Changing Lives
Women’s History from Fin-de-Siècle to the Interwar years
Course description
The decades of late 19th and early 20th centuries had witnessed the
emergence of new identities for women variously described as “the
New Woman,” “xin nuxing,” 新女性 or “la garçonne.” In this course
students will be introduced to the historical formation of these new
identities of women through an examination of how the profound
economic, political, social, technological and cultural changes at the
turn of the century impacted on the lives and roles of women.
How had women changed?
How different did these two Chinese women look?
Course modules
Module 1
Women and WWI
Module 2
Sex, marriage and motherhood
Module 3
Educating the new woman
Module 4
Women and employment
Module 5
Women and consumerism
Issues of the course
What were the changes in women’s lives?
What were the causes of these changes?
How did these changes affect women’s
identities?
Case studies: the West and China
Module 1 - British Women ambulance drivers in Belgium
Module 2 – Sex, marriage and motherhood
Module 3 – Educating the new woman
Module 4 – Women and employment
Module 5 – Women and consumerism