Docudrama Iron Jawed Angels Analysis

Women have been active since the beginning of the early 1800’s and struggle until today’s day, to fight for equality. There were two women movement waves. The first wave was focused on the equality of the women by working on voting rights. The second wave from 1963 to 1982 concentrated on social issues. As in “Collective Action for Social Change”, Aaron Schutz and Marie Sandy stated in their book “women were tired of being second class citizens”. The civil rights movement spillover inspired women to create social movements by acting and building organizations focused on the issues that affected the women. The social issues were child care, domestic violence, contraception, and women’s health. One of the major topics that the feminists focused on was domestic violence that still exists in today’s day worldwide.

The film Iron Jawed Angels tells the viewer about the women?s suffrage movement in the 1920s. It also tells the viewer that the United States, mostly men, was strongly opposed to women?s suffrage. The disturbing violence geared towards the women suffragists also shows the discontent of American men towards the movement. Unfortunately the women suffragists were thrown in prison for blocking traffic (an excuse because they were protesting outside of the White House) and were forced to work. The hatred and animosity which suffragists faced during the 1920s is also an accurate depiction of United States life during this time period. Some questions which were left unanswered by the film Iron Jawed Angels are who started the women?s suffrage movement and where the movement started.

It was Theodore Roosevelt, who stated that, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”, conveying the idea that with no voice comes no change. In the morning of August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which centralized mainly on the enfranchisement of women. Today, they have the legal right to vote, and the ability to speak openly for themselves, but most of all they are now free and equal citizens. However this victorious triumph in American history would not have been achieved without the strong voices of determined women, risking their lives to show the world how much they truly cared. Women suffragists in the 19th century had a strong passion to change their lifestyle, their jobs around the

She’s beautiful when She’s Angry tells the story of the women's movement from 1966-1973. This documentary tells a story through the use of footage, photographs and interviews from the women who helped shape second wave feminism. There were a few key players during that time, such as Kate Millett, Susan Brownmiller, Frances Beal, and Betty Friedan. Throughout She’s Beautiful when She’s Angry these women discuss issues that were problematic during this time period, most of which still are today. A few examples are child care, rape, birth control, and the right to not get married and start a family. This historical overview of this time period reminds us that feminists continue to fight for many of the same rights, fifty years later.

At first, the suffragist seemed very peaceful, and weak. But because the women suffragists were not getting the result they wanted, they began to become very disruptive to the people around them, especially focusing on the president. The women wanted to picket in front of the White House, in order to intimidate the president and get their point across. They wanted to seem powerful and strong, not peaceful and weak. The more they picketed, the more disruptive the women would be to President Wilson and the public. Soon, the picketers became extremely disruptive and were charged with “obstructing traffic” ("President Woodrow Wilson Picketed by Women Suffragists."). They were forced into jail when they refused to pay the fines. But even after they were jailed, they continued their fight from inside the jail. Picketing made the biggest change in Wilson’s opinion towards women’s suffrage, because it was specifically directed specifically at him.

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

To this day the women’s suffrage movement ignites women in the present to keep those right burning. Alice Paul and her fellow women suffrages demonstrated through speeches, lobbying and petitioning Congressional Committees, with parades, picketing and demonstrations, and with arrest that lead to imprisonment. These women express courage that women still uphold for years after their legacy has passed on, such as the article “Women’s Strike for Equality,” by Linda Napikoski, in the demonstration that was held on August 26, 1970 on the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage. As well as an article “Women to Protest For Equality Today,” by United Press that talks about on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the women’s suffrage and “declared war on firms that Damage the Image,” of the fair sex. Alice Paul, set the stage for inspiring women to fight for their rights everywhere across the world.

Kerber, Linda K., Jane Sherron De Hart, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu. Women's America: Refocusing the Past: Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, “The Women’s Liberation Movement”. 8th ed. NY, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016.

This new generation of activists fought with this new agenda for almost 20 years until a few states in the West began to extend the vote to women. The Eastern and Southern states still refused to give in, but this didn’t stop the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the NAWSA, worked vigorously to get women’s organizations from all over the country together and fight side by side. “One group of activists, led by Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party, lobbied for full quality for women under the law” (Divine). She used mass marches and hunger strikes as strategies, but she was eventually forced to resign because of her insistence on the use of militant direct-action tactics (Grolier). Finally, during World War 1, women were given more opportunities to work, and were able to show that they were just as deserving as men when it came to the right to vote. On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, allowing women to vote. This drawn-out and arduous battle opened a new window of opportunity for women all over the country. Significant changes in both social life and job availability began to create what is now referred to as the “new women.”

Women's actual presence in city streets definitively questioned outdated ideas of femininity and consequent limitations on women's behavior. The significant parades, organized between 1910 and 1913, revealed women's shared deployment while visually representing woman suffragists’, which challenged their suggested social roles (Borada, 2002). The performance of suffrage parades became an act of public celebration, an illustration of social protest, and an exhibition of women's ability to partake in political societies. Subsequently, in women's lengthy battle for the right to vote, new political strategies and, more accurately, an approach of strategic opposition were created within the movements (Borada, 2002).

One could definitely state that Alice Paul supported a liberal feminism ideology. Wood states “liberal feminism holds that women and men are alike and equal in most respects”. (Wood & Dixmer-Oraiz, 58). Her cause was to fight for the right for women to vote. Her vision was to achieve justice for women in the United States in the fact that women and men should be seen as equal partners. The title of the movie comes from Senator Walsh labelling the women who supported the women’s suffrage movement as iron-jawed angels because of their persistence and vocal manner. The members of the women’s suffrage group were very persistent. As I

They demanded a constitutional amendment that gives women the right to vote and they organized a meeting in a day that President of USA came and many party members arrested. However, they continued without giving up. The ruling party showed a harsh attitude towards women and public began to sympathize the movement. End of the film, the decision passed by Senate. Although many difficulties they achieved and they get the right to vote in

Iron Jawed Angels is, from every angle, a story of empowering women. Yet many critics argue that the themes of third-wave feminism more than first-wave feminism detract from the historical value of the film. It’s true, in the 1910s the only kind of feminism was first-wave, which looked to provide women with legal rights equal to those of men. Third-wave feminism, in contrast, began in the early 1990s, and looks to empower both men and women through inspiration and public opinion. But this movie has so many third-wave feminist themes to appeal to a modern feminist audience.

The movie portrayed how it takes love, commitment, perseverance, dedication and lots of time to fulfill a goal or dream. Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and other suffragettes worked hard and dedicated their lives just so that women today could vote. These women risked their lives, marriages, and children, and Inez Milholland even died just so women could have a say in their government. If it weren't for them, where would we be

The film begins with Alice Paul, played by Hilary Swank, and Lucy Burns, played by Frances O'Conner, arriving from England where they had formerly been involved in the women's suffrage movement. They arrive in the United States with the goal of using what they learned in England and applying similar strategic techniques to their campaigns. Initially, the duo are active members of NAWSA, led by Carrie Chapman Catt played by Angelica Huston, however, as their approach and tactics become more aggressive, and they become independently successful as a branch of the organization, Catt voices her displeasure with Paul and Burns' approach, which leads them to separate from the organization in order to establish their own, politically aggressive party, the National Women's Party, whose sole agenda is to focus on making women's suffrage an issue within politics and society and getting an amendment passed that guarantees people the right to vote regardless of sex (Iron