IRON JAWED ANGELS

I recently re-watched the film Iron Jawed Angels, which tells the story of a young group of women whose determination results in the right for women to vote. They refuse to take no for an answer and their strength is very inspirational. The film focuses on and centers around Alice Paul who even after being imprisoned and tortured still stands her ground, and it becomes clear that the only thing that will stop her from fighting for women's rights is death. (That sounds like someone I know :) )

One of the lines that stood out to me the most was when Alice encountered another woman who happened to be a senator's wife. Her husband was on the opposing side of wanting to give women the right to vote, all the while she was secretly donating money to Alice's cause. When Alice discovers who she is, she looks at her and she says:

"Women like you are worse than the anti-suffragists, because you perpetuate the lie every single morning at breakfast."

This line is so powerful, because how many of us as women do this same thing every single day in our relationships with men. We play this part that we don't want, and we aren't happy with, but we're too scared to state otherwise. I guess the impact of this line must've gotten to her, because the next thing you know this woman is imprisoned and standing her ground along with all the other suffragists. And as she states later on to her husband: "They are the only reason I am doing this" in reference to her two young daughters. I think it takes a remarkable amount of strength to stand your ground like she did while married to a man who clearly doesn't support you and your rights.

However, what's sad about this situation is that while they are triumphant in their fight, I Imagine that every single one of those women believed that with it, would come their right to actually serve in Congress and to represent ourselves. Unfortunately, it's been used against us, so while we can now vote, we can only do so in the context of supporting men, and once again being in a submissive position to them. In which we are forced to hand over our power to one of them so that they can make decisions on behalf of us, or we are forced to not participate in voting at all. If we don't vote and therefore don't hand over our power to them, we also end up sacrificing our right to have our voices heard and to not be counted as being important. Either way it's a Catch-22.

The male population has gone to extreme lengths since we got our right to vote to ensure that we won't being able to use it to actually become leaders ourselves, and to be fairly represented in Congress. I even read this morning about how they are redistricting certain areas so that the women politicians who currently represent them will be forced out.

Overall, I think this is what I concluded from the suffragists.

***You can't walk around like you have all this power and purpose when in fact you have neither, and not expect to piss off a lot of people who do in fact have a lot of power and purpose.***

http://www.care2.com/causes/women-politicians-take-the-hit-in-redistricting.html