The Changing Roles of Women in Society

By Lowell Weir – BA (HONS) & PGCE

This PowerPoint is accompanied by a short moviemaker film called My Movie.

The movie shows the images of Southend Carnival Queens from 1928 until 2011

UK Centre for Carnival Arts

The Aim of My Movie

The aim of this resources is to create a debate/discussion about the changing roles of women in society

This resource can be used as an opening to a module in sociology or history at college or in Higher Education

• Sociology• Citizenship• History

Curriculum Areas

Although women did not have more rights enshrined in law back in the 1920s, were they treated better in society?

Questions to consider when presenting this material

1928 image of Southend’s Carnival Queen Kathleen

Questions continued

Was the role of the carnival queen liberating for women?

1930 Carnival Queen Gladys Thompson

If you click on the link below you’ll hear the views of a former Carnival Queens about how women were treated in the past by men

How were women treated in the past?

Questions continuedWas the carnival queen’s role an earlier form of pageantry, which is often seen as ultimately degrading to women and perceives them as objects?

For an interesting look at the origins of pageantry in America in the 1920s, you may find the link below use full.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_America

Compare and contrast

Compare and contrast the life of Queen Kathleen in the 1920s with the life of Queen Clibbens and her court in 2011. Discuss the two periods with your classmates and consider the musical influences of the time; how young people were generally viewed by society; and finally, examine relationships between men and women in each period.

Carnival and Class

Where the carnival queens below working class women or middle class women? What evidence do you have based on the photographs for supporting your belief that the women were working class or middle class?

Consider the period of time that these women live or lived in

What similarities are there between Queen Clibbens in 2011 and Queen kitty Jacobs in 1935?

What benefits did carnival in Southend bring to society in 1934 during the Great Depression?

How does carnival benefit the society in Southend today?

Does women’s fight for equal rights have a negative impact on how they are treated by men?

When Queen Kathleen photograph was taken in 1928, was she married?

Additional questions to consider