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Women’s Rights

Driving Question: How did the roles and perceptions of women in society change during the long nineteenth century?

Working-class women suffered the same poor working conditions as their male counterparts, but they were paid less and were excluded from many parts of public and political life. As more women joined the workforce and revolutionary ideas about gender and equality spread, women’s rights movements emerged in many societies.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Examine the networks of women’s rights activists and compare how their work transformed societies around the world.
  2. Utilize the historical thinking practice of claim testing to assess the transformation of gender and class relations in the long nineteenth century.
  3. Use evidence to compare how women’s suffrage movements emerged in different nations.

Vocab Terms:

  • feminist
  • gender
  • middle class
  • patriarchal
  • reform
  • socialism
  • suffrage
STEP 1

Opener: Women’s Rights

STEP 2

Gender Roles

The roles of men and women have changed for a variety of reasons. As you read about changing gender roles throughout history, consider whether some of those reasons are still evident in today’s world.

STEP 3

Women’s Suffrage Movements

In response to new ideas and the transformations of industrialization, women’s suffrage movements swept the world. In this article and activity, you’ll compare how these movements developed in different places and examine their connections to each other.

STEP 5

Closer: Women’s Rights

In this unit, you’ve learned about how the world transformed as a result of new global connections. Now, it’s time to reflect on how what you’ve learned has changed what you think.

Extension Materials
Checkmark Alert Banner
Dig deeper into the impacts of industrialization while practicing your writing skills and meet the women—and the machines—who washed the clothing of Victorian England.
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Work at Home

What can washing clothes in Victorian England show us about life back then? A lot! Let’s put a load in and see what comes out in the wash!

Victorian Washing Machines External link

The history of Victorian washing machines sheds light on class and gender differences in nineteenth-century Britain.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.