Saw the "Iron Jawed Angels" film last week.
Beyond the gorgeous costumes and the unexpected MTV-like end sequence, the movie is gripping - women suffragettes in the US in the 1910's. Politics, generational conflict, strategy and tactics. Support base. Race relations. Misogyny disguised as willingness to protect women from the dirty world of politics. Perseverance. Hunger strikes. Torture in the form of forced feeding and broken face.
The wife of a senator donates money, but does not want to publicly support the cause as not to embarass her husband. The Alice Stokes Paul character replies that “Women like you are worse than anti-suffragists; you perpetuate the lie everyday at breakfast".
What haunts me is the unnerving similarity with the fight women still fight today around the world for their rights as citizens.
Their right to economic viability; their right for custody; their right to vote in some places still. Their right to be full citizens.
Their right to be prejudged as no better nor worse than their male counterparts.
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