Linked to the celebration of 125 years of Women's Suffrage, Year 8 Social Studies classes have been investigating women's voices.

The two year 8 social studies classes have worked on a fantastic unit entitled 'Are We There Yet?' for the past eight weeks this term. 

Celebrating 125 years of Women's Suffrage, the replica resources from the Auckland Museum exhibition were an endless source of inspiration and robust discussion for the girls, who engaged in our overarching ideas from the onset; voices from the women's movement- past, present and future and 'making the invisible, visible'. 

The students thoroughly enjoyed researching our collective history of suffragette pride and passion by researching a woman of their choice who stood up for her rights and was a change maker. 

They visited the Toitu Museum 'Suffrage and Beyond 1893-2018' exhibition and tried on pioneer clothing and marvelled at objects that informed a women's life during this period of our history. 

The girls wrote really thoughtful, passionate monologues taking on the persona of a woman linked to one of the replica pieces or visual aids, they explored gender and stereotyping through the 'draw a job' activity, which really got them thinking and was very reflective of their hopeful generation with 100% of the characters drawn being female!! (A very telling and a very positive sign for the future!)

The girls also designed a cartoon storyboard of a chosen NZ woman who was prominent in their field and explored her story and background, focusing on the specific character traits and social conditioning that might have made them who they were and the successes that they enjoyed. 

As we progressed over the weeks through the unit, (using Kate Shepherd as their muse), the girls wrote a poem reflecting their increasing understanding of our past, present and future lives as females in Aotearoa New Zealand. These were particularly impressive to read. Their collective sense of pride and growing awareness was palpable as the girls shared their writing with each other in class and then eagerly sent them off with a personal letter each to their current heroine, Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, recounting the work they had done throughout this unit. The girls are looking forward to seeing if Ms Ardern replies to them! 

Finally, the girls made contact with a woman in their community who inspired them, or who they believed might have an interesting story to tell of life's challenges, their thoughts on identity as females, career and motherhood successes and otherwise and pressed them for their thoughts on the question, 'Are We There Yet?' The girls made individual mini-exhibitions to add to our wall in the classroom. It has been rewarding and a real joy to see the students personal growth and awareness of their identity as females throughout this unit, as they explored social and geographic, political and personal aspects of women's lives in NZ, past, present and future.