Women's Sufferage

I have a new hero, not that I really had one to begin with, but now I do. Her name is Alice Paul and she was a devoted activist for women's rights. She not only faced social pressure from her peers, but was also imprisoned and brutally force fed after going on a hunger strike (but really who could blame her, the food they fed her in prison was disgusting).

She did so much to help women gain the right to vote and was active in women's rights up until her death in 1977. Her and her close friend, Lucy Burns, were determined to win the vote for women on a national level, as opposed to state by state decisions. Because of this they broke off from the National American Women Suffrage Association and formed the National Women's Party.

They were so determined to get what was rightly theirs that they picketed outside the White House everyday, in sunshine, rain, or snow. When President Woodrow Wilson decided that the US was to fight in World War I, the women continued to picket the White House, using Wilson's own words and reasoning for the war, to back up their own cause. Because of this, they were both eventually arrested, along with many other women, including Dorothy Day, and were forced fed through both mouth and nose, when they refused to eat.

I first learned about Alice and Lucy in my religion class, Women and the Christian Tradition. As part of our class we were required to watch the film, Ironed Jawed Angels, featuring Hilary Swank as Alice Paul. I really wasn't expecting it to be an interesting film (I mean, we were watching for class), however, I was truly surprised by how touching and powerful it was. I learned so much about women's suffrage from the movie and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.

I now have so much admiration for those women who sacrificed everything and even put their lives on the line to fight for women's rights. Without them women wouldn't be where they are today, I wouldn't be where I am today, and that is something that I will never forget.