Hi, my name's Mr. Williams. I'm gonna be your history teacher for today as we learn about the changing role of women from the mediaeval period to the 20th century.

I'm really looking forward to teaching you.

So let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe the changing role of women over time.

There are five keywords essential to understanding today's lesson.

They are Industrial Revolution, suffrage, patriarchal, feminist, and contraception.

The Industrial Revolution was a period of great change during which improvements in technology changed the way that people lived and worked.

Suffrage is the right to vote.

Patriarchal relates to a society that is controlled by men.

Someone who believes in the social, economic, and political equality of men and women is a feminist.

A way to prevent pregnancy is known as contraception.

Today's lesson is going to be split into three parts.

In this first part, we're going to be learning about the role of women in mediaeval and early modern Britain.

The timeline provides an overview of the historical periods that we will be learning about as part of today's lesson.

After studying the role of women in the mediaeval period and the early modern period, we'll be examining how the Industrial Revolution changed the role of women before finishing our lesson by learning about the role of women in the 20th century.

In this last part of the lesson, we're going to focus on two key events, 1918 and the achievement of women's suffrage, and 1961, which is when the contraceptive pill first became available to women.

Let's look at the role of women in the mediaeval period to start with.

Women's lives centred on the home and were dominated by a cycle of marriage, birth, and childcare.

There were significant restrictions on what women were able to do.

For example, women were not allowed to go on journeys by themselves.

They weren't allowed to marry without their parents' permission.

They couldn't own property of any kind, and they were unable to divorce their husbands.

Women in town were able to join guilds, but they were excluded from many crafts and trades, and they were restricted to crafts and trades considered suitable for women, like spinning and brewing, in most cases.

Society was extremely patriarchal and the majority of women were excluded from all positions of power.

The teachings of the church was a major reason why mediaeval society was so patriarchal.

The church had huge power and influence and taught that women were weaker than men and needed to be controlled by them.

The church taught that Eve tempted Adam to disobey God, and it taught that women should be faithful and obedient, like Mary, mother of Jesus.

From 1517, the Reformation split the church, but Catholics and Protestants both believed that women were weaker than men.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

On the screen, there's a question that says, what did the church teach about women? And I want you to answer this question in one or two sentences, aiming to use these words in your answer: weaker, Eve, obedient, Mary and controlled.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that task.

Your answer could include, "The church taught that Eve tempted Adam to disobey God, and this showed that women were weaker than men and needed to be controlled by them.

The church taught that women should follow the example of Mary and be faithful and obedient.

Well done if your answer looks something like the one on the screen.

The role of women in the early modern period.

Lives still centred on the home and were dominated by a cycle of marriage, birth and childcare.

There was a huge amount of continuity between the mediaeval and early modern periods in this respect.

There were major restrictions on what women were able to do, and husbands had huge control over their wives.

Women were excluded from most professions.

Wealthier women received an education from private tutors, but most women did not receive an education at all.

Society remained extremely patriarchal.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

Mediaeval Britain and early modern Britain were patriarchal societies.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said the correct answer was true, but we need to be able to justify this answer.

So on the screen are two statements, A and B.

Statement A says society was controlled by women and most men were excluded from positions of power.

Statement B says society was controlled by men and most women were excluded from positions of power.

Which of these justifications supports the fact that the original statement is true? Is it A or B? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay.

The answer is B.

Mediaeval Britain and early modern Britain were patriarchal societies, and what this meant was society was controlled by men and most women were excluded from positions of power.

Well done if you got that correct.

We're now ready for the first practise task of this lesson.

I want you to read Sofia's argument about whether the role of women changed from the mediaeval period to the early modern period.

Sofia has said, "In many ways, there was continuity in the role women played in society from the mediaeval period to the early modern period because British society remained very patriarchal." I want you to suggest two or three points that Sofia could use to develop her answer further.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see some of the points that you could have used.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that task.

You were asked to suggest two or three points that Sofia could use to develop her answer further.

Sofia was making the argument that there was continuity in the role of women between the mediaeval period and the early modern period, and she was claiming that society remained very patriarchal.

To develop her answer further, Sofia could have used the following points.

She could have said that in both periods, women's lives were focused on the home and on childcare.

There were significant restrictions on what women could do, and the majority of women were excluded from positions of power.

Very well done if you managed to identify any of those points.

We're gonna move on now to the second part of our lesson where we're going to be exploring the role of women in the Industrial Revolution, which was a period of huge change.

We're going to be examining how the role of women changed during this period and in what ways the role of women remained the same.

So we're gonna start off by reminding ourselves what was the Industrial Revolution? The Industrial Revolution took place in Britain between 1750 and 1900.

Advancements in technology and machinery transformed the way that goods were made.

Goods that were previously made at home were now produced more quickly and cheaply in factories.

So how did this change the role of women? Home had been the centre of work for women since the mediaeval period, but the Industrial Revolution changed this for many, many women.

The better paid jobs were now in factories, but it was difficult for women to combine this type of work with childcare.

Therefore, women had to choose between low paid work at home, for example, making soap or laundry work or seeking best paid work in factories.

Many women worked in factories, for example, in the textile industry where tasks required smaller, more nimble fingers.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

Sam's statement is incorrect.

Sam has said, "During the Industrial Revolution, women were forced to choose between higher paid jobs in the home and lower paid jobs in factories.

Women who left the home to work in factories found it easier to combine work and childcare." There are three mistakes in Sam's statement.

I want you to identify and correct these mistakes.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

The corrected statement should read as follows: "During the Industrial Revolution, women were forced to choose between lower paid jobs in the home and higher paid jobs in factories.

Women who left the home to work in factories found it harder to combine work and childcare.

Well done if you managed to identify and correct those three mistakes.

Although the Industrial Revolution dramatically changed the lives of many women, there was still significant continuity.

For example, many people believed that men should work and women should be an angel in the home and focus on housework and childcare.

Some people believed that women leaving the home to work was a threat to family life.

For example, Lord Shaftesbury and others campaigned to reduce the number of hours women could work in factories and mines.

Laws were introduced to reduce the number of hours women could work, which meant that women could not work in certain jobs on equal terms with men.

This led to a sharper division between the work done by men and women.

Jobs for women were mostly home-based and lower paid.

New opportunities for women, however, did emerge, for example, in nursing, teaching and clerical work.

However, women were usually not promoted to the most senior roles and were expected to give up work when they married.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

On the screen it says, "Many people during the period of the Industrial Revolution believed that women should be the angel in the home." I want you to tell me what is meant by this term.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see our model answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

Your answer may include the following.

"The term angel in the home referred to the idea that women should stay at home and focus their time and energy on completing housework and looking after their husband and their children." Well done if you got that correct.

You're now ready for the second practise task of today's lesson, which is discussion based and split into two parts.

On the screen it says, "Explain one way the revolution changed the role of women in Britain to your partner." You might find it useful to use the following sentence starters.

One way the role of women in Britain changed during the Industrial Revolution was.

As a consequence.

Pause the video now, talk to your partner and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, I hope you had some good discussions.

You were asked to explain one way the Industrial Revolution changed the role of women in Britain to your partner, and your answer could have included, "One way the role of women in Britain changed during the Industrial Revolution was by making it more difficult to combine paid work with housework and childcare.

Home had been the centre of work for most women since the mediaeval period.

However, the Industrial Revolution meant that the best paid jobs were in factories." As a consequence, some women left the home to work in industries like the textile industry.

Well done if your answer sounded something like the one on the screen.

Let's move on to part two.

On the screen it says, "Describe one similarity between the role of women during the Industrial Revolution and during the early modern period to your partner." You may want to use the following sentence starters.

One similarity between the Industrial Revolution and the early modern period was.

For example.

Pause the video now, talk to your partner and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

I hope you had some good discussions.

You were asked to describe one similarity between the role of women during the Industrial Revolution and the early modern period, and your answer may have included, "One similarity between the Industrial Revolution and the early modern period was that many people believed that a women's role was still in the home.

For example, Lord Shaftesbury tried to limit the number of hours women could work because he believed that women working outside the home was a threat to family life." Many shared Lord Shaftesbury's view and believed that only men should work and that, in return, women should be the angel in the home and focus on looking after the home and their children." Well done if your answer sounded something like that.

Let's move on.

We're now ready to move on to the final part of our lesson where we're going to be examining the changing role of women in the 20th century.

The 20th century saw dramatic changes in the role of women compared to earlier periods.

The changes were in part due to women campaigning successfully for women's suffrage between 1897 and 1928, and feminists campaigning for social, economic and political equality as part of the Women's Liberation Movement or Women's Lib during the 1960s and 1970s.

We're gonna look at two major changes.

The important change was women's suffrage.

In 1897, Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, or the NUWSS.

Known as the suffragists, they campaigned for women's suffrage using peaceful methods.

In 1906, frustrated by the slow progress that was being made, Emmeline PankHurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union, or the WSPU.

Known as the suffragettes, they campaigned using more militant, sometimes violent tactics.

During World War I, which took place between 1914 and 1918, both groups won support for female suffrage by suspending their campaigns and joining 1.

6 million women in completing war work.

Partly due to the campaigns of the suffragists and the suffragettes, and partly due to the contribution that women had made during the First World War, women won suffrage with the representation of the People Act in 1918, which gave the vote to men over 21 and women over 30, as long as they owned property.

In 1919, Nancy Astor became the first female MP to take her seat in Parliament.

Women did not, however, receive equal voting rights until the introduction of the Representation of the People, Equal Franchise, Act in 1928, which gave the votes to men and women over 21.

Even after 1928 when women could vote on equal terms with men, men still dominated parliament.

In 1931, only 15 female MPs were elected out of 615 MPs.

However, women having the right to vote led to parliament passing laws that had a positive impact on the lives of women.

For example, in 1919, the Sex Disqualification, Removal, Act meant women could not be barred from any job because of their sex.

In 1923, women were given equal rights to men in divorce cases.

And in 1930, basic advice on contraception was made available to women for the first time.

We're gonna check your understanding now.

On the screen, there are three statements and they're all incorrect.

I'd like you to identify and correct the mistake in each statement.

Pause the video now, press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

You were asked to identify and correct the mistake in the three statements.

The corrected statements should read as follows.

Number one, in 1928, men and women were given equal voting rights.

Number two, despite this, male MPs still dominated parliament.

And number three should read: "However, women having the vote meant MPs were more likely to support laws that had a positive impact on the lives of women." Well done if you got those correct.

We're gonna move on now and look at the second important change: the availability of the contraceptive pill in 1961, often simply known as the Pill.

A central aim of the feminist movement was to ensure all women had access to free contraception.

Without access to contraception, couples had large families, which made it more difficult for women to combine paid work and childcare.

Giving women access to free contraception would allow them to decide when or if to have children and would give women more freedom.

In 1961, the contraceptive pill first became available to British women.

Used effectively, the Pill was almost 100% effective and it was controlled by the woman.

The Pill, however, was only available to married women at first, but partly due to feminist campaigns, the Pill became available to all women by 1967.

By 1968, over two million British women were taking the Pill.

As a result, many couples had fewer children, and from 1965, the birth rate began to decrease.

The Pill supported family planning and allowed women more freedom to plan their careers.

As a consequence, the percentage of women in paid employment increased from 46% in 1955 to 51% in 1965.

The Pill was also one reason why more women went to university.

The percentage of first degrees awarded to female students increased from 26% in 1960 to 38% by 1980.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

On the screen is a statement that says, "The availability of the Pill had no impact on the number of children being born." Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you got that the answer was false, but as always, we need to justify our answer.

So on the screen are two statements.

I want you to select which of the statements provides the best justification for why the original statement is false.

Is it statement A, which says statement many couples chose to have fewer children and the birth rate decreased from 1965? Or is it statement B, which says, many couples chose to have more children and the birth rate increased from 1965.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct answer was statement A.

Many couples chose to have fewer children and the birth rate decreased from 1965.

You're now ready for the final practise task of today's lesson, which will draw on everything you've learned so far.

On the screen it says, "Explain how the role of women changed from the mediaeval period to the 20th century." You should aim to write three to four paragraphs and organise your ideas chronologically.

You may find it helpful to use the sentence starters that I'm gonna show you now on the next slide.

So the sentence starters you can use are as follows.

Mediaeval society was very patriarchal; therefore, the role of women centred on.

There is little change in the role of women between the mediaeval and early modern period.

For example.

On one hand, the Industrial Revolution significantly changed the role of women.

On the other hand.

In the 20th century, there were dramatic changes in the role of women.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

You were asked to explain how the role of women changed from the mediaeval period to the 20th century.

For your first paragraph, you might have written something like this.

"Mediaeval society was very patriarchal; therefore, the role of women centred on the home and women's lives were dominated by childbirth and childcare.

There were significant restrictions on what women could do.

For example, women in towns were able to join guilds, but they were excluded from many crafts and trades.

The church taught that women were weaker than men and needed to be controlled by them.

As a consequence, the majority of women were excluded from all positions of power." Well done if your paragraph looks similar to the model paragraph on the screen.

For your second paragraph, you might have written something like this.

There was little change in the role of women between the mediaeval period and the early modern period.

For example, the lives of women still centred on the home and on marriage, childbirth and childcare.

There continue to be major restrictions on what women were allowed to do.

For example, women are excluded from most professions and society remained patriarchal.

Well done if your paragraph looks similar to the model one.

For your third paragraph, you might have written something like this.

"On one hand, the Industrial Revolution significantly changed the role of women.

For example, many women got better paid jobs in factories even though this made childcare more difficult as they no longer worked at home.

Some women also benefited from new opportunities in nursing and teaching.

On the other hand, opportunities for women were still very limited, and women were still excluded from most positions of power.

This was because many people still viewed working women as a threat to family life and argued that the role of women should be the angel in the home." Fantastic effort if your paragraph looked anything like the module paragraph.

Let's take a look now at what you could have written for your final paragraph.

So for your final paragraph, you might have written something like this.

"In the 20th century, there were dramatic changes in the role of women.

One change was due to the successful campaign for women's suffrage, which meant that women could vote on equal terms with men by 1928.

This led to the election of female MPs like Nancy Astor in 1919 and more legislation being passed that benefited women.

Another change was women having access to the Pill due to feminist campaigning.

Women were now able to plan their families, which led to more women in paid employment and a higher education; although significant inequality still existed." You have worked so hard on that final task, so a huge well done.

We're near the end of our lesson now, so it's a great opportunity to summarise our key learning points.

So in summary, in many ways, the role of women changed little between the mediaeval and early modern periods.

The Industrial Revolution changed the way people lived and worked forever, and these changes had a significant impact on the role of women.

The achievement of women's suffrage in 1919 had a transformative impact on the role of women and led to many other changes.

And finally, the availability of the contraceptive pill from 1961 increased opportunities for women in education and employment.

It's been a real pleasure teaching you today.

I hope you've enjoyed the lesson.

You've certainly worked extremely hard, and I look forward to teaching you in the future.