Explore the history of women in America

Please note that you have the option to enroll in each individual course either as an auditor (free of charge) or with a verified certificate, by going to the course page and selecting the “Enroll Now” button. A list of the 4 courses in this series is available below.

Without women’s history we have only a partial and incomplete knowledge of our past. The Women Have Always Worked four-part series will explore women’s participation in the economy, politics, and social life of the nation, from Colonial America to the present day. We will challenge old truisms about the past and learn to view American history from a new and rich historical perspective. These four MOOCs investigate the practice of women’s history; they explore how and why we write women’s history, and why it is important that we do so.

Together we will learn how women began to ask for equality and what the word equality meant and still means for different women. But we'll also ask you to consider a more difficult set of questions that revolve around whether equality for some women might limit the freedom of others. Will women demand benefits for themselves that provide a few with equality with men while fomenting inequality with each other? What about sisterhood? Will some of us move forward while others are left behind? These are questions that haunt us today.