Creator: Eimeel Castillo
Duration: 2 – 4 class periods
Published: Winter 2021
Overview
In this lesson plan, students will learn to distinguish the motivations and consequences of women getting politically involved and comprehend how societal expectations alongside feminist activists’ creative strategies interact to create social change.
Keywords: Hegemonic Femininity, Qualitative Research, Gender, Nation-states, Neoliberalism, Cold War
Country sites: Russia, Nicaragua, Poland, India
Learning Objectives
- Explore the interplay of multiple factors that influence women to get politically involved to change their societies.
- Understand the role of patriarchal expectations in shaping how women are portrayed and experience their participation in politics.
- Examine how feminist activists evaluate continuities or changes in women’s situations vis a vis state politics by examining them carefully and comparing specific case studies.
- Enhance familiarity with tools for critical analysis of images as historical sources.
Teaching Podcast
Resources
Activities
Activity One: Compelling Contexts This activity encourages students to explore the ways multiple factors influence women getting politically involved to change their societies. The objective is to get them to appreciate the role of changing political, cultural and economic conditions in motivating individuals to engage in different forms of social change (student protests, guerrilla movements, scholarship). This activity consists of two periods of teamwork and a final class discussion. Duration: 45 – 55 minutes | Download Materials |
Activity Two: New Times, Old Expectations This activity asks students to examine representations of femininity and gender relations during periods of social change. The objective is that students analyze and compare representations of women’s political participation from popular culture in different contexts and discuss how patriarchal expectations played a role in how feminist activists experienced these convoluted years. This activity centers around the analysis of visual materials during political transitions and is divided into two periods involving small group discussion and large class reflection. Duration: 45 – 50 minutes | Download Materials |
Assessment: Assessing Political Transitions through Feminist Activisms This assignment encourages students to practice basic research skills to communicate ideas in a concise and visually appealing form. The goal is that students develop a comparison of how two countries experienced political transitions incorporating an analysis of images as historical sources. By using the interviews of two activists from different places, the students will create an infographic poster explaining how women’s conditions changed, or did not, after processes of political transformation.[1] They will use information available from the Global Feminisms Project Archive (e.g. timelines and interview excerpts), and incorporate at least one external visual source which will be accompanied of a short description. Alternative implementation: the instructor can ask students to carry out this assignment in pairs, so each student examines one country’s transformation and discuss their work to create together the infographic poster. In addition, there is the possibility of having a contest at the end of the module in which students can exhibit and present their posters to the class. [1] An infographic poster is a visual narrative composition that uses images, charts, and minimal text. Its purpose is to convey a message powerfully and clearly, at a glance. | Download Materials |
