SOCIAL STUDIES 11

WORLD WAR ONE

Lesson Six: Women and War

Historical Understandings
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Establish Historical Signicance Use Primary Sources Identify Continuity and Change Analyze Cause and Consequence Take an Historical Perspective Understand the Moral Dimensions of History

Rationale
This lesson will give students the tools needed to respond to the question, How did war impact society, specically the role of women?
1. 2.

Students will begin to understand and think critically about the changing role of women during WWI. Students will work in groups to understand material

Materials
A/V equipment The worksheet, Womens changing roles Textbook, pages 39, 46 and 47 Graphic organizer, Women and WWI: A Closer Look Access to or copies of the text on the websites regarding Laura Gamble, Nellie McClung,

and women in factories.

Assessment
Formative assessment by observation of discussions and exit slips.

Procedures
1.

(10 minutes) Brief overview of the Cult of Domesticity which permeated the Victorian Era and into the 20th century. While watching this short video (3:02), students will think about the status of womens roles before the Great War by answering the rst two questions on Womens Changing Roles http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/projects/CH/ animCH.php?tourID=VQ_P1_6_EN&Lang=1&type=quicktime (15 minutes) read as a class the following from the textbook: Women on the Western Front, (p. 39) Women and the War (p.46) and Surage Is Granted to Women (p.47)

DURATION: 75 MINUTES

2.

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SOCIAL STUDIES 11

WORLD WAR ONE

The point of this is to begin to look at the varying ways women were working outside the home and earning rights in the public sphere. Ask the students, How do womens roles appear to be changing? How to do they appear to be staying the same?
3.

(40 minutes) Divide the class into three groups. Each third will read about either Laura Gamble who was a nursing sister(http://bit.ly/14ZWWT9), Nellie McClung (http://bit.ly/ 16oStfM) who fought for womens surage, or about women who took jobs in factories (http://bit.ly/18YGZSl). Each group will read their text, together gure out the main points, and then split into smaller groups with one representative from each other group to explain the major points. The point of this exercise is to get the students to continue to discuss what changed and what stayed the same concerning womens roles during this time. By focussing on a specic person or group of people, the students will receive a more intimate understanding of the role of women and how it was changing. They will focus their discussion with use a graphic organizer (Women and WWI: A Closer Look) (10 minutes) Exit slip. Answer the following questions, To what extent did womens role in society appear to be changing? and Were these change, or lack there of, good or bad? The students might need more time to respond so they can do it for homework if they need to.

4.

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DURATION: 75 MINUTES