Iron Jawed Angels is a 2004 American drama film directed by Katja van Garnier and focuses on a group of suffragettes led by Alice Paul who argue for women’s rights. The movie begins as Alice Paul and Lucy Burns return to America from England and embark on a plan to legalize women’s right to vote, hampered by the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. The two women arrange a meeting with the chairman of NAWSA, Anna Howard Shaw, and try to push for a constitutional amendment allowing women to vote. However, Anna Shaw, being a more conservative woman, favors a more state-to-state approach. While at an art gallery, Alice Paul meets a woman named Inez Milholland and convinces her to support her cause. Together all three women organize a parade to promote
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The film started with the introduction of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns just returning from England and beginning to fight for women’s rights. The attire the women wore was historically accurate to the time period as most people during early 1900s wore long formal skirts and colorful hats. The portrayal of Inez Milholland riding a white horse in the parade was also an example of historical accuracy. The picketing outside the White House was a precise depiction of what the National Women’s Party did to peacefully protest for women’s rights during the time of war. The signs are also the same ones that were used in real life. The women’s arrest and imprisonment was also historically relevant and the harsh conditions the women were subject to were almost exactly the same as what Alice Paul actually said about the prison. The film accurately depicts Alice Paul and Lucy Burns fighting for women equality and even include small details such as the women being force-fed in the prison. The movie is a great depiction of what really happened during the early 1900s. President Woodrow Wilson’s portrayal was also historically accurate and his prolonged decision to support the suffrage movement was indubitably due to the fact he was a wartime …show more content…
During his first term as president, Wilson was not in favor of the suffrage movement. Instead he was more concerned with other issues at hand. He was more focused on the war in Europe than the war in America, which prolonged women’s suffrage for quite some time. He was primarily indifferent about the issue and believed that every state should decide whether or not to allow women to vote. Wilson argued that a “president should not try to influence Congress, but should follow the dictates of his party. Women scoffed at this, since Wilson was known as an autocratic president, constantly exerting influence on Congress even in trivial matters. But the more they pressed him, the more he resisted, and the standoff lasted throughout his first term in office."1 As the National Women’s Party persisted by picketing out the White House, Wilson lost his patience and ordered for them to be arrested for “obstructing traffic” and placed in jail. However, after learning about the mistreatment of the women in prison, his current stance on women’s rights was alleviated and he changed his position on the women’s suffrage movement. He learned about how the women were force-fed because they refused to eat and he began to step up and fight for their cause. About a year after the National Women’s Party began to picket, Wilson announced his support of the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote and gave a
The film started with the introduction of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns just returning from England and beginning to fight for women’s rights. The attire the women wore was historically accurate to the time period as most people during early 1900s wore long formal skirts and colorful hats. The portrayal of Inez Milholland riding a white horse in the parade was also an example of historical accuracy. The picketing outside the White House was a precise depiction of what the National Women’s Party did to peacefully protest for women’s rights during the time of war. The signs are also the same ones that were used in real life. The women’s arrest and imprisonment was also historically relevant and the harsh conditions the women were subject to were almost exactly the same as what Alice Paul actually said about the prison. The film accurately depicts Alice Paul and Lucy Burns fighting for women equality and even include small details such as the women being force-fed in the prison. The movie is a great depiction of what really happened during the early 1900s. President Woodrow Wilson’s portrayal was also historically accurate and his prolonged decision to support the suffrage movement was indubitably due to the fact he was a wartime …show more content…
During his first term as president, Wilson was not in favor of the suffrage movement. Instead he was more concerned with other issues at hand. He was more focused on the war in Europe than the war in America, which prolonged women’s suffrage for quite some time. He was primarily indifferent about the issue and believed that every state should decide whether or not to allow women to vote. Wilson argued that a “president should not try to influence Congress, but should follow the dictates of his party. Women scoffed at this, since Wilson was known as an autocratic president, constantly exerting influence on Congress even in trivial matters. But the more they pressed him, the more he resisted, and the standoff lasted throughout his first term in office."1 As the National Women’s Party persisted by picketing out the White House, Wilson lost his patience and ordered for them to be arrested for “obstructing traffic” and placed in jail. However, after learning about the mistreatment of the women in prison, his current stance on women’s rights was alleviated and he changed his position on the women’s suffrage movement. He learned about how the women were force-fed because they refused to eat and he began to step up and fight for their cause. About a year after the National Women’s Party began to picket, Wilson announced his support of the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote and gave a