Feminist Movements - 11 Modern History - Impacts of 2nd wave feminism

A PowerPoint used in a year 11 Modern History classroom. It begins with a viewing activity ‘A bite sized guide to the history of modern Western feminism.’ Following this there are slides talking about how gender stereotypes began to shift due to the work of the Women’s Liberation Movement. I get students to copy the underlined text and call on various students to read aloud other portions. Students are introduced to ‘consciousness raising’ a method used by 2nd wave feminists. Following this there is a quote from Zelda D’Aprano (a feminist from Melbourne) about the inspiration for using consciousness raising and what types of things they discussed. An extract from the Rivka Pile papers (University of Melbourne) is also included to demonstrate the significance of this strategy. Following this students are introduced to some gender theory including that gender is a social construct and the term ‘gender role’ is defined. This is followed by an exploration of visual sources (pictures from a children’s book from 1970) which reinforced traditional gender role stereotypes. This is followed by a list of issues that were being addressed by feminists by the 1970s including domestic violence, abortion law reform and availiability of childcare services (including day care and preschool). The introduction of women into Australian politics is discussed with reference to The Women’s Electoral Lobby and the ‘femocrats’ appointed to public service during Gough Whitlam’s time as PM. This is followed by information about the significant achievements which took place in the 1980s. The remaining few slides are about viewpoints about 2nd wave feminism. The lesson ends with a paragraph writing task which can be completed for homework if time gets away from you.

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.