The Women's Rights Movement In The Film Iron Jawed Angels

In the United States there have been three waves of women’s rights movements. The first movement was called the women’s right movement. This movement was mainly focused on white women and their right to vote as well as hold office. (Wood, p.62) The second movement was the women’s liberation movement, also known as radical feminism. This movement mainly impacted college students because college campuses were a great place for radical feminism to emerge. The radical feminists protested the Vietnam War and fought for civil rights. The women in this movement risked their lives and physical abuse just like the males did. (Wood, p.64) The third wave of feminism in the United States was known as third- wave feminism. In this movement woman with different ethnicities, abilities, disabilities, classes, appearances, sexual orientation and gender identities came together to fight for their rights as women. (Wood, p.74)

The HBO film, Iron Jawed Angels is about the women’s suffrage movement, and it clearly depicted the first movement known as the women’s right movement.

The film focused on young women who were fighting for the right of future generations of womens to vote and run for political office. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were the two main women who started the Congressional Union; they put their lives in danger, sacrificing their health to help American women have the right to vote and take office. These two women held peaceful, nonviolent protests in order to revolutionize the women’s suffrage movement. Some of the women involved in the non-violent protests against Woodrow Wilson ended up being imprisoned. They were force-fed and treated poorly. In the end, most of the women were able to see the results of the hard work that they put into the women’s suffrage

movement.
Women’s suffrage is the right for women to vote and to stand for political office. (The Women’s Rights Movement) If it were not for these women our world today would have been extremely different. In todays society women do not realize all of the struggles that our ancestors had to go through in order for us to be respected, run for office and have the right to vote. These women were able to stand up for what they believed and the movie Iron Jawed Angeles by HBO was able to show all of their handwork in an empowering way. While watching the movie I had many mixed emotions. I could not believe that men were so against this. In the Constitution it says that all are equal, but they were ok with women not being able to vote or run for office. These men, who live by the Constitution, took down the women who were walking in the parade. All they were doing was holding the signs that they believe strongly about. I could not believe that the police officers were not stopping them. This made me angry and I wanted to do something about it while I was watching Iron Jawed Angles. I was extremely frustrated, but proud to be a woman. These women were imprisoned for protesting and were not treated fairly or with respect for politically protesting. I honestly do not know if I would have been able to stand for what I believed like these women did. They did not care what would happen or what people would think.
The impact that these women made on history is unforgettable. If it were not for these women I probably would not be here today taking this class at the University of Rhode Island. I would not able to get a degree of my choosing and I would not be able to vote or run for political office if I want to in the future. All it took were women striving for equality and doing whatever they needed to do to accomplish their mission. These women were smart, tactical and driven, they exemplify what being a woman is all about.