Women+and+WWi+-+Andrea

Usha's comments in Blue.

Your name: Andrea C. Vaughan

Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined: //Canadian History//, by Hundley, I., and Magarrey, M. (2000). Toronto, ON: Irwin Publishing Ltd.

Name of more "scholarly" source examined: //Journeys: A History of Canada,// by Francis, D., Jones, R., and Smith, D. (2010 ) Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd.

__Your Initial Thoughts:__ Please provide a **brief** (5-10 sentences) initial assessment of the textbook's treatment of the subject. We have not developed any particular criteria by which to assess the textbook so this is really simply you initial reactions, feelings, questions about what you have read. Thanks

My thoughts on the History Textbook’s Information on Women in WW1: The text has two pages dealing with women and WW1, which is substantial compared to many other textbooks. It was even more than my university text, where the topic was given only a single paragraph. The inclusion of the suffrage movement with the war is great to see, because this is often left out of most traditional texts. Though the text mentions the Union Government Wartime Elections act, extending to mothers, daughters and wives of soldiers the capacity to vote in federal elections, and then to all women, they did not mention that this was a ploy to get more votes for conscription. The text talks about the exclusion of some groups, and how society expected women to vacate the jobs after the war, but statistics which would be valuable here are missing within the text, although the side readings on IODE provide an idea of what they did, and who was involved in the organization. Nonetheless, while the side readings provide valuable depth, the number of women and the scope of what was going on is obscured by the lack of statistical information.

Thoughts after reading the scholarly article: I wanted to compare the texts used in the high school classroom to that of what I was given for my introduction to Canadian History in university, and I found that although the language used was more advanced, this meant only a small difference in the amount of information conveyed. Journeys does provide some helpful stats, such as approximately how many women served as nurses, however, the overall ideas about women during the first world war are the same. Journeys mentions that women’s work helped them lobby for the vote, but neglects mentioning the issue of using women to get conscription, which almost tore the country apart. Both within the high school and the university texts there exists a distinct and unfortunate lack of information on women of different ethnicities and languages, which reflects unfortunate biases within the community responsible for these texts towards placing less value on this information.

It is an interesting omission you point out, Andrea. And it clearly comes out in your critical question, below.

T3 Question: Should the acquisition of federal suffrage for women in Canada be something for the women at the time to have been proud of, or were they just being used by the Union Government Part? This is framed as a "judge the better or best" but when I think about what kids will need criteria for, I'm searching a bit. I think they'll need criteria for "an achievement to be proud of" but I'm not sure about the second option. I wonder if there's a way to tighten this up a bit. I feel like kids might be inclined to answer "yes' to both parts - i.e. yes they were being used but yes they should still feel proud. I'm not sure that these are binary options. What do you think? Below, in your debate, it is laid out a bit more clearly as a critique the piece - i.e. To what extent was decision to extend the vote to women a result of the efforts of the suffrage movement. I think that's the crux of what you're getting at. Perform to specs  Debate Were the actions of Women in the First World War a good enough reason for them to get the vote? The class will be divided into two teams, Pro-suffrage, and Anti- women suffrage. Using facts around WW1 why should or should not women get the right to vote? Each Team has ten minutes to present their case, and five minutes to defend their statements! All the facts will be presented in today’s lesson so take careful notes if you want your team to do well. Remember only the facts used from class may be permitted as evidence for you case! New IDEA Letters to the editor suffrage edition is organized properly on the hand out I gave you.