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        • S1E44 Byzantine Intersectionality
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        • S1E47 Women's Founding Documents
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            • S2E30: What is the heroine's journey of women in the west? ​With Meredith Eliassen
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            • S2E32: Why did women explore the White Mountains? With Dr. Marcia Schmidt Blaine
            • S2E33: How are native women telling their own stories? with Dr. Ferina King
        • S2E3 How did female sexuality lead to the rise and fall of Chinese empresses? with Dr. Cony Marquez
        • S2E4 How did medieval women rise and why were they erased? ​With Shelley Puhak
        • S2E5 Did English Queens Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn have agency? with Chloe Gardner
        • S2E6 Is Elizabeth a turning point in World History? with Deb Hunter
        • S2E7 How did Maria Theresa transform modern Europe? With Dr. Barbara Stollber-Rilinger
        • S2E8 Were Paul and Burns the turning point in women's suffrage? With Dr. Sidney Bland
        • S2E9 Were the First Ladies just wives? ​With the First Ladies Man
        • S2E10: How did ER use her position and influence to sway public opinion and influence politics? ​With Dr. Christy Regenhardt
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        • S2E12 Should We Believe Anita Hill? With the Hashtag History Podcast
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        • S2E14: Why are material culture artifacts reshaping our understanding of women's history? With Dr. Amy Forss
        • S2E15: Did 19th institutionalizing and deinstitutionalizing healthcare make it safer? with Dr. Martha Libster
        • S2E16: Why are the interconnections between women and their social reform movements important? With Dr. DeAnna Beachley
        • S2E17: Did WWII really bring women into the workforce? ​With Dr. Dorothy Cobble
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        • S2E19: How did MADD impact the culture of drunk driving?
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        • S2E21: Should we remember Augustus for his war on women? ​With Dr. Barry Strauss
        • S2E22: Were French women willing participants or collateral damage in imperialism? with Dr. Jack Gronau
        • S2E23: Was Joan of Arc a heretic? ​With Jacqui Nelson
        • S2E24: What changes did the upper class ladies of SC face as a result of the Civil War? with Annabelle Blevins Pifer
        • S2E25: Were Soviets more open to gender equality? ​With Jacqui Nelson
        • S2E26: Why Womanpower in the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948? with Tanya Roth
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        • S2E28: Why were women drawn into the Anti-Vietnam Movement with Dr. Jessica Frazier
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        • S2E34: Women and World Religions: How did Confucianism’s enduring impact affect women in China?
        • S2E35: What precedent is there for female Islamic leaders? with Dr. Shahla Haeri
        • S2E36: Were Islamic Queens successful? with Dr. Shahla Haeri
        • S2E37: Is there space for female Islamic leaders today? with Dr. Shahla Haeri​
        • S2E38: Were Protestant women just wives and mothers? with Caroline Taylor
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        • S2E40: Was Title IX just about sports? with Sara Fitzgerald
        • S2E41: Was Hildegard de Bingen gay? with Lauren Cole
        • S2E42: What crimes were women accused of in the 17th and 18th Century? with Dr. Shannon Duffy
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        • BONUS DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN'S HEALTH
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17. 1000-1600 Gender Dynamics in New Worlds

The power women held in several ancient societies often goes ignored when considering ancient global societies. In some cases, women played vital religious, ceremonial, and sometimes government roles. They were the backbone of the domestic sphere in many cases and upheld the empires they lived in through their work.
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Picturetraditional Polynesian mat, wikimedia commons
​Across great swaths of ocean from the Afro-Eurasia world entire civilizations were thriving in what today we know as Mesoamerica, Oceania, and South Africa. The civilizations were isolated from one another and the rest of the world, so cultural diffusion did not play a major role here. But interestingly, a lot of the similar cultural developments seen in the "Old World" are also found in Mesoamerica and Oceania. For those in the "Old World'' these territories were unknown, but technology was developing at a rate that would allow for exploration and sustained connection to far away places.

Oceania: People of Pacific Oceania created enduring cultures that didn't have large cities, states or empires. They settled in the islands of southeast Asia, Micronesia, and Melanesia as late as 50 thousand years ago. Polynesia, which goes further into the Pacific was likely unsettled until closer to 3,500 years ago. Societies in general were arranged around patriarchal chiefdoms ruled by councils, so chiefs didn’t have much of an elevated status, but some islands, like the Hawaiians, had powerful patriarchal rulers with thousands of warriors at their disposal. 

Melanesian women saw strict gender stratification, where Polynesian women, further out at sea had greater political influence. Women in Oceania were, like the rest of the world, considered dangerous and foul, especially during menstruation. The word “taboo” is derived from the Polynesian word for menstruation or, “tapu,” which means a holy prohibition– something not to be touched. Whether this was intended as a condemnation or an elevation, is lost to the history of colonization. Like most of the world, Oceania peoples idealized motherhood as nurturing, sheltering, cleansing, fertile, and chaste. They simultaneously displayed a sense of terror toward the dangerous, mystical, and carnal feminine qualities. One scholar observed, "Sensualism, eroticism, and a high level of sexual activity are actively cultivated throughout the area. Homosexuality is unstigmatized. Relations between men and women are relatively harmonious and mutually respectful.” 

Picturedepiction of the goddess Hina, Bridgeman Images
As everywhere, Polynesian women were heavily involved in productive labor including food production, and making mats and clothes. Agricultural labor was divided between the sexes. In some places, men cleared land and women planted. While in other places, crops were divided by gender: men maintaining cash crops like bananas and women tending staple crops for sustenance. Aboriginal women labored in the water all day, fishing and gathering underwater roots. On the islands of Hawaii, for example, women built offshore dams to trap fish by the shore and provide their community a consistent food supply. They labored daily in their canoes and on the beaches all while caring for babies. ​

​Religious life in Oceania was polytheistic. Gods and goddesses had intricate relationships that impacted human life. One common miss throughout Polynesian cultures, was about a woman named Hina. She established women's work. In the story, she falls for a handsome chief from faraway lands and swims to him across the ocean abandoning her family. In another version she is seduced by eel while bathing and the demi-God Maui intervenes by killing the eel. She buries her lover and a coconut tree grew up from it. The Maori in New Zealand had a similar story where the eel was chopped into so many pieces, it turned into the various species of eel. In her grief, Hina fled to the moon where she remained. A common Oceanic belief is that the moon is the true husband of all women. 

Polynesian peoples definitely made it to the west coast of South America and brought back sweet potatoes and other goods, but it would be later people from distant lands to create a sustained connection across these cultures.

PictureTeotihuacan city-state, wikimedia commons
Mesoamerican Cultures: The Americas have been settled for tens of thousands of years by human beings. After likely prehistoric crossings on a land bridge, city-states and empires thrived as far back as 2000 CE under the Maya, Olmecs, Chavin, and the Norte Chico– preceding the Aztecs and the Incas by a millennia.

Without many of the large domesticated animals found in the Old World, labor and production would function differently here. Like much of the ancient Old World, they practiced polytheistic religions featuring male and female gods and goddesses, and many who defied the binary. They had writing, a robust calendar, social structures, systems of exchange, and robust pyramids and city centers. And as we’ve learned elsewhere in this series, wherever these standards of “civilization” exist– so do expectations for women. 

While much is known about the Aztec and Incan gender dynamics, less is known about some of the major empires and city states that preceded them like the Maya, Teotihuacan, Chavin, Olmec, and Moche.

The Mayan people constructed city-states that were home to up to 50 thousand people built as far back as 2000 BCE in present day Guatemala and Yucatán region of Mexico. They thrived up until 900 CE making important discoveries in math and navigation, recording historic events in writing.

Teotihuacan was the largest city-state in Mesoamerica, in modern day Mexico. It was home to around 100 thousand people and boasted massive temples including the Pyramid of the Sun, possibly believed to be the site of creation itself. Very little is known about how the city was governed because they did not have dynastic art and writing like Maya did. This great city got its name from the Aztec empire that would follow it calling it "the city of the gods."

PictureLady Cao's Tomb, Public Domain
In the Andes mountains, several distinct cultures emerged: the Chavin, Tiwanaku, Wari, and Moche civilizations. The Chavin didn’t develop an empire, but rather left a ritualistic cult that used hallucinations. They left us some pretty epic paintings of jaguar-humans! The Tiwanaku and Wari lived near each other on the interior but didn’t mingle. They left impressive agricultural and irrigation systems as well as highways that the Inca would later build on. 

A little more is known about gender dynamics and in Moche civilization, which flourished between 100 and 800 CE. They had complex irrigation systems that grew maize, beans, squash, and cotton. They also used hallucinogens in their ritualistic practices. They had elaborate rituals where shaman-rulers would mediate between the world of humankind and that of the gods. They practiced human sacrifice, usually drawn from prisoners of war. There's an absence of written text, so a lot of what we know about the Moche people comes from grave sites for the elite, which boast jewels and goods to rival the Ancient Egyptian grave sites. Their ceramic pottery have portraits of lords and rulers and images from the lives of common people. These include a erotic or sexual encounters between men and women, as well as gods with humans. 

“Lady Cao” as she became known, was a remarkable woman whose gravesite was uncovered in 2005. She was clearly of the elite as her burial resembled that of sites of other male rulers. She was ornamented in tattoos, nose rings, and other jewels and had grave goods including jewels, weaving tools, and a vessel depicting a nursing mother. She died in her twenties in childbirth and was carefully wrapped in hundreds of yards of cotton strips. Scholars believe she was a ruler because she had the same “masculine” images of war, staffs that were symbols of authority, and many weapons to accompany her in the afterlife. It's hard to know if she was a ruler in her own right, or just a relative of a wealthy person. The case for her being a ruler in her own right has been made stronger by the discovery of eight or more other sites also featuring elite Moche women. Experts believe that society was relatively decentralized– typically great conditions for female leadership. ​

PictureDepiction of Mama Huaco, Wikimedia Commons
Inca: Women held power in Inca society as queen consorts and some wielding power in their own right. In fact, the Incan empire traces its roots to a woman—Mama Huaco, the first Quoya or Queen. She ruled the empire outright. Other Quoyas that followed held varying degrees of power as the primary wife of the king, under the title “Queen of all women.” Quoyas presided over the kingdom in their husband’s absence, and acted as tiebreaker when the leadership was stalemated. Outside the heart of the empire, women even became “Kurakas,” or tribal leaders. 

But noble women having power does not mean equality of the sexes. Quite the contrary.

The Incan Empire had a strict hierarchy for women. The queen was at the top followed by the king's secondary wives. Next were noblewomen. Following them were a group of religious women called the Quechua Aclla Cuna, or “Virgins of the Sun.” They were a strictly female religious order, like a nunnery, that worshiped the moon goddess. These temple convents drew thousands of young girls around 8-10 years old who were beautiful and talented. They prepared food for rituals, maintained the sacred fire, and wove. The convents were managed by matrons known as “Mama Cuna.” The Coya Pasca was a noblewoman who ruled over them all and was believed to be the earthly consort of the Sun God. The girls served for almost a decade before they were sent off to one of three paths: became victims of sacrifice, became concubines, or wives of noblemen. ​

PictureStatue of the Goddess Cihuateto, wikimedia commons
Outside these convents, women could inherit land and manage their finances. Concubinage and polygamy was common, but even secondary wives could manage their own finances and households. One secondary wife had 4,000 homes and over 300 servants to manage. But most women were commoners and labored as farmers, weavers, and housewives. Cloth was key to the economy, and thus women’s work was the backbone. Woven cloths recorded the historic chronicles of the empire– and thus women were the primary authors of Incan history. 

Aztecs: The Aztec empire was loosely connected and unstable… not a great place traditionally, for women to thrive. The empire had massive cities with temples almost 200 feet high. 

In the domestics sphere, Aztec women cooked, cleaned, spun, wove cloth, and participated in ritualistic activities. Outside the home, they served in palaces, as priestesses in temples, traders and craftswomen in markets, and teachers in schools.

Religion for the Aztec was incredibly bloody, involving the human sacrifice of conquered peoples. The Aztec believed that their patron deity required human blood to keep the world from catastrophe. While there was an emphasis on gender parallelism, men occupied the highest ranks of Aztec religious life. Interestingly, some rituals involved “rebirth” of priests who covered themselves in blood and emerged from a sort of vagina. Women played a secondary role in public religious ritual. 

Despite the patriarchal nature of the growing empire, almost half of the spiritual calendar was dedicated to goddesses– perhaps harkening to their more egalitarian past. The Aztecs had numerous goddesses identified with fertility, nourishment, and agriculture – reflections, perhaps because these symbols held a more elevated status in the past. Interestingly, in Aztec mythology, the Earth Mother’s son killed his sister the Moon Goddess. In his rampage for power the son scattered her children. Is this the story of the patriarchal takeover in Aztec culture?

Eventually, Aztec female deities such as Coyolxauhqui, Coatlicue, and mainly Cihuateteo were required to be tended by women only. Priestesses conducted all rituals, from collecting offerings to developing complex practices. Cihuateteo had an essential role as the goddess of women who died birthing, the equivalent of men dying on battlefields and known as “Women’s War.” Midwives had a crucial role in Mesoamerican societies. Fertility and birthing were highly appreciated and revered and demanded complex religious rituals conducted only by priestesses. 

PictureBantu Migrations, Wikimedia Commons
Women were routinely sacrificed in Aztec rituals. For example, every December, a woman was dressed as the Earth goddess and decapitated and her head presented to a priest. In June, a woman was dressed as the Goddess of Corn was sacrificed. In August, a woman chosen to represent the Mother of the Gods was decapitated and her skin was then ripped from her and worn by a priest in the following ceremony. 

Despite these horrors, women's roles were essential for the empire. Some were emperors' mothers who significantly influenced political and religious spheres. Others were central to consummate alliances. Fixed marriages were the norm for noble women who had no saying in their unions. 

Bantu Migrations: Across the ocean in Africa, gender dynamics could not have been more different. 5,500 years ago the Bantu migration moved West Africans (speaking Bantu languages) southward into Africa. Among these people, gender relations varied greatly, but generally there was some equity and shared burdens within relationships.

Africa was historically underpopulated, so birth and rearing healthy children was essential to society's success. The effect of the value placed on birth was that women who birthed and cared for children were given a great deal of respect. Families centered around grandmothers, who provided the council and support to help the family succeed. 

The Bantu were matrilineal, passing wealth through the mother’s line and society was run in a heterarchy with leaders with shorter reach and councils governing. Queens are all over the traces of African records we have. In  some cases they were so powerful they had the authority to condemn the King to death, sometimes even when the king managed the government. Africa’s earliest empires were run matrilineally. In the Congo and Cameroons, women managed the market places. In Nigeria, a women’s council advised the Queen. 

The existence of queens does not mean society was egalitarian. In some cases African queens kept male concubines and killed them after sexual relations. The last Queen of the Ashanti, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, who ruled on the Gold Coast of Africa in modern day Ghana, was known to wipe out her entire male harem every once and a while. 

Empire creation and diffusion of Islam and Christianity into Africa led to more hierarchies and less hierarchy– placing influence on male supremacy. Elite women kept their status, while poorer women lost their respect within their clans. 

Conclusion: Gender dynamics in these places were complex and varied. At the point of contact, as Europeans moved into the Americas, Oceania, South Africa, and other lesser known places to the “Old World” whatever gender dynamics existed there became disrupted. 
​
By the end of this era, so much remained in question. What parts of indigenous culture could survive contact? How would women navigate the sometimes harsher gendered expectations Europeans had?


Draw your own conclusions

Learn how to teach with inquiry.
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​Were women integral to the Protestant Reformation
In this inquiry students examine primary sources written by the women about the Protestant Reformation. 
Were women integral to the Protestant Reformation?
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File Type: pdf
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OTHER:
In this inquiry from Women in World History, students explore the life of Queen Amina in the 16th century and life in the African Songhay and Hausa Kingdoms. Check it out!

In another inquiry, students examine life in pre-contact Guatemala. Check it out here!
Lesson Plans from Other Organizations
  • This website, Women in World History has primary source based lesson plans on women's history in a whole range of topics. Some are free while others have a cost.
  • The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has produced recommendations for teaching women's history with primary sources and provided a collection of sources for world history. Check them out! 
  • The Stanford History Education Group has a number of lesson plans about women in World History.

Bibliography

Alwan, Christine, "Dependence on or the Subordination of Women? Examining the Political, Domestic, and Religious Roles of Women in Mesoamerican, Andean, and Spanish Societies in the 15th Century" (2013). Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies. 18.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/wgs_essay/18. 

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Chosen Women." Encyclopedia Britannica, February 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chosen-Women.

"Gender and Religion: Gender and Oceanic Religions ." Encyclopedia of Religion. . Encyclopedia.com. (June 22, 2022). https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gender-and-religion-gender-and-oceanic-religions. 

Groeneveld, Emma. "Women in the Viking Age." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified July 11, 2018. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1251/women-in-the-viking-age/.

Hunt, Sarah A., "Women of the Incan Empire: Before and After the Conquest of Peru" (2016). Student Research. 5.
https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/hist_studentresearch/5. 

Martins, Kim. "Polynesian Navigation & Settlement of the Pacific." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified August 07, 2020. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1586/polynesian-navigation--settlement-of-the-pacific/. 

Miles, Rosalind. The Women’s History of the World. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.

Saidi, Christine. "Women in Precolonial Africa." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. 27 Oct. 2020; Accessed 29 Jul. 2022. https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-259. 

​​Strayer, R. and Nelson, E., Ways Of The World. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

AUTHOR:

​Kelsie Brook Eckert and Jacqui Nelson

Consulting Team

Editors

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Kelsie Brook Eckert, Project Director
Coordinator of Social Studies Education at Plymouth State University

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, Consultant
Professor of History at Maryville College. 

Chloe Gardner, Consultant
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University

Dr. Whitney Howarth, Consultant
Former Professor of History at Plymouth State University

Jacqui Nelson, Consultant
Teaching Lecturer of Military History at Plymouth State University

​Maria Concepcion Marquez Sandoval
PhD Candidate in History at Arizona University
Amy Flanders
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy

Reviewers

Ancient:
Dr. Kristin Heineman
Professor of History at Colorado State University
Dr. Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon
Professor of History at Wilson College
Sarah Stone
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University
Medieval:
Dr. Katherine Koh
Professor of History at La Sierra University
Dr. Jonathan Couser
Professor of History at Plymouth State University
Dr. Shahla Haeri
Professor of History at Boston University 
Lauren Cole
PhD Candidate in History at Northwestern University
Modern:
Dr. Jack Gronau
Professor of History at Northeastern University
Remedial Herstory Editors. "17. 1000-1600 GENDER DYNAMICS IN NEW WORLDS​" The Remedial Herstory Project. November 1, 2022. www.remedialherstory.com.​
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        • S1E1 Our Story
        • S1E2 His Story Her Story
        • S1E3 Heroes and Sheroes
        • S1E4 Herstory's Complicated Suffrage
        • S1E5 His Sphere Her Sphere
        • S1E6 Fast Girls and 1936 Olympics
        • S1E7 Standards and Her Voice
        • S1E8 Rape and Civil Rights
        • S1E9 Textbooks and Crossdressing Spies
        • S1E10 It's not about feminism
      • Episodes 11-20 >
        • S1E11 Equal Pay and Ida Tarbell
        • S1E12 Equal Rights Amendment
        • S1E13 Culture Wars and the Frontier PART 1
        • S1E14 Culture Wars and the Frontier PART 2
        • S1E15 Women's Historians and Primary Sources
        • S1E16 Education and Nuns
        • S1E17 Blanks and Goddess Worship
        • S1E18 Thanksgiving and Other
        • S1E19 Feminist Pedagogy and the Triangle Fire
        • S1E20 Mrs. So and so, Peggy Eaton, and the Trail of Tears
      • Episodes 21-30 >
        • S1E21 First Ladies and Holiday Parties
        • S1E22 Sarah, Mary, and Virginity
        • S1E23 Hiding and Jackie O
        • S1E24 Well Behaved Women and Early Christianity
        • S1E25 Muslim Women and their History
        • S1E26 Written Out Alice Paul
        • S1E27 Blocked and Kamala Harris
        • S1E28 Clandestine Work and Virginia Hall
        • S1E29 Didn't Get There, Maggie Hassan and the Fabulous Five
        • S1E30 White Supremacy and the Black Panthers
      • Episodes 31-40 >
        • S1E31 Thematic Instruction and Indigenous Women
        • S1E32 Racism and Women in the Mexican American War
        • S1E33 Covid Crisis and Republican Motherhood
        • S1E34 Burned Records and Black Women's Clubs
        • S1E35 JSTOR and Reconstruction
        • S1E36 Somebody's Wife and Hawaiian Missionary Wives
        • S1E37 Taboo = Menstruation
        • S1E38 What's her name? Health, Religion and Mary Baker Eddy PART 1
        • S1E39 What's her name? Health, Religion and Mary Baker Eddy PART 1
        • S1E40 Controversial and Reproductive Justice PART 1
      • Episodes 41-50 >
        • S1E41 Controversial and Reproductive Justice PART 2
        • S1E42 Sexual Assault and the Founding of Rome
        • S1E43 Sexist Historians and Gudrid the Viking
        • S1E44 Byzantine Intersectionality
        • S1E45 Murder and Queens
        • S1E46 Hindu Goddesses and the Third Gender
        • S1E47 Women's Founding Documents
        • S1E48 Women and Bletchley Park
        • S1E49 Unknown Jewish Resistance Fighters
        • S1E50 End of Year ONE!
    • Season 2 >
      • Empresses, Monarchs, and Politicians >
        • S2E1 Let's Make HERSTORY!
        • S2E2 Empresses, Monarchs, and Politicians: How did women rise to power in the Ancient world? >
          • Women Explorers and Pioneers >
            • S2E29: Women Explorers and Pioneers: Who was the real Lady Lindy?
            • S2E30: What is the heroine's journey of women in the west? ​With Meredith Eliassen
            • S2E31: What is the lost history of the Statue of Freedom? with Katya Miller
            • S2E32: Why did women explore the White Mountains? With Dr. Marcia Schmidt Blaine
            • S2E33: How are native women telling their own stories? with Dr. Ferina King
        • S2E3 How did female sexuality lead to the rise and fall of Chinese empresses? with Dr. Cony Marquez
        • S2E4 How did medieval women rise and why were they erased? ​With Shelley Puhak
        • S2E5 Did English Queens Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn have agency? with Chloe Gardner
        • S2E6 Is Elizabeth a turning point in World History? with Deb Hunter
        • S2E7 How did Maria Theresa transform modern Europe? With Dr. Barbara Stollber-Rilinger
        • S2E8 Were Paul and Burns the turning point in women's suffrage? With Dr. Sidney Bland
        • S2E9 Were the First Ladies just wives? ​With the First Ladies Man
        • S2E10: How did ER use her position and influence to sway public opinion and influence politics? ​With Dr. Christy Regenhardt
        • S2E11: Why was women’s fight for low level offices needed? ​With Dr. Elizabeth Katz
        • S2E12 Should We Believe Anita Hill? With the Hashtag History Podcast
      • Women Social Reformers >
        • S2E13: Women in Social Reform: Should temperance have been intersectional?
        • S2E14: Why are material culture artifacts reshaping our understanding of women's history? With Dr. Amy Forss
        • S2E15: Did 19th institutionalizing and deinstitutionalizing healthcare make it safer? with Dr. Martha Libster
        • S2E16: Why are the interconnections between women and their social reform movements important? With Dr. DeAnna Beachley
        • S2E17: Did WWII really bring women into the workforce? ​With Dr. Dorothy Cobble
        • S2E18: How have unwell women been treated in healthcare? ​With Dr. Elinor Cleghorn
        • S2E19: How did MADD impact the culture of drunk driving?
      • Women and War >
        • S2E20: Women and War: How are Army Rangers still changing the game?
        • S2E21: Should we remember Augustus for his war on women? ​With Dr. Barry Strauss
        • S2E22: Were French women willing participants or collateral damage in imperialism? with Dr. Jack Gronau
        • S2E23: Was Joan of Arc a heretic? ​With Jacqui Nelson
        • S2E24: What changes did the upper class ladies of SC face as a result of the Civil War? with Annabelle Blevins Pifer
        • S2E25: Were Soviets more open to gender equality? ​With Jacqui Nelson
        • S2E26: Why Womanpower in the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948? with Tanya Roth
        • S2E27: What role did women play in the Vietnam War? with Dr. Barbara Tischler
        • S2E28: Why were women drawn into the Anti-Vietnam Movement with Dr. Jessica Frazier
      • Women in World Religions >
        • S2E34: Women and World Religions: How did Confucianism’s enduring impact affect women in China?
        • S2E35: What precedent is there for female Islamic leaders? with Dr. Shahla Haeri
        • S2E36: Were Islamic Queens successful? with Dr. Shahla Haeri
        • S2E37: Is there space for female Islamic leaders today? with Dr. Shahla Haeri​
        • S2E38: Were Protestant women just wives and mothers? with Caroline Taylor
      • Women in Queer History >
        • S2E39: Queer Women in History: How did one woman legalize gay marriage?
        • S2E40: Was Title IX just about sports? with Sara Fitzgerald
        • S2E41: Was Hildegard de Bingen gay? with Lauren Cole
        • S2E42: What crimes were women accused of in the 17th and 18th Century? with Dr. Shannon Duffy
        • S2E43: How should we define female friendships in the 19th century? with Dr. Alison Efford
        • S2E44: Were gay bars a religious experience for gay people before Stonewall? with Dr. Marie Cartier
      • Women and Business >
        • S2E45: Women and Business: Do We still have far to go? With Ally Orr
        • S2E46: How did 16th century English women manage businesses? with Dr. Katherine Koh
        • S2E47: How did free women of color carve out space as entrepreneurs in Louisiana? with Dr. Evelyn Wilson
        • S2E48: Who were the NH women in the suffrage movement? with Elizabeth DuBrulle
        • S2E49: What gave Elizabeth Arden her business prowess? with Shelby Robert
        • S2E50: End of Year Two
        • BONUS DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN'S HEALTH
    • S3E1: Mahsa "Jani" Amini and the Women of Iran
  • Shop
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    • Learning Overview
    • World History >
      • 1. to 15,000 BCE Pre-History
      • 2. to 15,000 BCE Goddesses
      • 3. 10,000 BCE Agricultural Revolution
      • 4. 4,000-1,000 BCE City States
      • 5. 800-400 BCE Rome's Founding Myths
      • 6. 800-300 BCE Asian Philosophies
      • 7. 100 BCE - 100 CE Roman Empire
      • 8. 100 BCE - 100 CE Han Empire
      • 9. 0 CE Monotheism
      • 10. 100-500 Silk Roads
      • 11. 300-900 Age of Queens
      • 12. 700-1200 Islam
      • 13. 1000-1500 Feudalism
      • 14. 900-1200 Crusades
      • 15. 1200-1400 Mongols
      • 16. 1300-1500 Renaissance and Ottomans
      • 17. 1000-1600 New Worlds
      • 18. 1000-1600 Explorers
      • 19. 1450-1600 Reformation
      • 20. 1500-1600 Encounters
      • 21. 1500-1600 Slave Trade
      • 22. 1700-1850 Enlightenment
      • 23. 1600-1850 Asia
      • 24. 1850-1950 Industrial Revolution
      • 25. 1850-1950 Imperialism
      • 26. 1900-1950 World Wars
      • 27. 1950-1990 Decolonization
    • US History >
      • 1. Early North American Women
      • 2. Women's Cultural Encounters
      • 3. Women's Colonial Life
      • 4. American Revolution
      • 5. Republican Motherhood
      • 6. Women and the Trail of Tears
      • 7. Women in the Abolition Movement
      • 8. Women and the West
      • 9. Women in the Civil War
      • 10. Women and Reconstruction
      • 11. The Rise of NAWSA and NACWC
      • 12. Women and Expansion
      • 13. Women and Industrialization
      • 14. Progressive Women
      • 15. Women and World War I
      • 16. Final Push for Woman Suffrage
      • 17. The New Woman
      • 18. Women and the Great Depression
      • 19. Women and World War II
      • 20. Post-War Women
      • 21. Women and the Civil Rights Movement
      • 22. Women and the Cold War
      • 23. Reproductive Justice
      • 24. The Feminist Era
      • 25. Modern Women
  • Resources
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    • Movies >
      • World History Films
      • US History Films