Women's Ongoing Pursuit of Equal Rights

Did you know that March is Women's History Month? This quote from Dr. Jamal A. Badawin summarizes the continued struggle and progress of women in the U.S. and world for equality:

"The status which women reached during the present era was not achieved due to the kindness of men or due to natural progress. It was rather achieved through a long struggle and sacrifice on women's part, and only when society needed her contribution and work, more especially during the two world wars, and due to the escalation of technological change."

After winning the right to vote in 1920, women began to take on greater roles in society such as serving in government as Senators, Congresswomen, and as members of the Presidential Cabinet. Many women took advantage of opportunities in higher education. At the beginning of the 20th Century, less than 20% of all college degrees in the U.S. were earned by women. By the end of the century, this figure had risen to about 50%.

Women have made dramatic progress in professional opportunities. Fields such as medicine, law, and science opened to include more women. At the beginning of the 20th Century, about 5% of the doctors in the United States were women. As of 2006, over 38% of all doctors in the U.S. were women, and today, women constitute almost 50% of the medical student population.

While the numbers of women in these advanced fields has increased, most women today hold clerical, factory, retail, or service jobs. These jobs, in many situations, result in less pay for women than males holding the same or similar jobs.

Women's rights advanced the most in the last three decades of the 20th century. Western women gained a new freedom through access to birth control, which enabled women to plan their adult lives, often making way for both career and family. The movement for reproductive rights started in the 1910s by U.S. pioneering social reformer Margaret Sanger, and in the UK and internationally by Marie Stopes.

Students can learn more about the struggle for women's rights, both in America, and the world, by using a BookCart learning activity created by ProQuest: "Women--Ongoing Struggle for Equality."

BookCart learning activities (quick start guide PDF and short video introduction) are a one-stop solution for teachers and students in conducting 21st Century inquiry-based learning activities. Great editor-selected resources + essential questions for critical thinking + student directions ensure that no time is wasted and students have everything they need to maximize time on task for learning.

This learning activity is just one of hundreds of model BookCarts (PDF listing) that teachers and librarians can copy into their local collection and use right away. Here's how to do this:

• Logon to the eLibrary TEACHER EDITION.
• Click the BOOKCART ADMIN tab at the top of the Teacher Edition.
• Click the PROQUEST CARTS tab.
• Type "Women--Ongoing Struggle for Equality" in the SEARCH box
• Click the COPY icon (middle one) in the ACTIONS column to the right of this title.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.

Librarians or teachers can edit this BookCart to customize it for their students. To edit this BookCart:

• Click the new BookCart TITLE (it will have the prefix "COPY OF").
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your name in the AUTHOR boxes and your initials in the EMAIL box (required info).
• Option: Edit any ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS for your students in the DESCRIPTION box.
• Option: Edit the existing STUDENT DIRECTIONS in the Description box to customize for your students.
• Scroll down and click SAVE.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.

Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words that cites at least three resources. Or, they can choose to create a presentation of at least seven slides. Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add or substitute others):

• Why do women still not have full equality with men in our society?
• What are some areas of inequality that still exist?
• What strategies have women used in the past to gain more equality?
• What responsibility does the government have to promote gender equality?

Click Topics tab > Type "women's rights" in Topics search box > Click "Women's Rights"

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.