I took this course this past semester as the second half of my human traditions course and my Professor was Elizabeth DeWolfe. This class explored the role of women have played in history since the year 1500 to the present day. I discovered more about the fact that women mostly ignored and unappreciated. They did not have the same rights or opportunities that men did until today though even they still don’t have as many opportunities today. It informed me of specific literature that discussed the role of women throughout history in different countries such as India and Nigeria. Overall the class taught me that women have made many contributions throughout history but have never always been recognized for it. This was nice to know and understand because I feel I became a more informed individual from taking this course.  

Women in the Modern World Course Official Course Description:

“Human Traditions courses introduce students to the broad range of human cultures from prehistory to the present, taking a thematic approach rather than a strictly chronological one. We will focus on how gender structures, defines, and challenges the lives of women in diverse societies from roughly 1500 to the present day (and beyond). How are women captured in the historical record? Where are they absent and what factors make women’s lives invisible? What strategies can we employ to understand the place of women in world history when so much of women’s perspective has been obscured? We will examine the rise of women’s rights movements around the world and conclude with a look into the future place of women in the world and in narratives of world history.”

Class Work:

This series of short essays was written for my midterm exam and explores two questions. In the first short essay I answer the question of how women throughout history have become oppressed by the men of their tribes such as in the Native American story we read Women of the Dawn as well as in other cultures such as in India with the story Nectar in a Sieve and in Nigeria with the novel The Joys of Motherhood. The second short essay discusses the relationship seen between a mother and daughter in different cultures and how it is impacted by the importance in having many sons. 

Here is an excerpt:

Link to my Full Work:

Women In the Modern World Midterm Essays- Caitlyn Irish