The Working Woman: Peasantry and Trade

Active learning turns the abstract details of medieval life into lived experience for Year 7 students. Acting roles, handling images, and manipulating data let learners test assumptions against evidence, building durable understanding of how women’s work shaped 14th-century society.

• Year 7
• History
• 4 activities
• 30 min–45 min

Learning Objectives

1. Compare the daily tasks and responsibilities of peasant women and men on a medieval manor.
2. Analyze the economic contributions and opportunities of women in medieval urban trades like brewing and silk production.
3. Explain how the Black Death altered the social and economic standing of women in 14th-century England.
4. Classify the types of evidence used to study the lives of working women in the medieval period.

Stations Rotation

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Role-Play: Manor Workday

Pairs receive role cards for a peasant woman and man. They act out a full day of tasks using simple props like aprons and tools, timing each activity. After 15 minutes, pairs switch roles and compare notes on workloads in a short discussion.

Prepare & details

Compare the workload and responsibilities of women and men on a medieval farm.

Facilitation Tip: For the Role-Play, assign each student a manor role card with clear daily tasks so every learner has a concrete contribution to the workday narrative.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Stations Rotation

⏱ 45 min·Small Groups

Market Simulation: Town Trades

Small groups represent brewsters or silkwomen, setting up stalls with 'goods' like drawn ale labels or silk samples. They negotiate trades with other groups, first pre-Black Death with low prices, then post-plague with higher wages. Groups chart earnings changes.

Prepare & details

Analyze the economic opportunities available to women in medieval towns and trades.

Facilitation Tip: During the Market Simulation, price goods in copper pennies on stall signs so students calculate comparative values and feel the scarcity of labor after the plague.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Stations Rotation

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Source Carousel: Evidence Hunt

Set up four stations with manor records, guild lists, and artwork showing women's work. Groups rotate every 8 minutes, extracting evidence on tasks and Black Death impacts. Each group presents one key finding to the class.

Prepare & details

Explain how the Black Death impacted economic opportunities and social status for women.

Facilitation Tip: In the Source Carousel, number each image and provide a simple proforma table so groups record evidence efficiently without losing focus.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Stations Rotation

⏱ 35 min·Whole Class

Timeline Debate: Role Changes

Whole class builds a shared timeline of women's opportunities pre- and post-1348. Pairs prepare arguments for or against 'improved status,' then debate in a structured format with evidence cards.

Prepare & details

Compare the workload and responsibilities of women and men on a medieval farm.

Facilitation Tip: For the Timeline Debate, give each student two event cards so they must decide and justify sequence in pairs before the whole-class vote.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Teaching This Topic

Teachers find success by anchoring medieval economics in students’ bodies and budgets. Start with concrete tasks students can physically act out or price, then layer interpretation. Avoid over-romanticizing; keep trade-offs visible so students notice both new opportunities and persistent limits for women. Research shows that when learners manipulate wages and guild rules themselves, they internalize cause-and-effect faster than from reading alone.

What to Expect

Students will confidently distinguish between farm and town work, quantify how labor shortages changed wages, and articulate where gender barriers persisted. They will support claims with specific source details and vocabulary from the lesson.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Role-Play: Manor Workday, watch for students who assume all roles are inside the home. Redirect attention to the role cards showing fieldwork and livestock duties to reframe assumptions with concrete evidence.

What to Teach Instead

During Role-Play: Manor Workday, give groups source images of plowing and sheep tending to sort into ‘indoor’ and ‘outdoor’ piles, then justify placements using the role cards as evidence.

Common Misconception

During Market Simulation: Town Trades, watch for students who state the Black Death reduced opportunities. Redirect the group to compare wage sheets before and after the plague to model the actual wage increase.

What to Teach Instead

During Market Simulation: Town Trades, have students annotate wage charts with arrows and labels showing how labor shortages raised brewsters’ pay from 2d to 4d per barrel, making changes visible.

Common Misconception

During Timeline Debate: Role Changes, watch for students who assume guilds welcomed all women equally. Redirect to the guild ordinance excerpts on the table to expose restrictions.

What to Teach Instead

During Timeline Debate: Role Changes, provide magnifying glasses and a highlighter to underline clauses in guild rules that exclude women, then link these to market stall role-play slips that show denied licenses.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

After Role-Play: Manor Workday, distribute two short scenarios (farm vs. town trade) and ask students to circle the likely setting and explain with one key term from the role-play.

Discussion Prompt

During Timeline Debate: Role Changes, pose the question ‘How did the Black Death change life for women?’ and circulate to listen for students citing specific economic data from the wage charts or guild rules discussed earlier.

Quick Check

After Source Carousel: Evidence Hunt, display job images and ask students to write whether each was done by men, women, or both, and to cite one image caption as evidence for at least two jobs.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge: Ask early finishers to research a modern trade where women dominate today and write a one-paragraph comparison to medieval brewsters or silkwomen.
• Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters on strips (e.g., ‘Women earned more after the plague because…’) for students to arrange into a paragraph during the Market Simulation.
• Deeper exploration: Invite students to design a poster comparing a medieval woman’s three most lucrative tasks versus a modern minimum-wage job with equivalent purchasing power in pennies.

Key Vocabulary

Brewster	A woman who brewed and sold ale. This was a common trade for women in medieval towns, often operating from their own homes.
Silkwoman	A woman involved in the silk trade, which could include spinning silk thread, weaving silk cloth, or selling silk goods. This was a more specialized and sometimes higher-status trade.
Manor	The principal house of a landed estate, along with the land and villages controlled by the owner. Peasant women worked on the land and performed domestic duties within the manor system.
Guild	An association of artisans or merchants, often in a particular trade. Guilds regulated trade, quality, and training, and sometimes admitted women, especially after the Black Death.
Dairying	The process of making milk and milk products like butter and cheese. This was a significant task often undertaken by women on medieval farms.