Women in World History Parts One and Two

The Final Project for this class is a take-home final exam in two parts.

Part One of the Essay is titled “Talk Back to Aristotle.” In this part of the essay you are asked to describe the views held by Aristotle and other men such as Demosthenes, Hipponax and Hyperides that attempt toprove women’s inferiority at all levels. The writings of the philosophers are on the handouts we used in class. You are then asked to refute the misogynist views of these men by describing other women we have studied such as the “badass” goddesses and the women and goddesses in The Epic of Gilgamesh, which are still on Blackboard. Your goal here is to create a counter-narrative to the image of women promulgated by Aristotle and other philosophers.

Part Two of the essay requires you to choose women from the First and Second wave of the feminist movement whom you admire most and whom you believe contributed the most to the women’s movement. You must identify three women from the first wave, i.e., the right to vote movement, and three from the second wave of feminist action. You must use the Modern History Sourcebook for the first wave along with the handouts given to the students by the professor. Students will use The Essential Feminist Reader by Estelle B. Friedman for the second wave.

To access texts in the Modern History Sourcebook for the First Wave of Feminism, do the following: Once you are on the Sourcebook, click on Liberalism and scroll down and click on Feminism.

Organizing the Essay

1. Create a cover page that includes the name of the student and the name of the professor and the section in which you are enrolled, i.e., 102 or 130. I will not grade any exam that does not include the student’s section number. If you choose to give your project a title, the title should be at the top of the page before your name.

2. The paper must be typed on a computer with one-inch margins and double spaced between lines. Each page of the project should be numbered preferably at the bottom center of the page.

3. When quoting from the philosophers or other sources, give the name of the philosopher followed by the quote in parentheses. For example, Aristotle said, “Women are defective by nature.”

4. Students cannot use sources other than those stated here and the use of outside sources will be penalized with the drop of one grade – from a B to a C, for example – even if the source is identified. The use of materials from sources that are not identified is considered plagiarism and will result in an “F” for the project.

5. The exam will be available to students on Wednesday, November 30, during the regular class period and at the regular class time for each section. The exam will be handed to the professor personally on the last day of class, December 7, in their normal classroom and at the normal meeting time.

No extensions will be granted except in cases such as illness or family emergencies.

6. Grading. Following all the guidelines, 10 points, Essay, 90 points.

The exam will be graded on the quality of the argument, the sources used to support the argument and the student’s overall familiarity with the content of the course material. Two extra