A History of Their Own:
Women and the World
History 303
Dr. David A. Meier
How are historians to remedy the silence about women in many traditional accounts of history? This question has received a number of distinct answers. According to some, the first solution was to locate the great women of the past, following the lead of much popular historiography that focuses on "great men." Critics held that this approach failed to recognize the larger social and political picture of the mass of people and the root origins of their slide into academic oblivion.
Another solution was to examine and expose the history of oppression of women. This approach had the merit of addressing the life histories of the mass of women, but, since it has proved to be possible to find some degree of oppression everywhere, it tended to make women merely subjects of forces that they could not control. On the other hand, historians' focus on oppression revealed that investigating the structures of women's lives was crucial. Within this same context, some scholars believed that a complete and truly women's history deserved to be written before it could be incorporated into the greater mainstream of historical inquiry. These efforts proved move divisive even if highly original and intellectually provocative.
More recently, while not denying the history of oppression, historians have begun to focus on the agency of women. All human beings are subject to some degree of social forces that limit freedom, but within those limits people are able to exercise greater or lesser degrees of control over their own lives. This insight applies equally to women even in oppressive societies.
Did You Know?
- There were 147.8 million females in the United States as of July 1, 2003. That exceeds the number of males (143.0 million). Males outnumber females in every five-year-age group through the 35 to 39 age group. Starting with the 40 to 44 age group, women outnumber men. At 85 and over, there are more than twice as many women as men.
- There were 215,243 active duty women in the military, compared to 1,219,134 men, in 2003. Of that total, 34,796 women are officers, 178,428 are enlisted and 2,019 are enrolled in military academies.
- The median annual earnings of women ages 15 and older who work full time, year-round is $30,724. After adjusting for inflation, earnings for these women declined by 0.6 percent between 2002 and 2003 — their first annual decline since 1995.
- The estimated work-life earnings of women with a professional degree (i.e., medical, law, dental or veterinarian) who work full time, year-round is $2.9 million. For women, like men, more education means higher career earnings. It is estimated that women without a high school diploma would earn $700,000 during their work lives, increasing to $1 million if they had a high school diploma and $1.6 million if they had a bachelor’s degree.
- The amount women, who worked full time, year-round, earned 76 cents for every $1 their male counterparts earned. This amount is down from 77 cents for every dollar in 2002.
- Thirty-one Percent of women ages 25 to 29 years attained a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2003, which exceeded that of men in this age range (26 percent). Eighty-eight percent of young women and 85 percent of young men had completed high school. The last year young women and men had equal rates of high school and college attainment was 1995.
- The estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States is 82.5 million.
- Forty-four percent of all women of childbearing age (15 to 44 years old) are childless. Seventy-one percent of these childless women participated in the labor force.
- Eight-five percent of women age 25 and over have completed high school. For the second year in a row, women have had a higher rate of high school completion than men (84 percent).
- There are 62.9 million married women (including those who are separated or have an absent spouse). There are 53.5 million unmarried (widowed, divorced or never married) women.
Data courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau
Through a series of select readings and writing assignments, this survey course on women in history focuses on the entire history of women drawn largely from primary source materials. Students will be required to submit written answers to all questions at the end of the chapters in the main textbook. There are fifteen chapters in the textbook. Each set of questions should be answered and submitted to the instructor on the WebCT format -- this will make certain that your answers are kept confidential but also available to the instructor easily. Students should be completing roughly one chapter per week but one-two chapters per week would prove very advantageous. To best facilitate a high rate of completion for this course, all assignments must be placed on the WebCT site no later than the last day of regularly scheduled classes in order to be considered for the final grade.
III. Writing a Critical Essay
The purpose of a critical essay is to analyze and evaluate the contents of a some selected reading, book or article -- to discuss the author's major contentions, methodology, and the research of information provided as support. Your analysis, both positive and negative, should help the reader of the essay understand the author's point of view, purpose, and presentation of information as well as the criteria you have used to analyze and evaluate the author's work. As you make you analytical and evaluative comments about the work, be careful to distinguish between your points and those made by the author. If you include ideas from other critics or from course materials, document or refer to theses sources in the text.
The following guidelines and questions should help you clarify your thoughts and provide you with a sequence your review might follow. These are ideas to help you ... not place you in an intellectual straught-jacket! ....:
Describe the reading in question. Is it a memoir, or biography, an argumentative essay, a review of literature, etc.? What information or knowledge does it convey? What is its main topic? What problems does the work address or what issues does it raise?
Determine the author's purpose. Is this purpose aimed at any particular group of readers? What does the preface or foreword tell you about the author's intent, background, and credentials?
Provide a context for your review of the reading. How does the work relate to an area of study or an existing body of knowledge? What are the criteria by which you are analyzing the work?
Summarize briefly the main points, highlighted by paraphrase and quotation. The point here is not to retell but to provide an overview of the content. You may integrate your analysis with your summary or summarize first and analyze later. A word of caution: The first method of organization can make it difficult for the reader to distinguish between your ideas and the author's while the latter method can lead you to state the author's point twice. Be aware of these problems in order to avoid them. Also ask yourself, are there some natural breaks in the organization of the work where your commentary seems appropriate?
Evaluate what is most and/or least effective about the reading. What is the most appropriate direction to take? Consider: How well has the book achieved its goal? What possibilities have been suggested? What points are controversial? Does the author convey prejudice or make illogical relationships? Do you see any practical or personal application for the author's work? Does the work make a significant contribution to a body of knowledge?
Reserve for yourself the last few lines for a comment on the reading overall. Your responses to the above questions will probably address specific segments or points. Your last sentences should refer to the work in its entirety and leave the reader with a sense of completion.
I. Critical Thinking Skills
Consistent with Dickinson State University’s six Institutional Student Learning Outcomes, this course will develop higher order and critical thinking skills by comparing and contrasting the perspectives offered from a wide variety of politicians, thinkers and writers from those events perpetuated over the centuries regarding the course and consequences of history from the present back into the late 19th century. Second, students will be expected to demonstrate the aforementioned skills through ten written assignments. Third and fourth, history as an essential liberal arts discipline serves to enhance these values while this course reinforces the student’s depth of knowledge in the field of history. Fifth and sixth, this type of course is essential to preparing the student for both classroom teaching, in the pursuit of advanced degrees in history, and in preparing the student to handle a wider array of changes relevant to the use of history in everyday life.
II. Communication and Technology Skills
Students will demonstrate proficiency in communication skills through written assignments, interaction with the instructor and fellow students, use of internet resources coupled with an internet-based syllabus linking the student with resources developed for the study of the materials presented in this course by a wide variety of institutions across the globe.
III. Multicultural and Global Experience
Students will demonstrate knowledge of national and international multiculturalism and the importance of global citizenship through the mastery of materials relating to the numerous cultural, religious, and philosophical systems which govern the affairs of most points on the globe.
IV. Aesthetic Experience
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the arts and humanities including participation
in artistic activities by reviewing numerous examples of artistic expression
as manifested over time by the cultures of the world.
V. Discipline Based Knowledge
Students will demonstrate discipline-specific knowledge and career skills related
to their fields of study. Within a general survey course addressing world civilization,
all students will fulfill a component of their general education requirements
including a multi-cultural component of their education. Students pursing degrees
in History, Political Science, the Social Sciences, Sociology, Geography, and
the associated education-oriented degree programs will all be involved with
demonstrating and developing discipline-based skills.
VI. Health and Wellness Knowledge
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of health, wellness, and
maintaining a healthy lifestyle. As an integral reflection of modern states
and societies, it would be a natural consequence of the knowledge imparted by
the program of study covered in this course.
Specifically, Women in History (HIST 305) serves the various history majors and minor fields. It provides the student with an upper-division class designed provide the student with the necessary tools to study course of modern history as well as to assist in the fulfillment of graduation requirements for the major/minor in question. Its unique contribution is in the presentation of unique elements of historical analysis and research explaining in detail the elements commonly appealed to in the composing of textbooks addressing the course of world history. In addition, Women in History (HIST 305) directly addresses modern history, during which time the fundamental components of a truly world civilization took solid shape.
Departmental Student Learning Outcomes
Complimenting the aforementioned learning outcomes, Departmental Student Learning Outcomes address those skills which students nurture and develop in the context of the course and, thus, are largely addressed under Course Content. These outcomes are student-centered and designed to help guide faculty and student alike in understanding the purposes behind an education in the Social Sciences.
1. The competence to look forward and to develop prognoses to address future
situations.
2. The competence to understand the past and apply it to future situations.
3. The competence for interdisciplinary work.
4. The competence to promote an open multi-cultural and trans-cultural dialogue.
5. The ability to encourage others to become participants in social and political
processes.
6. The ability to move from theory to action.
7. The ability to show empathy, compassion, and solidarity for all elements
in society.
8. The competence to motivate others to act.
9. The competence to reflect on individual as well as societal images of self-understanding.
10. The competence and ability to appreciate the world in which we live.
Course Student Learning Outcomes
These outcomes follow closely the materials outlined within the table of
contents of your textbook and in the items described in class. The definition
of the items listed and their historical significance is the intended subject
of the course and constitutes the core of the lectures presented during the
class. Given the limitations of student knowledge of foreign languages
and relative inability to access the materials through either the Internet or
through published works, lectures will provide the key means by which students
will develop a proper understanding of the materials over which they will be
tested.
Primary Documents The Brontës
The London Gazette History of the German Women's Movement
Bill of Rights(1689) GermanWomen's Movement
Scottish Economic History HedwigDohm
English Workers The Kassandra Project
Parliamentary Papers Women's History Sourcebook
United Kingdom Bibliography of Early Women Writers
Winston Churchill Internet Women's Sourcebook
Women's History
VII. Your Instructor
Your instructor can be reached through a variety of channels, including email, during office hours (to be announced in class),and by appointment. Do not to call him at home. (Dr. Meier's email address is David.Meier@dsu.nodak.edu. His primary world wide web pages can be found at http://www2.dsu.nodak.edu/users/dmeier/Homepage.html.
© 2006 by David A. Meier