Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels is for sure a very jarring, while theatrical representation of the women's suffrage movement.  Hilary Swank is one of my favorite actresses because I think she's incredibly talented.  Alice Paul's character is one of vivacious determination and this was perceived well in this film.  Alice Paul, and her partner in the movement, Lucy Burns, were able to negotiate themselves according to power, going from militant activists to much more respectable- this was a huge component to making their Political Opportunity Structure in the movement increase.  This was also done by becoming much more conservative and while when black men got the vote before white women, this felt like a kick in the shin to many of the movement's leaders- most continued, with the exception of one in particular that I can recall :)
To be seen as a woman before anything else, such as before your skin color (according to position of Alice Paul, etc) and because of this fact- you are once again denied...something is hard to swallow.

One piece of this film that I think is incredibly important to add, was the composite of the senator's wife, because there were and still are so many women in positions of high status and very much attached to tradition and "morals" that their marriages may be modeled after these very same dominating characteristics- robbing women of their voice and their movement to action. Men need to get over the fact that they CAN be feminists... and just make the MOVEEE--- geezzz.

The strengths of this movement in accordance to the film, were the women's unswerving determination - through being jailed and the hunger strike and the abuse going on there, and their willingness to push forward, despite arrests, their parade being dissolved.. violently and quite a large lack of support from the government. Also, when the movement shifted because of the war, instead of allowing it to take a back burner with the president, they created a way to incorporate the importance of this amendment to the nation and the future of the country... good strategy.