Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LAS2045

 
TITLE Women’s Suffrage: International and Maltese Milestones

 
UM LEVEL H - Higher Level

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION This Unit will focus on a new area of knowledge initiated by two crucial recent events. First is the issuing of a silver coin by the Central Bank of Malta to mark the 70th anniversary, in 2017, of when Maltese women were able to vote for the first time in 1947. Second is a series of celebrations held in the UK to mark the centenary of women's suffrage in 2018. Taking both events into account, this is perfect timing to explore the achievements of women’s suffrage in history. The Unit gives a critical overview of the history of women’s suffrage and feminism in selected areas of British, American and European society including Malta from the 19th century to contemporary times.

Using a socio-historical perspective, it will explore the integration of women and the evolving themes and demands of the women's movement in the political sphere in Britain, America and Europe from the heyday of the suffrage movement to the reign of Britain's first female PM, Margaret Thatcher, and Malta’s first female minister and president, Agatha Barbara, to Hillary Clinton as the first woman to run for the American presidential election.

Focus will be given on both women's wide-ranging attempts and their more limited achievements to gain entry into the political establishment at the local, national and international levels. Topics will include women's suffrage agitation; the aftermath of suffrage; inter-war feminism; feminist internationalism; studies of women politicians; Second Wave Feminism; feminist theories; Suffrage and Gender in Education, Maltese women and the religious context and gendered readings of political history.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:

- Describe the history of women’s suffrage and feminism in the socio-historical, class and religious context in which they originated;
- Explain women’s political history, and their achievements and the gendering of political institutions in Britain, America and Europe in the 20th century;
- Delineate the main feminist tenets that evolved from these events.

2. Skills:

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:

- Provide a written historical analysis of women’s achievements in the political sphere;
- Engage in group discussions and deliver a presentation on women’s suffrage, and the gendering of political history;
- Define feminist principles both in writing and speech using correct terminology.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Callus, A. Ghadma minn Ghadmi. Grajjiet il-Mara u Jeddijietha (Flesh of my Flesh. The History of Women’s Rights) (Haz-Zabbar: Stamperija Guttenbery, 1992).
- Cooray, Arusha, ‘Suffrage, Democracy and Gender Equality in Education’, Oxford Development Studies, 40:1 (2012), pp. 21-47.
- Crocco, Margaret Smith, (1995) ‘The Road to the Vote: Women, Suffrage and the Public Spere’, Social Education, 59:5 (1995), pp. 257-264.
- Cutajar, Josephine Ann, The Invisible Majority, Women, Power and Discourse in Malta (Master’s dissertation, University of Sussex, 1995).
- Cutajar, Josephine Ann, The Invisible Majority, Women, Power, and Discourse in Malta (Masters dissertation: University of Sussex, 1995).
- Darmanin, M. ‘The Labour Market of Schooling: Maltese Girls in Education and Economic Planning’, Gender and Education, 4:1.2, pp. 105-126.
- Lundeel, Åsa Kroon and Mats Ekström, ‘The Complex Visual Gendering of Political Women in the Press’, Journalism Studies 9:6 (2008), pp. 891-910.
- Martin, Jane, ‘Beyond Suffrage: Feminism, Education and the politics of class in the inter-war periods’, British Journal of Sociology, 29.4 (2008), pp. 441-423.
- Sammut, Carmen, The Road to Women’s Suffrage and Beyond. Malta (The Central Bank of Malta, 2017).

Supplementary Readings:

- Holton, Sandra Stanley, Feminism and Democracy: women’s suffrage and reform politics in Britain, 1900-1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).
- Law, Cheryl, Suffrage and Power: the women’s movement,1918-1928 (London: I.B. Tauris, 1997).
- Menders, Kaitlynn, ‘Reporting the Women’s Movement’, Feminist Media Studies, 11:4 (2011), pp. 483-498.
- Murphy, Cliona Murphy, ‘The religious context of the women’s suffrage campaign in Ireland’, Women’s History Review, 6:4 (1997), pp. 549-565.
- O’Connor, Karen, ed., Gender and Women’s Leadership: A Reference Handbook (California: Sage, 2010).

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Seminar

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Presentation (15 Minutes) No 20%
Essay Yes 80%

 
LECTURER/S Miriam Magro

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit