Table of Contents
Women’s history is a disciplinary study about women’s role in history and the methods used to pursue advancement. In addition to studying the growth of women’s rights throughout history, it also examines the impact of historical events on women’s roles and status. It highlights the contributions of women in varied fields. While many cultures and societies regard women differently, it is a dominant understanding today that no one should be treated less based on sex.
In this curriculum pack, we’ll list all the worksheet packs related to Women’s History and provide helpful insight into how you teach women’s history with the most impact.
See the fact file below for more information on Women’s History Curriculum or alternatively, you can download our 15-page Women’s History Curriculum worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
Before we start:
- Before we start, watch a short video explainer on the worksheet about the growth of women’s rights throughout history.
What to consider?
- Culture evolves – Beginning in ancient times, history was written by men and for men. The victors of battles, heads of government, religious leaders, and intellectuals were generally all men. Women were identified as natural housekeepers, mothers of sons, and caretakers. These social stereotypes should not limit the roles women can do.
- Balance in ideology – Feminism is not man-hating. Honoring the role of women in our history and fighting for gender equality does not require gender bias. Feminism is about freedom.
- Gendered language – The use of gendered language excludes women and nonbinary people from history. Below is a list of some gender-neutral terms:
- postman → postal worker
- man/men → people
- Congressmen → members of the Congress
- freshman → first-year students
- man-made → artificial or machine-made
- Councilman/councilwoman → councilperson
- stewardess/steward → flight attendant
- Fireman → firefighter
- Contextualization – Teaching and learning women’s history involves interconnected ideologies and beliefs that cause events to happen.
- Double standards – Let’s always remember that men are also exposed to expectations of being a “man”.
- If you’re concerned about upsetting your students with dark aspects of history during a time of what is supposed to be informative and interactive learning, we have a useful blog that will help you navigate teaching and an impartial recount of the facts.
How to deliver your lessons
- The women’s suffrage movement is the earliest institutional right that women fought. It is crucial to understand why militant women in decades past were willing to sacrifice their lives to be heard in many sections of society.
- As an introduction to teaching Women’s History, it is crucial to contextualize when an event happened. It is important to let the students know of the dominant ideology in a specific period. For example, the demand for women’s suffrage in the US began in the 1840s but was only granted in 1920. While in the UK, women’s right to vote without property requirements was only passed in 1928.
- It is also vital to highlight turning points in teaching Women’s History. For women’s suffrage in the US and the UK, women’s role in WWI influenced politicians, especially President Woodrow Wilson and Prime Minister David Lloyd George, that women could participate in political affairs.
- Aside from women’s participation in politics, WWI was also instrumental in breaking gendered jobs. In the UK and the US labor shortage, women stepped up and filled in “male jobs”. Many worked as factory and construction workers, drivers, mechanics, and radio operators.
- Despite the majority of countries recognizing the right of women to vote, there are still nations such as Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uganda, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others in the Middle East and Africa that directly and indirectly prohibit women from exercising this right. Some have legislation allowing them to, but traditional customs and stereotypes restrict many. Teaching women’s history is an eye-opening lens to share the different experiences of women today in varied geopolitical groups.
- Another example of contextualization based on the dominant ideology was the status and role of women before and during WWII in Germany. When Hitler came to power in 1933, “pure Aryan” women were forced to stay at home and raise children, and they were even rewarded for every childbirth. Furthermore, young girls were also trained to become homemakers. We cannot conclude that these German women were weak back then for conforming, but we can say that this is not true for Germany today.
- Before women’s massive entry into the workforce, women were expected to clean the house, cook food, rear children, and be a wife to a husband. It is integral to teach the gradual social and political changes in society to contextualize the changing roles of women. Using a timeline, you can present an overview to guide the learners in understanding the events and how each event affected women.
- When the Industrial Revolution reached the US in the mid-19th century, modern consumer culture redefined women’s role at home and entry into the workforce. It might sound a bit heavy for our young learners to understand terms such as consumerism, but we can always simplify it by using real-life situations. For example, you may ask how often their parents and siblings at home use a specific home appliance such as a gas stove, a washer, or an electric drill. The invention of many home appliances such as the refrigerator, washer, and vacuum cleaner reduced women’s time on household chores and provided more opportunities for work.
- It is always happy to celebrate the breakthrough of women in politics, science and technology, literature, and sports and entertainment despite the limitations of societal norms. It is exciting to study women’s firsts as government leaders, social reformers, and influencers. In American history, Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American woman to be elected to US Congress. Aside from being a former First Lady, Hillary Clinton was the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination.
- Today, Kamala Harris is serving as the first female and first Asian-American vice president of the US. To name a few in world history, Golda Meir was Israel’s first female prime minister, and Margaret Thatcher, dubbed the Iron Lady, was Britain’s first female prime minister. Voted by nearly 80% of women voters, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first woman to be democratically elected as head of Liberia in 2005.
- From using male aliases to avoid discrimination and persecution, female writers became free souls in the literary world. A great example was the Brontë sisters, who used male pseudonyms in writing during the Victorian era. Charlotte became Currer, Anne became Acton, and Emily wrote under Ellis (they all used Bell as their surname).
In the preface of the 1850 novel Wuthering Heights Ellis (Emily) revealed, “We did not like to declare ourselves women, because—without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called ‘feminine’—we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.”
- Born during the Victorian era, when women’s rights began to process, children’s book author and illustrator Beatrix Potter struggled to publish her first book, The Tale of Peter the Rabbit, first commercially published in 1902, is one of the best-selling children’s books of all time.
- The male-dominated field of science and mathematics are also penetrated by female pioneers in medicine, engineering, and aeronautics. A fabulous first for women in medicine was when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female doctor in the US and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in the UK. During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was instrumental in improving patient care and professionalization of nurses, usually women.
- Dominated mainly by male physicists, Marie Curie had the help of her husband Pierre to show the importance of her work on radiation. Curie was the only woman to receive two Nobel Prizes in physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911. Despite the recognition, she was never elected at the French Academy of Sciences because she was a woman. Her work on radiation later revolutionized medicine in WWI and became the foundation of modern X-ray.
- We can thank Rosalind Franklin for our understanding of the molecular structures of our DNA and Gerty Cori for discovering enzymes.
- The vastness of our galaxy did not hinder women from reaching space either. In 1963, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first-ever woman rocketed into space. In 1983, aboard Challenger, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
Learning outcomes
- Advocating for women’s equal access to health, employment, politics, education, and others is a communal responsibility. It is not an exclusive fight of women for women but also of men for women.
- Gender equality is about gaining fair access regardless of sex and not weighing down the other to rise.
- With the achievements of women amidst the historically structured patriarchal societies, it is no question that what we are capable of could not be limited by our sex or gender.
Women’s History Curriculum Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about the Women’s History Curriculum across 15 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Women’s History which is a disciplinary study about women’s role in history and the methods used to pursue advancement.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Teaching Women’s History
- Short video explainer
- What to consider?
- How to deliver?
- Learning outcomes
- Lesson Plan Template
- Suggested Worksheets
Link/cite this page
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Link will appear as Women’s History Curriculum: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, March 9, 2022
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.