Breaking Down Barriers For Women In The Film 'Iron Jawed Angels'

Generations of women fought courageously for equality for decades. The ratification of the Nineteenth amendment was vindication for so many women across the country. After having spent so many years oppressed and unable to make way for themselves, women everywhere were growing tired of being unable to own property, keep their wages and the independence that an academic education gave them. The decades that ensued brought with them various female activists, men that supported them and a division of its own within the movement. The women’s suffrage movement lasted 71 years and cam with great discourse to the lives of many women who fought for the cause.

Iron Jawed Angels is a film which portrays the women's suffrage movement during the 1920's. The film is a documentary and a drama which uses live action and music to deliver the sympathetic and distressful mood the film creates. An example of the distressful mood is when the suffragists refuse to eat when they go to prison. This shows how passionate and distressed the suffragists are to get the 19th amendment passed, which would give women the right to vote. The films message, which is the hardships and adversity women had to withstand to get the 19th amendment passed, is effectively portrayed because the struggle the suffragists faced is accurately and beautifully depicted. As a tool of communication, the strengths

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

In addition to lobbying and petitioning, women’s suffragists also used parades during the movement as another popular tactic in the hope of gaining the attention of Congress. Multiple women’s suffrage parades were held from 1908 into further years. These parades included marches and protesting, demanding their right to vote. The first ever suffrage parade was held in February of 1908, by a small new militant group called the American Suffragettes. 23 women protested up Broadway street to a hall on East 23rd Street in New York City. Many other small parades occurred after this, including the first real parade in New York City with automobiles and over 400 women on May 21st, 1910. The most elaborate parade,

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

Alice Paul was one of the most necessary factors in the equation for Women's Suffrage. Her bold tactics revitalized the suffragists movement and allowed for her to achieve her long term goals. She is the most important person of this time period because she never compromises her beliefs in the face of adversity. From a young age she was taught that she deserved unconditional equal rights. This is a radical notion that will drive her work throughout the rest of her life. She underwent arrests, forced feedings and protest after protest all in the name of equality. This message still resonates with people today as this generation fights for their rights.

The film Iron Jawed Angels is mostly accurate. The film goes in chronological order of what happened in history. The filmmakers did a great job of portraying the historic events. From the parade, to the White House Picketing, to the women's imprisonment, the historical timeline of the movie was pretty accurate with some small deviations here and there.  The costumes were pretty close to being accurate. Alice Paul's and Lucy Burn's outfits were pretty identical to what the women suffragists wore back in the day.  Long, draping skirts, coats, and big flamboyant hats.  For example, Inez Milholland is portrayed on the white horse, looking powerful and majestic while opening the suffrage parade. The costuming is very similar to the pictures we have of her.  The other women's outfits in the parade was extremely accurate as well.  They asked women with a college degree to wear their gowns, and in the movie, you see women like Alice Paul wear a graduation gown. The White House Picketing and the Imprisonment were also scenes in the movie that were depicted quite well.  In history, the women picketed for close to a year, and the movie does a good job of letting the audience know the changing of seasons.  The movie does a fine job of depicting the women picketing in silence.  Although the scene when Alice Paul is outraged while in front of the White House is fictional, for the most part, the movie depicts the women as silent and peaceful which is extremely accurate to history.  Alice

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.

Making this movement public was essential in ratification of the Constitution. Paul organized women on all levels. She knew that selling the movement to the American people would further the cause. Her first attempt was to campaign against all Democratic candidates. That did not do much to the political party. She had to reformulate a plan. She organized a group of women to picket the White House daily, except for Sundays, with banners of the President’s own speeches written on them. Papers often carried the stories of the suffragettes’ struggles. When World War I was declared, that changed.

Iron Jawed Angels, an inspirational story that withholds perhaps one of the most important movements in time. Until I viewed this movie I did not fully comprehend the depths of the struggles of the woman’s suffrage movement. This movie contains a powerful message about what women can do using their rights and skills in organizational leadership. Determination which one woman carried, and many supported allowed a national change to take place. Before watching this movie I had heard of Susan B. Anthony, but never of Alice Paul or the other suffragists. I also never realized how hard it was for a woman to get ready; we take our pre-bought makeup for much granted. The parade that takes place is an extremely important event. It shows the many different types of women and how far they’ve come. It also shows how many people were interested in the topic that no one showed up to the see Woodrow Wilson, because everyone was at the parade. Not alone his lack of knowledge of the subject, since he himself did not attend. It shows the intense anger that people felt against this issue, and how the government failed to offer protection during the parade; that men were

Iron Jawed Angels is the story of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and their part in the fight to get women the right to vote. They originally began their fight as part of the NAWSA (the National American Women Suffrage Association) which was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Paul and Burns meet with Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw in 1912 after returning from London together. During their meeting, Burns and Paul try to take Catt and Shaw into pushing President Wilson for a constitutional amendment for women to have the right to vote, Catt and Shaw refuse.

Women’s Rights was and still is a major issue throughout the entire world, but more specifically, in the United States of America. Women have been treated unjustly for awhile. From being beaten by their husbands, to not being able to own property if they were married, women have been through it all. Many of these situations started to change because of a group of women that decided to stand up for what they believe in. A few activists that helped improve the rights of women are Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott.

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).

Iron Jawed Angels was humbling because as a woman, I was not cognizant of nor did I understand the public shaming and abuse women such as Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Molly

Childfree women are also being offered more career promotions than women with children. The pay gap might also increase with age because women hit the infamous “glass ceiling” at the top of their professions. The “glass ceiling” is the highest level they can obtain in their careers’. In supporting my statement, many women hit the “maternal wall” of discrimination before they ever reach the “glass ceiling.” Sarah Glazer provides a perfect example, “A civil engineer in Pennsylvania was awarded $3 million in a lawsuit because she was passed over a promotion after the birth of her son. She testified that the president of the company asked her if she wanted a career here of if she wanted to have babies” (Glazer 36). The president of this particular company obviously came to the assumption that her level of production in her chosen profession would decrease due to raising her child.