Web
Quest 
Examining The Gender Issues Of
The House On Mango Street
INTRODUCTION 
Hey! Who was
created first? Man or Woman? And did you ever stop to really look at the
spelling of the word “woman”? Wo +
man. These may sound like insignificant
questions but in looking at the lives of the women in The House On Mango Street and in today’s society, everything must be taken into account. The way women are perceived involves
everything from the way she eats a Big Mac to the way she wears a pair of blue
jeans, and it is these perceptions that affects the way major legal battles
concerning the rights, privileges and gender issues of women are decided.
TASK You and your group mates are legal teams arguing for 
the plaintiff and defense of two actual landmark
cases that were fought in
history. In four groups of four you
will discuss the relevance of the 14th
Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause to your arguments, validate (support) or refute
(disprove or oppose) this clause
as a just argument for the committed actions.
The clarity of your
argument depends greatly on your
group’s ability to thoroughly analyze your assigned case:
Groups 1 and 2
Roe
vs. Wade
A pregnant woman (Roe) brought a class action suit
challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which
proscribe (forbid or outlaw) procuring or attempting an abortion except on medical advice
for 
the
purpose of saving the mother’s life. A
licensed physician (Hallford), who had two state abortion prosecutions pending
against him, was permitted to intervene.
A childless married couple (the Does), the wife not being pregnant,
separately attacked the laws, basing alleged injury on the future possibilities
of contraceptive failure, pregnancy, unpreparedness for parenthood.
Groups
3 and 4
Virginia Military Institute vs. United States
(visual
provided at TIPS site)
In 1993, a
young woman believing herself to be adequately qualified applied to the
Virginia Military Institute. 
She was denied entry given the
explanation that VMI is a male only academy, and to admit females VMI would
have to change their method of instruction and living conditions. However, the young woman believed that since
VMI was funded by the state of Virginia they could not discriminate based on
gender.
PROCESS
Each team must work and research
together to answer their questions to support their argument:
ROE LEGAL TEAM
1) Does
the constitution embrace a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy by
abortion?
2)
Can
the Equal Protection Clause or the 14th Amendment be used to argue
for a
woman’s
right to have an abortion?
TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY WADE LEGAL TEAM
1)
If a
woman is given the right to have an abortion will this become a form of birth
control
to be used on a whim when pregnancy occurs?
2)
Can a
fetus be given the status of personhood?
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE LEGAL TEAM
1)
Is
upholding a tradition considered discrimination?
2)
Are
there other accredited organizations in existence that were formed exclusively
for women?
UNITED STATES LEGAL TEAM
1)
Should
certain institutions have the right to exclude anybody, and where is the limit
for that exclusion drawn?
2)
Does
allowing exclusion in some cases open up the door to other organizations and
institutions to exclude as well?
Use the steps we
learned in class to answer your team’s questions and to examine your case!
FIND OUT:
1. Who are the parties involved?
2. What were their actions?
3. What values were being protected?
4. What legal bases are being used to
protect these values?
5. Write an Issue Question
explaining specifically the issues involved in your team’s argument and then
explain why your side should win.
Be sure
to give detailed reasoning.
****You
will find a series of websites to visit where you may take
precedents
(previous cases won used to argue cases with similar
issues)
to support your reasoning.
Putting Together your Final Product
When
you’ve finished your research, you will select 2 cartoons from those turned in
as homework that support your team’s argument.
You will then assemble them with your work into a newsletter
using the Claris Works program newsletter format. In your newsletter you will report you legal team’s argument and
findings from your research. This will
serve as your team’s legal brief.
This
should be written out first then given to me as your draft. Later your work will be typed into the
computer in the newsletter format, printed and turned in to me.
RESOURCES Go to the following websites or relevant
cases provided below and find the reasoning and legal bases for 
your team’s argument. You may use only these sites and cases, all
other information found must be shown to me for approval. Discuss what you find with your
teammates. You’ll find backgrou
nd on your case, and additional
legal and moral issues that affect the decision made in your case.
Texas District Attorney
Wade (Pro-life issues)
http://www.gargarp/com/abortion.html
http://www.otherside.net/benson.htm
Roe Legal Team (Pro-Choice issues)
Keeler vs. Superior Court Of Amader
Court
Virginia Military Institute Legal
Team
http://www.hrc.org/issues/leg/enda/
http://www.aetc.af.mil/sh-policy.html
http://www.studentadvantage.lycos.com/lycos/article/1,1534,c2-i16
United States Legal Team
http://www.inform.umd.edu:8080/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/GenderIs
You
may also want to look at what your opponents will be using to argue their case
in order to make your argument even stronger.
***In actual legal cases each side is required by law to share what
information they may find with each other.
The House On Mango Street
Of course your main resource for this Web
quest is the novel, The House On Mango Street. Esperanza and all the other women on Mango Street are
mistreated in various ways and in addition to the cultural beliefs these women
are trapped in, society’s views about women have a large part to do with why
they suffer. Your group should discuss
how the lives of Esperanza and the other women and men on Mango Street are
relevant to your case, and incorporate it into your newsletter. Use the packet given in class to collect
this information.
CONCLUSION
We
all have mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers. These women are important to what we have become as well as the
male members of our families. But there
is no denying that these groups are treated differently and have different
expectations based on their sex, and to a large extent our society condones
much of how these groups are treated.
We’ve discussed and examined gender roles and how the media and society
assigns roles. Additionally, while
reading The House on Mango Street we have personally been
challenged to try to understand why everybody should have the right and freedom
to express themselves however they may feel is right for them. No one wants to be dictated a role based on
his or her sex, and Esperanza in The House on Mango Street is
able to escape when she begins to learn this for herself.