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Explore the history of women in America

XSeries Program in
Women Have Always Worked
ColumbiaX

What you will learn

  • How women’s participation in, exclusion from, and impact on American economic, political, and social life have altered American history
  • How key figures and events have challenged the role of women in the home and workplace
  • How ideas, such as democracy, citizenship, liberty, patriotism, and equality have differently shaped the lives of women and men
  • How women of different races and classes have experienced work, both inside and outside the home
  • How historians of women and gender study America’s past, including hands-on opportunities to practice analyzing primary sources from the present and the past
  • How women’s history has developed and changed over time

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.

A program subscription gives you full verified access to all courses and materials within the program you’ve enrolled in, for as long as your subscription is active. Monthly subscription pricing can help you manage your enrollment costs — instead of paying more up front, you pay a smaller amount per month for only as long as you need access. You can cancel your subscription at any time for no additional fee.

Expert instruction
4 high-quality courses
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
11 months
2 - 3 hours per week
$49/month
USD
After 7-day free trial

Courses in this program

  1. ColumbiaX's Women Have Always Worked XSeries Program

  2. 2–3 hours per week, for 10 weeks
    Learn about the emergence of women's history and its impact on the study of history as a whole. Then, examine the experiences of women in Colonial America. We will learn the ways that women struggled to loosen the constraints of family by proclaiming that they, like men, possessed individual rights.
  3. 2–3 hours per week, for 10 weeks
    Departing from the Civil War years, examine how gender shaped women's work outside the home in the late 19th century. Explore efforts to affirm domesticity while providing women with paths to independence, and uncover how the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments impacted women’s political participation.
  4. 2–3 hours per week, for 10 weeks
    Beginning with the passing of the 19th Amendment and on through World War II, explore the new cultural and economic opportunities that emerged for women in this period while gaining an understanding of how racial, familial, and legal structures placed constraints on that independence. Learn how women's contributions to the war effort provided both new opportunities and new barriers.
  5. 2–3 hours per week, for 12 weeks

    This course begins with an examination of how the Cold War reinforced the ideals of the suburban, nuclear family and how these ideals impacted women's trajectory towards independence and equality, and ends with the rise of the Me Too movement and a look at how the 2018 midterm election ushered in a new era of women in politics.

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$49/month USD

After a 7-day full access free trial. Cancel at any time.
This program subscription includes:
  • Immediate access to all 4 courses in this program
  • Course videos, lectures, and readings
  • Practice problems and assessments
  • Graded assignments and exams
  • edX learner support
  • Shareable verified certificates after successfully completing a course or program
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