Feminism: The March Toward Equal Rights for Women
By Jill Dearman and Alexis Cornell
()
About this ebook
Why are women treated differently from men? What is feminism? Why is this movement such an important part of the history of civic rights, and why is it still important today?
Feminism: The March Toward Equal Rights for Women invites middle and high schoolers to examine the different stages of the feminist movement, from early mentions in history through the suffragettes’ fight for the vote to today’s evidence of feminism in the struggle for equal pay and equal rights around the world. As social justice movements gain more traction in the national news media, many students are evolving into activist citizens who are working towards bettering humanity and the planet. This history of feminism gives them an introduction to the ways and means of community activism, which can be applied to a multitude of causes.
Feminism: The March Toward Equal Rights for Women introduces readers to some of the icons of feminism, including Simone De Bouvier, Gloria Steinem, and Angela Davis. By examining and deconstructing writings and other arts, readers gain a deeper understanding of the struggles women and men have undertaken for the deceptively simple goal of equal rights for all. Issues such as domestic violence and the fight for equal pay for equal work, plus a discussion of the more recent #metoo movement, all encourage kids to pay close attention to the world in which we live and insist on justice at every turn.
Feminism includes critical-thinking activities and research exercises to encourage readers to dive deep into the topic and consider viewpoints from many different identities. Fun facts, links to online primary sources and other supplemental material, and essential questions take readers on an exploration of the past, present, and future of feminism.
Feminism is part of a set of four books called Inquire & Investigate Social Issues of the Twenty-First Century, which explores the social challenges that have faced our world in the past and that continue to drive us to do better in the future. Other titles in this set are Gender Identity, Immigration Nation, and Race Relations.
Nomad Press books integrate content with participation, encouraging readers to engage in student-directed learning as opposed to teacher-guided instruction. This student-centered approach provides readers with the tools they need to become inquiry-based learners. Common Core State Standards and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. As informational texts, our books provide key ideas and details from which readers can make their own inferences. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.
Jill Dearman
Jill Dearman is the author of Bang the Keys (Penguin), a book for writers, as well as Queer Astrology for Men and Queer Astrology for Women (St. Martins), which will be reissued by MacMillan. She is a broadly published journalist and award-winning prose writer whose work has been published in New York Stories, North Atlantic Review, The Portland Review, Lilith, and numerous other publications. A native New Yorker, mystic-about-town, and lifelong film fanatic, she enjoys taking imaginative forays along the seedy side of the street. For more, visit www.jilldearman.com.
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Feminism - Jill Dearman
Nomad Press
A division of Nomad Communications
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Copyright © 2019 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved.
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and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.
Educational Consultant, Marla Conn
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Titles in the Inquire & Investigate
Social Issues of the Twentieth Century set
Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net
Interested in primary sources? Look for this icon.
You can use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR codes and explore more! Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you’re scanning the right one. You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page.
If the QR code doesn’t work, try searching the internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.
feminism
What are source notes?
In this book, you’ll find small numbers at the end of some paragraphs. These numbers indicate that you can find source notes for that section in the back of the book. Source notes tell readers where the writer got their information. This might be a news article, a book, or another kind of media. Source notes are a way to know that what you are reading is information that other people have verified. They can also lead you to more places where you can explore a topic that you’re curious about!
Timeline
Introduction
What Is Feminism?
Chapter 1
Women’s Lives in History
Chapter 2
First-Wave Feminism
Chapter 3
Between the Waves
Chapter 4
The Second Wave
Chapter 5
Backlash
Chapter 6
The Third Wave
Chapter 7
Feminism Today
Index
TIMELINE
What Is Feminism?
How has feminism changed from the first wave to now?
As the awareness and needs of a society change and develop, feminism evolves as a way to seek out answers and develop systems that promote equality for all.
Do you think men and women are equal? Do you think they enjoy the same rights and privileges around the world? What about jobs—can men and women work the same jobs and get paid the same for their work?
Many people would say yes, all people should be treated equally, whether they’re male, female, or gender nonconforming. But the way our world works doesn’t always reflect this ideal of equality. Women are often treated differently from men. Even today, in the United States, women statistically earn less than men working the same jobs. You’ll find few women heading up large corporations. And women are more likely than men to live in poverty.
Women have, however, come a long way in many parts of the world. In the United States, for example, women couldn’t even vote before 1919! Now, women can be found at almost all levels of the U.S. government.
While feminism has existed in different ways since humans began recording history, what we now call the first wave of feminism centered around the struggle to gain the right to vote. And a key player in this struggle was a woman named Alice Paul (1885–1977).
Primary Sources
Primary sources come from people who were eyewitnesses to events. They might write about the event, take pictures, post short messages to social media or blogs, or record the event for radio or video. The photographs in this book are primary sources, taken at the time of the event. Paintings of events are usually not primary sources, since they were often painted long after the event took place. What other primary sources can you find? Why are primary sources important? Do you learn differently from primary sources than from secondary sources, which come from people who did not directly experience the event?
THE SILENT SENTINELS
Alice Paul believed that all humans were obligated to leave the world a better place than they found it. Born in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and raised in the Quaker tradition, Alice was determined to carry out that belief by working toward equality for all.
As a Quaker, Alice was deeply influenced by the practice of silent meeting.
In her Quaker meeting house, attendees would gather and sit in pews, as in a Christian church. Instead of being led in a sermon, Quakers sat in silence, and an individual could speak if they wanted to. But talking was not expected, and it was understood that speech should be meaningful, not merely superficial.
Mrs. W.L. Prendergast, Mrs. W.L. Colt, Doris Stevens, and Alice Paul
credit: Library of Congress
Learn more about Alice Paul and hear first-hand accounts of how women were treated in prison in this video. How do you think the public reacted to these images?
Alice Stokes Paul video
It was in this spirit that Alice Paul led a group of women in the newly formed National Women’s Party (NWP) in 1917. Their goal was to obtain the right to vote for women. On January 9, they met with Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the 28th president of the United States, but did not find an enthusiastic ally in him. President Wilson advised them to rally public support if they wanted his endorsement for the vote. The NWP members strategized and then made a decision.
The very next day, they picketed outside the White House. The women were soon nicknamed the Silent Sentinels,
because they stood like guards outside the White House gates, never speaking. Their messages were conveyed through picket signs instead of spoken words.
Alice Paul was clear that even when criticized directly, the members of the group should not reply—instead, they simply stood and held their ground in silence. Identified by the signature colors they wore—purple, white, and gold—they believed in a singular message: