We need equality NOW.

The two things that jumped out at me while I was watching the movie was the determination and the courage that Alison Paul, Lucy Burns and the rest of the women had, as they were fighting for women’s right to vote. I feel that their courage was contagious because I felt there courage thought the screen; as they were picketing out side of the white house in the cold, getting hit and spit at by men. But the one scene that really touched me was when the women got unfairly imprisoned and were forced fed with a tube.
I believe that courage and determination are at the root of the women’s movement. Determination is the patience that women had for waiting 100 years and never giving up, while everyone told them to wait a little longer. It was also how well they handled the constant excuses that were given to them by the president and the politicians. How they kept away from violence and used other ways for their voices to be heard. How they kept on knocking on doors and talking to people in the streets although they were ignored. Courage is what these women had as they went on a hunger strike as they risk their lives and were starving themselves to death. It is the pain that they went through as they were force fed and resulted in throwing up. It is also the oppression that they faced and the fear of having their children taken away if their husbands chose to, having no authority in their private or personal life, having no one to defend them and having no voice.
One of my favorite quotes that the psychiatrist said as he was talking to the president about Alison Paul was when it pertains to women, “courage is often mistaken by insanity.” I truly believe that courage is at the root of this movement because it was what all these women had as they were patience and constantly being oppressed. Courage is what made the women’s movement so successful; I believe it makes any social movement successful.
As I think about where we are today eighty nine years later from when the 19th Amendment was passed. I believe that we lost that courage and determination that Alison Paul and Lucy Burns had as they were fighting for women right to vote. We cannot wait another 100 years for women to have full equality, to have a society where women can and are able to participate fully in all aspects of social and political life. We need equality NOW.