Women’s Equality Day 2022: Films And Shows To Watch To Learn About Women’s Suffrage
As the centuries have passed, we as a society have emerged to be mainly a patriarchal one with women historically having little to no rights. As time has gone on, women have fought for their rights and to get the same opportunities as men. But could you believe there was a time in the U.S. when women weren’t allowed to be a part of democracy and vote? This is clearly not the case any more thanks to the powerful American women who fought for this basic right. The day on which women were officially granted this right is now known as Women’s Equality Day.
What Is Women’s Equality Day?
Women in America have the right to vote in elections thanks to women’s suffrage. Attempts to amend the voting laws to allow women to vote started in the middle of the 19th century. However, in 1920 there was one major breakthrough. Women in the United States were officially granted the right to vote in 1920 after the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted by 36 states and signed into law, though voting restrictions for women of colour would persist for decades.
Many of the women who spearheaded the struggle for the right to vote did not live to see the amendment become law or to cast their own votes in the 1920 election. It took more than 70 years to win the battle for women’s voting rights. August 26, 1920, was when the 19th Amendment became a part of the U.S. Constitution and today is the anniversary of the historic day, here are some movies and shows you must watch to know all about women’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment.
1. Suffragette (2015)
The 2015 British historical drama film Suffragette, which was written and directed by Abi Morgan, is about women’s suffrage in the UK. Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep are among the movie’s notable cast members. The 2015 release focuses on the late nineteenth and early 20th century suffragette movement, which resulted in more than 8 million British women getting the right to vote in 1918. Maud Watts, a laundress in 1912, is portrayed by Carey Mulligan. She is inspired to join the movement by the appalling working conditions and extreme poverty.
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2. Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
American historical drama Iron Jawed Angels was released in 2004 and was directed by Katja von Garnier. The movie stars Anjelica Huston as Carrie Chapman Catt, Frances O’Connor as activist Lucy Burns, Julia Ormond as suffragist leader Inez Milholland, and Hilary Swank as suffragist leader Alice Paul. The video follows women’s suffrage pioneers Alice Paul and Lucy Burns as they use nonviolent and peaceful methods, tactics, and conversations to reform the American feminist movement and win women the right to vote in the 1910s.
3. Black Sorority Project: The Exodus (2006)
Twenty-two female students at Howard University changed the trajectory of American history in 1913, profoundly altering the nation’s history. They bravely joined the women’s suffrage campaign, overcoming obstacles of race and gender, and founded a new sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, which would develop into one of the nation’s most powerful women’s organisations, as it is today. The movie is narrated by Tamara Tunie and is available to watch on YouTube.
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4. American Experience: The Vote (S33, Episode 1)
American Experience is a tv show that is broadcasted on PBS across the country. The show features documentaries about significant or fascinating figures and events in American history, many of which have won awards. One of the episodes, The Vote (S33, Episode 1) presents the dramatic tale of the long, arduous, and revolutionary fight for the right to vote by American women, which led to the broadest expansion of voting rights in American history, 100 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified.
5. American Experience: Freedom Summer (S26, Episode 11)
With a focus on Mississippi in the summer of 1964, where there were fewer than 7% of the state’s Black population was registered to vote, this American Experience documentary illustrates the disparity in voting experiences for Black people in the South. In order to register as many African Americans as possible to vote, student volunteers from throughout the nation worked with local activists during the contentious and violent summer of 1964 in Mississippi.
While we might feel that gaining the right to vote has been achieved and overcome by women, it is still not a complete reality. There are still countries where women aren’t encouraged to vote. Moreover, the society we are living in today still is predominantly patriarchal which ensures that women aren’t given the same chances as men when it comes to education, career and literally every other walk of life. I feel like not only is Women’s Equality Day a day to celebrate and commemorate women’s right to vote in America but also to see how far we still have to go before we achieve true equality.
