Latest Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description This module considers the history of women's role in both the private as well as the public sphere. The module considers the manner in which gender roles in the nineteenth century were constructed with reference to the ideology of separate spheres. According to the ideology men occupied the public sphere – the world of commerce, business, politics, the professions. Women occupied the private or domestic sphere – the sphere of the home. However, in the patriarchal society that was nineteenth century Ireland and England even within the home the ultimate authority was that of the male head. The module moves to discuss how various categories of ‘outcast’ women who did not or could not conform to the domestic paradigm, notably prostitutes, criminal women, vagrant women and women who committed infanticide, were treated by society. In this way the module asks students to understand the importance of class as well as gender analysis. The module also considers the move towards first wave feminism in the later nineteenth century. The module examines not just at the campaign for the parliamentary vote but also considers the manner in which female activists were concerned to improve the position of women in society in the area of educational rights, local government rights and property rights amongst other issues. The module also focuses on the role of women in nationalism with a particular emphasis on the revolutionary period 1913-1921. Students on this module complete a research essay instead of a final examination. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Evaluate developments in historical academic writing on women and gender 2. Appraise the ways in which social, economic and political factors shaped womens' lives in the period 1789-1922 3. Assess the ways in which women accessed the public sphere of politics and employment and how society's expectations of women's roles in society shifted at certain seminal points between 1789 and 1922 4. Critically reflect on the importance of class in the study of women's lives 5. Critique the ways in which society dealt with women who failed to conform to nineteenth century expectations regarding appropriate female roles 6. Carry out an original research project based on primary historical sources which contributes to knowledge in the field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Introduction Unit 1 : Women’s History, Feminist History and Gender History Unit 2 Research: Getting started Part 1: Women in the Private Sphere Unit 3: Domesticity Unit 4: Religion Part 2: Women, Education and Work Unit 5: Philanthropy Unit 6: Education Unit 7 Industrialisation and Women’s Work Unit 8: Women and Work in Ireland Unit 9: Emigration Part 3: Developing the Research Project Unit 10: Literature Review Unit 11: Negotiating Archival Sources Part 4: Women on the Margins Unit 12: Motherhood Unit 13: Prostitution Unit 14: Poverty and Criminality Part 5: Women in the public sphere Unit 15: Radicalism and utopian discourses of the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century Unit 16: Politics formal and informal I Unit 17: Suffrage in Ireland Unit 18: Women and nationalism in nineteenth century Ireland Unit 19: Women and nationalism 1900-1921 Unit 20: Women and War Part 6: The Research Paper Unit 21: Writing the Research Paper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List Books:
Articles: None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Other Resources None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||