American Women/American Womanhood:
1870s to the Present
(HIUS157)
Prof. Rebecca Jo Plant
Winter 2012
T/TR 8:00-9:20 a.m.
HSS 1330
Course description
This course examines the history of women in the United States from roughly 1870 to the present. We will explore the status and experiences of American women from a range of perspectives — social, cultural, political, economic and legal. A central concern will be the relationship between gender ideologies and divisions based on class and race within America society. Major areas of inquiry will include: strategies that women have employed to attain political influence and power; changing conceptions of women’s rights and duties as citizens; women’s roles as producers and consumers in an industrial and post-industrial economy; and attitudes and policies that have served to regulate female sexuality, reproduction and motherhood.
Contacting Prof. Plantemail: rjp@ucsd.edu (please use subject line: HIUS157)
Office hours: Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.., HSS 4062 (those who have taken courses with me before, please note that I have moved offices)
Course Requirements
The course requirements are as follows: an in-class quiz (5%); Wikipedia assignment (25%); in-class midterm (20%); a 4-page paper (25%); and the final examination (25%).
Details regarding the paper assignments are below. I do not accept papers as attachments; you must provide me with a hard copy.
The quiz will include a series of questions drawn from that day's reading (Woloch). The midterm will consist of a series of short answer questions. The final will have identifications, short answer questions, and two essay questions. Answers to the identifications should be roughly two sentences and should identify the person, event, or term and its significance. Short answer questions require a paragraph-long response. Essay responses should be roughly five-paragraphs. You must bring a blue book (or two, in the case of the final) to class on exam days.
Policy regarding late papers: I will accept late papers without penalty only if an extension is requested by email at least seven days in advance of the due date. Otherwise, a letter grade will be deducted for each day beyond the due date.
Grading:
97-100 A+
94-96 A
90-93 A-
87-89 B+
84-86 B
80-83 B-
77-79 C+
74-76 C
70-73 C-
Etc.
Grading for this class will not be on a scale.
Academic integrity
I take the issue of academic integrity very seriously, and I will report suspected cases of cheating or plagiarism. Indeed, as a UCSD professor, if I suspect evidence of cheating or plagiarism in my class, I am required by the Office of the Academic Integrity Coordinator to file a report. (See the “Instructors’ Responsibility” and “Students’ Responsibility” sections of the University’s Academic Integrity Statement.) Please do not make me take this step.
The problem of plagiarism has become more pervasive since the rise of the internet. Obviously, purchasing a paper or taking a paper (or any part of paper) off of a website violates the principles of academic integrity. But plagiarism is not limited to these flagrant examples. Any time you take a sentence, or even a phrase, from another person's work without using quotation marks and providing proper attribution, you are plagiarizing. When you write a paper, the best way to avoid plagiarism is to do all the necessary reading, including on-line reading, in advance. Once you begin to write, you should not go on-line again until the paper is done.
If you have any questions as to what is or is not plagiarism, please review the attached MLA statement. If you still have questions, please contact me.
Nancy Woloch, Muller v. Oregon: A Brief History with Documents, Bedford/St. Martins Press, 1996
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Gender Ideology in the Gilded Age
January 10 Introductions
January 12 Overview: Women's Status and Gender Ideology in the Late 19th Century
Week 2: Women and Progressive Era Reform
January 17 Race and Reform
January 19 Labor and Immigration
IN CLASS: Quiz on Woloch reading (15-20 minutes)
Week 3: Sexuality, Motherhood and Modernity in the Early 20th Century
January 24 The Birth Control Movement and the Practice of Abortion
January 26 Consumer Culture and "Modern Motherhood"
January 31 Feminism and the Suffrage Movement
February 2 Women's Politics in the 1920s
IN CLASS: Workshop rought drafts of Wikipedia assignment
Week 5: The Personal and the Political
February 7 A Girlhood in San Francisco's Chinatown, pre-World War II
February 9 MIDTERM
Week 6: The Great Depression and World War II
February 14 Familial Norms and State Policies in the 1930s
February 16 World War II and Gender Ideology
Week 7: The Cold War: Domestic Ideology and American Power Abroad
February 21 Impact of U.S. Policies on Women and Families in Japan and Mexico
February 23 Sexual Politics in Cold War America
Week 8: Political Protest: Civil Rights and the Rebirth of Feminism
February 28 Women and the Early Civil Rights Movement
March 1 Second Wave Feminism
Week 9: Progress and Reaction: Sexual Politics and the Workplace, 1970s-1990s
March 6 The Rise of the New Right: The Backlash Against the ERA and Abortion Rights
March 8 Women in the Workplace
Week 10: Unresolved Conflicts, Contemporary Issues
March 13 Women, Work, Family: Constraints and Choices
March 15 Women in the 21st Century: Final Reflections
March 22 8:00-11:00 a.m. FINAL EXAM