Votes for Women

This debate-style worksheet supports students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 as they practice historical empathy, persuasive argument writing, civic reasoning, and perspective-taking through the lens of the Progressive Era women’s suffrage movement. By choosing to support or oppose women’s suffrage from a historical viewpoint, learners build arguments, address counterclaims, and craft a closing statement that reflects the logic, values, and challenges of the time period.

Skills Reinforced

• Women’s Suffrage Movement (Grades 6-8) – Understand key ideas and arguments surrounding the fight for voting rights
• Argument Writing – Develop a clear claim supported by reasons and historical evidence
• Counterclaim Analysis – Identify and respond to opposing viewpoints respectfully and logically
• Civic Understanding – Explore voting rights, democratic participation, and reform advocacy

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with middle school history, civics, and ELA standards
• Debate-Style Structure – Encourages active engagement and deeper thinking about historical issues
• Guided Argument Framework – Supports students in organizing ideas and writing persuasively
• Flexible Use – Ideal for class debates, writing assignments, discussion prep, or homeschool lessons
• Promotes Higher-Order Thinking – Moves beyond recall to reasoning, evaluation, and empathy

This Votes for Women worksheet helps students understand the women’s suffrage movement by stepping into the mindset of Progressive Era Americans. Through argument development, counterargument consideration, and persuasive writing, learners strengthen civic awareness, historical reasoning, and communication skills. It’s a meaningful, no-prep resource for classrooms and homeschool settings focused on understanding voting rights and democratic change.

This worksheet is part of our Progressive Era and Reform Movements Worksheets collection.