Feminist Movements - 11 Modern History - An introduction to contemporary womens issues

A PowerPoint used in a year 11 Modern History classroom focusing on the issues faced by women during the fourth wave of feminism. It begins by acknowledging some of the progress that has been made to the social, political, economic and cultural landscape for women. This is followed by an examination of some of the things that have gone unchanged including entrenched negative attitudes to women (examples are provided). Some issues faced by women are addressed including striking the balance between traditional mothering and home-maker roles and the demands of full-time work (which was addressed in journalist Virginia Haussegger’s pivotal opinion piece ‘‘The sins of our feminist mothers’’ (2002). After this an overview of a range of issues confronting women in contemporary society is provided. This includes viewing some infographics from the United Nations (2015) outlining some of the problems women in modern society face: violence, poverty and lack of representation in politics. This is followed by some information about discrimination that female politicians in Australia (Julia Gillard and Sarah Hanson-Young) have faced. There is also an issue of a lack of representation of women and their achievements in the media. This is followed by inforamtion about sexual harrasssment and the #metoo social media campaign / movement. This is followed by information about women having been excluded from ‘history’ or relegated to the sidelines (and the attempts to rectify this). The issues of representation of women on the internet (i.e. on sites like Wikipedia) and in films are briefly addressed. This is followed by information about the high rates of women being bullied online. The issue of Aboriginal women often feeling excluded from the mainstream feminist movement is addressed briefly. The final term to be explained is ‘double burden.’ This is followed by some checking for understanding questions which can be responded to verbally or in written form.

Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). Designed as part of a unit entitled Women’s movements since 1893 which has the scope to span from when Women’s suffrage in New Zealand became law to the present. Our school decided to focus on the Second Wave of Feminism for our assessment (while briefly touching on the other waves of feminism).The other resources are also available in my store - Aussie_Resources. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay under exam conditions.