04. Debate

Men and Women - Equal at Last?

Has equality been achieved for women or have women not yet attained true equality to men?

Debates in class can help English learners practice a wide range of functions including agreeing and disagreeing, negotiating, collaboration with other students, and so on.

You often need help with ideas and that's where this page can help. Below you will find cues to the discussion concerning equality between men and women to help get you discussing issues related to the debate.

This debate can easily be carried out between the men and women in the class, or those who believe the statement is true and those who do not. Another variation is based on the idea that supporting opinions that are not necessarily your own during debates can help improve your fluency. In this manner, you pragmatically focus on correct production skills in conversation rather than striving to "win" the argument.

Aim: Improve conversational skills when supporting a point of view

Activity: Debate about the question of whether men and women are truly equal.

Level: Upper-intermediate to advanced

Outline:

Review language used when expressing opinions, disagreeing, making comments on other person's point of view, etc. (See below)
Think of places such as home, the workplace, government, etc.
Do you feel that women are truly equal to men in these various roles and places?
Develop arguments using the ideas on the worksheet below (ideas pro and con) as a springboard for further ideas and discussion.
Once you have prepared your opening arguments, begin with the debate. Each team has 5 minutes to present their principal ideas.
Prepare notes and make rebuttal (counter-argument) to the expressed opinions.

You are going to debate whether women are finally truly equal to men. Use the clues and ideas below to help you create an argument for your appointed point of view with your team members. Below you will find phrases and language helpful in expressing opinions, offering explanations and disagreeing.

Opinions, Preferences:

I think..., In my opinion..., I'd like to..., I'd rather..., I'd prefer..., The way I see it..., As far as I'm concerned..., If it were up to me..., I suppose..., I suspect that..., I'm pretty sure that..., It is fairly certain that..., I'm convinced that..., I honestly feel that, I strongly believe that..., Without a doubt,...,

Disagreeing:

I don't think that..., Don't you think it would be better..., I don't agree, I'd prefer..., Shouldn't we consider..., But what about..., I'm afraid I don't agree..., Frankly, I doubt if..., Let's face it, The truth of the matter is..., The problem with your point of view is that...

Giving Reasons and offering explanations:

To start with, The reason why..., That's why..., For this reason..., That's the reason why..., Many people think...., Considering..., Allowing for the fact that..., When you consider that...

Yes, Women Are Now Equal To Men.

Excuse Me?

Women Still Have A Long Way to Go Before They Are Equal To Men.

Women still earn less than men in many work situations.
Women are still portrayed in a superficial manner in many television shows.
Look at international sporting. How many professional female leagues are as successful as their male counterparts?
Most governments still are made up in their majority of men.
We are having this debate because women are not equal. Otherwise, there would be no need to discuss the matter.
Women are often not given enough responsibility based on the possibility that they might become pregnant.
The number of sexual harassment suits have increased over the past 10 years.
Hundreds of years of history can't have been changed in a mere 30 odd years.

Many governments have both male and female representatives.
Many companies are now owned or managed by women.
A lot of progress has been made since the 1960s.
Television series now portray women as successful career makers.
Men now share in the raising of children and household responsibilities.
Many important laws have been passed to ensure equality in the workplace.
In many places, a married couple can choose whether the man or the women takes leave from work to look after the newly arrived baby.
People aren't discussing equality anymore. It has become a reality.
Have you ever heard of Margaret Thatcher?

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