I recently came across this documentary on a tumblr blog called 'because I am a women'. (A blog I highly recommend by the way). The documentary is part of the Makers website, highlighting the women that have made America. Not only does the website contain the full documentary: a three part series, it also contains a number of videos from well known women such as Ellen Degenerous to people you may not have heard of. Firstly I want to say that I really enjoyed this documentary. After watching it I felt so much more knowledgable about the history of the women's movement. Not only that, but after watching it, I felt quite inspired and in awe of these amazing women.
It looked at the women's movement from very early on, throughout the 1970s and 80s. This documentary is particular interesting, containing the testomonies of so many different women, those women that made an active difference to women's position. There number of inspirational women stood out to me, women I hadn't heard of before. Women politicians, lawyers, homemakers, activists and others have who contributed to where we are today.
Gloria_Steinem : A social and political activist that cofounded the Ms Magazine.
I honestly did not know in so much detail the history of women's equality. This documentary really opened my eye to what these women did and the battle they had to go through to get rights, that we take for granted...
What I took from the documentary, having been quite unaware before watching it, just how much the women's movement has done. From laws over equality in the workplace to establishing laws against domestic abuse and rape. As I watched it, it astonished me the attitudes were 30/40 years ago. When Oprah was around 20 years old she cohosted a tv show with a man. She was earning around $22,000 while he was earning $50,000. When she confronted her boss to the fact that she was doing the same job as he was, yet he was earning more. He said ' Why should you earn more than him?'. This is in 1980.
What I took from the documentary, having been quite unaware before watching it, just how much the women's movement has done. From laws over equality in the workplace to establishing laws against domestic abuse and rape. As I watched it, it astonished me the attitudes were 30/40 years ago. When Oprah was around 20 years old she cohosted a tv show with a man. She was earning around $22,000 while he was earning $50,000. When she confronted her boss to the fact that she was doing the same job as he was, yet he was earning more. He said ' Why should you earn more than him?'. This is in 1980.
The last half part talked about how many women don't see a need to campaign anymore, or don't even see gender equality being an issue. The documentary even spoke of how women are now actively wanting to dissociate with the word 'feminism'. I found an example of this online. A women listed all the reasons she didn't need feminism. If she was to watch this documentary, maybe she would understand that if it wasn't for feminism she wouldn't even be able to do half the things she is listing! What I like is how the concept of feminism has not disappeared just because there is isn't protests here and there. Feminism is still very much active. The documentary also highlighted how modern feminism has transferred abroad and this particular quote stood out to me.
"If the 19th century was about ending slavery and the 20th was about ending Totalitarianism. The 21st century is about ending the vasive discrimiuation and degradation of women." - Hilary Clinton.
All the women highlighted in this documentary as well as all women contributed to the equality women have today are an inspiration to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment