ENMWRW: Women's Rights, Women's Writing

Module code: ENMWRW

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Mary Morrissey, email: m.e.morrissey@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of women’s political activism, looking at the history of women’s writing on women’s rights and the texts produced by women as interventions in political controversy. Beginning with the work of Mary Wollstonecraft, this module tracks key moments when women took the initiative in debates about their role in society and about their political rights. We will look at the ways in which women demanded that their voices be heard, the rhetorical strategies that they used to argue for their rights, and how they pushed back against efforts to restrict their political and cultural agency. We will examine the life, activism and writings of women such as Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Virginia Woolf, and Emmeline Pankhurst alongside less well-known figures like activist Sophia Duleep Singh and the working-class activist and writer Hannah Mitchell. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Identify and develop interests within the field of literary and historical studies, leading to a deep knowledge and understanding of women’s political writing and feminist political theory.  
2. Demonstrate advanced research skills, including using archives, formulating significant and rigorous research questions, and addressing these to a range of appropriately chosen texts. 
3. Present the results of research (or reading, or critical thinking) lucidly and confidently, both orally and in writing. 
4. Synthesize an original written argument, locating analysis of particular texts within a broader theoretical and contextual setting. 

Module content

This module works across the disciplines of English Literature and History to offer an in-depth understanding of women’s writing on women’s rights: we will understand how the lives of these women shaped their activism and their writings, why their words and actions were considered politically or socially transgressive in their time, and how they responded to the sexism of the dominant political and cultural institutions. We will begin with Mary Wollstonecraft, often considered the earliest British feminist. We will consider the changing social position of women in the Victorian period and the challenge that writers like Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon mounted to the limitations on women’s public roles. We will end with a lengthy consideration of the early twentieth century’s ‘first wave’ of feminism in the campaign for women’s suffrage and debates over women’s right to education.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Weekly two-hour seminars will consider each woman’s history, activism and writing. Students will be asked to do preparatory reading for each meeting. 

Study hours

At least 22 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students may build on the topic of their Literature Review for their Research Project. They will receive feedback on their Literature Review assessment that will help them to frame their research question and research strategies for the Research Project. 

Reassessment

Additional costs