Middlemarch Lesson Plan

Who Was She?

Kind of Activity:

Long-term Project

Objective:

Students will research a woman who posed as a man and better understand gender inequality throughout history

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7

Structure:

Mary Anne Evans feared she wouldn’t be taken seriously as a writer if she published under her own name. She invented a male pseudonym instead. She is far from the only woman who has had to pretend to be a man to be taken seriously. Other famous female novelists, from the Bronte sisters to JK Rowling, have also used male or gender ambiguous pen names. Women have disguised themselves as men for many other reasons...