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Women’s Rights

Driving Question: How did women’s roles and societal perceptions shift during the long nineteenth century?

Women weren’t just living through the changes of the industrial era—they were pushing change forward. Around the world, communities of women challenged injustice in their personal lives and in the public sphere.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Examine the networks of women’s rights activists and compare how their work transformed societies around the world.
  2. Use the historical thinking skill of comparison to evaluate the similarities and differences between women’s experiences as they fought for suffrage.
  3. Utilize the historical thinking practice of claim testing to comprehend the transformation of gender and class relations in the long nineteenth century.

Vocab Terms:

  • activism
  • colonialism
  • gender
  • patriarchal
  • reform
  • suffrage
  • traditional
STEP 1

Opener: Women’s Rights

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of the Lesson 4.6 Teaching Guide Locked .

Browse the Openers and Closers Guide to get tips for using these activities effectively to start and end your lessons.

STEP 2

Women’s Suffrage Movements

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of the Lesson 4.6 Teaching Guide Locked .

This Comparison One-Pager is your one-stop resource for this fundamental historical thinking skill.

Explore how the fight for women’s voting rights took shape in different countries. You’ll compare movements to see how context shaped goals and outcomes.

STEP 3

Gender Roles

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 9 of the Lesson 4.6 Teaching Guide Locked .

Get ready to teach this essential historical skill with the Comparison One-Pager, packed with helpful strategies and guidance.

Explore how gender roles shifted during the nineteenth century. You’ll examine how class affected women’s experiences and test claims using evidence.

STEP 4

Closer: Women’s Rights

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 14 of the Lesson 4.6 Teaching Guide Locked .

Closers are a great way to informally evaluate student understanding. Read more about that in the OER Project Assessment Guide.

In this unit, you’ve examined how industrialization and reform reshaped societies and identities. Now, reflect on how these changes influence your understanding of the modern world.

Extension Materials
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Use this pre-writing activity to put your claims in logical order, and then choose transition words to bring it all together.
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Work at Home

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 15 of the Lesson 4.6 Teaching Guide Locked .

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

Learning about Victorian washing machines can also shed light on class and gender differences during the long nineteenth century.

Key Ideas

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