Iron Jawed Angels Film Analysis

It is hard to believe that a world where women had no rights had ever existed; a world where most women could not vote; where they are expected to be mothers, and take care of their husbands; a world where they had no say in what they could do. However, this was the reality of the women who lived in the early 20th century and earlier. Women back then were considered as objects; they were the property of their husbands. Thankfully, this is not the reality now, due to the Women’s Suffrage and Alice Paul.Their work was depicted in many books, articles, and even films. A film in particular called Iron Jawed Angels depicted Alice Paul and the Women Suffrage for the modern day audience, and provide entertainment along with information about it. Like …show more content…
Fast forwarding to the day of the parade, as the women marched in the parade, one of the most striking figure was the woman on the horse wearing an angel like outfit. Eventually people, significantly men, started breaking the security line, and attacked the marching women the police seemed to be doing nothing as the fight broke out, in fact it seems like they purposely allowed these people to break the security line (Iron Jawed Angel). This demonstrates to the watcher that during the parade some of the most significant people was the woman in an angel outfit, the women marching in the parade, the attackers, and the police. While the key point was assault on the women marching conducted by the crowd, whereas the police stood by and did nothing. This particular scene was also mentioned in an article written by Sheriden Harvey who wrote essays for the government, he states, “ Clad in a white cape astride a white horse Inez… led the great woman suffrage parade… However, the crowds, mostly men in town… surged the street… Women were jeered, tripped, grabbed, shoved… Instead of protecting the parade, the police ‘seemed to enjoy all the ribald jokes and part participated in them.” This shows an uncanny similarity between the film and what actually happened. From what happened at the parade, to the woman on the horse, the film …show more content…
The film mainly focused on Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party making it seem like they were the ones who were the most influential, and the ones who got congress to ratify the 19th amendment (Iron Jawed Angels). However, that is not the case at all, according to Sagan, “While Carrie Chapman Catt [the leader of the Woman Suffrage Party] concentrated on suffrage on the state level, Alice Paul continue with her high-visibility approach to bringing home a federal amendment. The double effort is what eventually won the suffrage cause” (70). This demonstrates how getting the 19th amendment ratified would have been almost impossible without both the National Woman’s Party and the Woman Suffrage Party. The idea that the National Woman’s Party was the most influential when it comes to getting congress to pass the 19th amendment is inaccurate. Essentially, without the Woman Suffrage Party, there would be no attempt to persuade the state governments to which in turn makes it difficult for the National Woman’s Party to convince the Federal government; since both of these types of government are interlinked with each other; without one or the other the ratification of the 19th would most likely happened at the rate it did. Overall the focus on the National Woman's Party in the film was historically incorrect considering how the Woman Suffrage Party also had a key role in