We have walked a long difficult path towards equality of rights between the sexes.
After centuries of oppression, only in the mid-nineteenth century did women begin to feature and contribute prominently in Western society .
Up until then, a woman´s place was the kitchen, the children(childbearing) or the church (below men).
They could not study at University level,
could not
enter the Army, be part of the Diplomatic Corps or even open a current account on their own without their husband´s permission.
This unit will be a bit controversial as it touches deep aspects of the human condition and psyche.
A) Female awareness: Feminist sentences or quotations: Add your own as in the example:
A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
A 1) Great women of fiction:Madame Bovary, Lady Chatterley,etc...Add at least, five more:
B) Great feminist writers: Find out about the following writers:
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
MARIE STOPES
BETTY FRIEDAN
GERMAINE GREER
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR
MONIQUE WITTIG
CATHERINE COOKSON
SUSIE ORBACH
C) GOOGLE WOMEN SONGS or GIRL POWER SONGS and EXPLAIN THEIR CONTENTS:
EX: "I´M EVERY WOMAN"; WOMAN;
D) FIND OUT WOMEN´S LIB FILMS AND GIRLS´SERIES
E) LADIES IN HIS/HERSTORY:Tell us why they are famous
LADY GODIVA
LADY JANE
LADY DI
LADY GAGA
LADY MARMALADE
F) LEARN ANY OF THE JUMP/SKIPPING ROPE RHYMES as sung by girls as:
"I like coffee I like tea;I like X to jump with me"
G) FIND OUT ABOUT WOMEN´S MAGAZINES. WRITE THEIR NAMES
WHAT IS WOMENALIA?
H) NAME THREE FEMALE HEADS OF STATE/ WRITERS/ SCIENTISTS/POLITICIANS/
SPORTSWOMEN/MUSICIANS/PAINTERS/DANCERS/SINGERSONGWRITERS/.
I) WOMEN´S DAY AWARENESS:
What day is Women´s day?(March 8th)
What was the purpose of Women´s day?
When was Women´s day established as a national holiday?
How is Women´s day celebrated in Russia?
Who were the sufragettes?
The following inventions were ALL made by women, Who were they and when were these items invented?
The coffee filter
the water heater
the chocolate chip cookie
the windshield wipers
kevlar (used for helmets, car tyres..)
J) Women in history. FIND OUT WHO THEY WERE:
QUEEN SABA
SEMÍRAMIS
QUEEN SALOME
CLEOPATRA
ZENOBIA
THAMAR
ELIZABETH I
CHRISTINE of SWEDEN
ISABEL la Católica
CATHERINE THE GREAT
LIVIA
GALA PLACIDIA
LEONOR of AQUITAINE
BERENGUELA
MALINCHE
PRINCESS of ÉBOLI
ISABEL FARNESIO
EMMELINE PANKHURST
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
ALICE PAUL
ROSA LUXEMBURG
K) SPANISH REVOLUTIONARIES AND RADICAL FEMINISTS:
TERESA CLARAMUNT
MARGARITA NELKEN
FEDERICA MONTSENY
VICTORIA KENT
DOLORES IBARRURI
CLARA CAMPOAMOR
L) MODERN DAY WOMEN FIGHTERS:
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ
INGRID BETANCOURT
ANNE HIDALGO
VICTORIA CAMPS
YOANI SÁNCHEZ
ADA COLAU
ROSA PARKS
NELIDA PIÑÓN
ELENA PONIATOWSKA
EDURNE PASABAN
SERENA WILLIAMS
AMAYA ARZUAGA
M) GIRLS´NAMES AND THEIR MEANINGS:
If "Eileen" means light of the sun; Ruth "beautiful and compassionate and Abigail "father¨s joy" What do the following names mean?:
AGATHA
ALISON
CAROLINE
CHARLOTTE
FIONA
IRENE
YOKO
JESSICA
LARA
MARIE
NATALIE
OLGA
SONIA
WINONA
N)ROMAN & GREEK GODDESSES:
WHO WERE THEY?:
APHRODITE/ VENUS
MINERVA/ PALAS ATHENEA
DIANA / ARTEMISA
HERA/ JUNO
ASTARTÉ
PANDORA
Ñ) PIONEERING WOMEN. FIND OUT ABOUT THE FIRST WOMEN IN THE FIELDS OF:
SPORT:
JOURNALISM,:
SOCIOLOGY:
CHEMISTRY,:
PHILOSOPHY:
BIOLOGY:
PHYSICS:
MATHEMATICS:
MEDICINE:
O)WOMEN IN THE BIBLE & WOMEN SAINTS WHO WERE THEY?:
EVE
SARAH
DELILAH
ESTHER
RUTH
SALOME
SUSAN
RAHAB
JEZEBEL
RACHEL
MARY MAGDALENE
MARTHA
MARY
NOEMI/NAOMI
YAEL:"Blessed among women be Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, "
blessed above all women dwelling in tents!
He asked for water: she gave him milk;
she offered him curds in a lordly
bowl!
Her left hand reached for the tent- peg,
her right, for the
workman's mallet And she struck Sisera,
she crushed his head, she
shattered his temple and pierced it.
At her feet he sank and fell; where
he sank down, there he fell, slain.
(How's that for woman power!)
JOAN of ARC
TERESA de JESÚS
FÁTIMA
P)THE WOMEN IN YOUR LIFE: Write a short composition of about ten sentences on YOUR MUM,or BABYSITTER, YOUR SISTER, YOUR GRANNY, YOUR GIRLFRIEND, YOUR AUNTIE, YOUR FEMALE TEACHER, DAUGHTER, STEPSISTER,COUSIN, GREAT-GRANDMOTHER....
Q)WOMEN IN FICTION versus WOMEN IN REALITY: Classify the following according to whether they existed or not:
LYSISTRATA
ASPASIA
SAPPHO
MEDEA
ANTIGONA
ELECTRA
EURYDICE
JULIET
HIPATIA
DULCINEA
PROBA
CASSANDRA
PENELOPE
HELEN of TROY
CRESSIDA
IPHIGENIA
DOÑA INÉS
DOÑA JIMENA
AGUSTINA DE ARAGÓN
BERTA VON SUTTNER
JANE ADDAMS
BAUCIS
EUDOCIA
SCHEREZADE
R)WOMEN IN SONGS: Find a song dedicated to a woman as in :
ANGIE
TELL LAURA I LOVE HER
DIANA
OH, CAROL
LUCY
GLORIA
MARÍA
SUZANNE
MARIANNE
ANNIE´S SONG
S) WOMAN SHADOW WRITERS: WHO DID THEY WRITE FOR?
MARÍA LEJÁRRAGA
ZENOBIA CAMPRUBÍ
(Name some other cases):
T)WOMEN BLOGGERS: FIND OUT ABOUT EITHER THE BLOGS or THE LIFE STORIES OF:
YOANI SÁNCHEZ
MONTSERRAT BOIX PIQUÉ
BEATRIZ GIMENO REINOSO
CORAL HERRERA GÓMEZ
ELENA PONIATOWSKA AMOR
ALMUDENA GRANDES
ROSA MONTERO
MARUJA TORRES
ÁNGELES CASO
MARA TORRES
ROSA Mª MATEO
CONCHA GARCÍA CAMPOY
GEMMA NIERGA
ÁNGELS BARCELÓ
OPRAH WINFREY
PEPA BUENO
CADDY ADZUBA
LIDIA CACHO
PILAR MIRÓ
ISABEL COIXET
ROSA Mº CALAF
PILAR NARVIÓN
U)WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS. WHO WERE THEY?:
JANE MARSET
SARAH MARGARET FULLER
MARÍA ZAMBRANO
RACHEL CARSON
MARÍA MONTESSORI
MARY RITTER BEARD
MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE
SUSAN SONTAG
MARÍA MOLINER
HANNAH ARENDT
HELLEN KELLER
KATE MILLET
CAMILLE PAGLIA
V) WOMEN & ANIMALS: WHICH ANIMAL SPECIES DID THEY DEVOTE THEIR LIVES?:
JANE GOODALL
DIAN FOSSEY
JOY ADAMSON
MARY LEAKEY
MARGARET MEAD
W) F.G.M.(Female Genital Mutilation) in Africa, FEMALE INFANTICIDE & LOTUS FLOWER FEET IN CHINA, RAPE, CHILD ABUSE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE,UNSCHOOLED GIRLS, NEW WAYS OF CHILD SLAVERY,PUBLIC EXECUTIONS OF UNFAITHFUL WOMEN, FORCED MARRIAGES; HONOUR MURDERS, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, BULLYING, etc.. WHAT TO EXPECT ALL OVER THE WORLD... UNVEIL THE FULL-SCALE STORY of HUMAN HORROR THROUGH DIFFERENT CULTURES (including our own)....
X)FAMOUS LESBIANS: GERTRUDE STEIN & ALICE B. TOKLAS. Mention five more famous lesbian couples:
Y) FAMOUS FEMALE SUICIDES: VIRGINIA WOOLF, ANNE SEXTON, SYLVIA PLATH. Mention 5 more:
Z) ON BECOMING A SUPERWOMAN. DEBATE. GIVE YOUR OPINION ON:
(In the 21st century many books written by men still portray an ideal version of a woman completely dependent on a man. These books teach you how to be the Queen of Cuisine, everything you need to know to make your house a home, how to be the perfect hostess, how to be gorgeous and glamorous and even naughty!!!)
HOW TO BE A WORKING WIFE AND MOTHER
HOW TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY
HOW TO SHARE YOUR DAILY CHORES/ HOUSEWORK
HOW TO PROFIT FROM CRISES
HOW TO ORGANISE YOURSELF
(From 211 things a bright girl can do by Bunty Cutler 2007)
THE IDEALS OF FEMININE ACCOMPLISHMENT: Appearance and grooming,general deportment and manners, duties, moral fortitude,etc.. Jane Austen in Pride & Prejudice put it this way " A woman must have athorough knowledge of music, singing,drawing, dancing, and the modern languages... and besides all this she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions"..
OUR MISOGYNISTIC SOCIETY: Jokes about girls; woman drivers;compliments, songs which belittle girls/ women,etc...
Discuss & Debate Male Ownership of Female Fertility –Religious discrimination-
