unstructured and structured discussions in order to be applicable to a vast majority of learning styles (Hughes, 1994, p. 76).

References: Allen, K. R., and Barber, K. M. (1992). Starting a Revolution in Family Life Education: A Feminist Version. Family Relations. 41: 378-384. Retrieved from http://www.family.ncyu.edu.tw/celery%20%20word/lin009.pdf. Hughes, R. (1994). A Framework for Developing Family Life Education Programs. Family Relations. 43(1): 74-80. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/585145. Informal Feminism. (2011). The Necessity of Women’s Studies Programs. Retrieved from http://informalfeminism.wordpress.

com/2011/03/13/the-necessity-of-womens-studies-programs/. National Council on Family Relations. (2011). What is Family Life Education? Retrieved from http://www.ncfr.org/cfle-certification/what-family-life-education. National Organization for Women. (2011). Young Feminism & NOW. Retrieved from http://www.now.org/programs/yf/index.html.