Reaction Paper: Iron Jawed Angels

Administrative Law

Submitted to:

Atty. Judiel Pareja

Submitted by:

Pierre Judd B. Alvizo

Section M3

March 22, 2020

 Abstract

A reaction paper that tries to connect Black’s legal definition of the word vote and the social
conditions of that time, to reinforce the idea of why women should be allowed to vote.

Synopsis

Iron Jawed Angels follows the story of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in their unwavering pursuit of
women’s right to vote in the early 1900s.

The story begins with Paul and Burns trying to convince the National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA) to allow them to hold a parade in order to rally people together for a constitutional
amendment that guarantees women’s suffrage. Although the more conservative members of NAWSA
preferred the state by state approach, they still allowed Paul and Burns to organize the parade anyway
provided they fund it themselves.

While soliciting funds for the parade Paul meets labor lawyer Inez Mulholland who the former
convinces to be the figure head for their movement. The parade ends with a riot but pleases Paul
nonetheless for the publicity it garnered.

With Paul’s next project being a newspaper publication to boycott Woodrow Wilson who refuses
to grant women suffrage rights in the next election, she decides to raise funds on her own and not through
NAWSA much to the dismay of the organization. As a result, Paul decides to create the National
Women’s Party.

Inez Mulholland later dies from exhaustion and anemia in the middle of a speech and Paul
blames herself for the incident. She distances herself from the movement until Burns snaps Paul out of
her lethargy. The first world war begins and despite the American Government’s call for solidarity under
wartime president Roosevelt, Paul continues the protest with a picket line right outside the Whitehouse
where they are arrested for obstructing traffic even while on the sidewalk.

Paul is sentenced to 60 days of incarceration where she subjects herself to a hunger strike. The
prison’s ill treatment of Paul gets worse when its management decides to force feed Paul. Word of the
abuse of the protesters leak out and public opinion shifts in favor of the constitutional amendment. The
film concludes with Paul and the NWP celebrating after the senate votes for the amendment although
only by a hair.
 Discussion

“The expression of his will…formally manifested…by a body of qualified electors, in regard to the
decision to be made by the body as a whole…”1, the very definition of the word vote limits its exercise to a
body of qualified electors. The composition of which has varied from one era to another.

In Ancient Athens votes were granted to every citizen in the city, however the Athenian definition
of citizen was very different with our modern take on it since only men who owned land in Greece were
granted the right. Neither women, children, or slaves (who could not own land) could vote. The idea was
that suffrage should be limited to the males who unlike their female counterparts were provided the
education and support of the government in the field of politics and administration.

But even that questionable logic shouldn’t have held true in the 1910 setting of the film. In fact,
Alice Paul had a Political science master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an Economics’
degree from England2. Yet, despite access to education women were still not able to vote. The question
now is what women were still considered unqualified electors.

Were women citizens back then? They were, the US constitution defining what a citizen is has
remained unchanged since the 14th amendment in 18683. Were women property owners back then?
Although it was unusual for a married woman to work, they were not forbidden from doing so. There were
even laws set up in 1914 to make it clear that women were allowed to be police officers, civil servant, and
lawyers. Neither were they ever forbidden from acquiring real property 4. Were they educated? They
certainly were, even as far back in 1850 where Lucy Session became the first woman in the US to get a
college degree5. Besides the physical differences and the social norms society placed on women back
then, I’d daresay that women were exactly same as men.

Alice Paul in the movie even describes it as a situation where women are treated as ornaments to
be owned and fawned over instead of actual people. Which was why she pushed for the amendment
regardless of what women decided to do with their vote, she didn’t care what they did with it so long as
they had it, a symbol perhaps that women were people too.

1
Black's Law Dictionary 11th ed. (West Group, 2019), Bryan A. Garner, editor, ISBN 978-1-5392-2975-9
2
Michals, D. (2015). Alice Paul. Retrieved from Women's History: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-
resources/biographies/alice-paul
3
Editors, H. (2020, February 21). 14th ammendment. Retrieved from History:
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fourteenth-amendment
4
Alison Woodeson (1993) The first women police: a force for equality or infringement? Women's History Review,
2:2, 217-232
5
Editors, O. C. (n.d.). Lucy Sessions. Retrieved from Ohio Hisory Central:
https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Lucy_Sessions
 Even today not all states allow suffrage for women (although most do). Saudi Arabia for example
only legally allows women to vote in municipal elections6. However, most states like the Philippines now
include women as qualified electors. A testament to the efforts of people like Alice Paul who had to break
social norms for people to realize that women are people too.

Conclusion

In conclusion, women in the US even during the 1910’s were educated, defined as citizens in
their constitution, were allowed to work, and even own real property. They should have been qualified
electors even before then and that their right to vote is tied to whether society views them as people or
ornaments.

References

Editors, B. (2015, December 12). Saudi Arabia's women vote in election for first time. Retrieved from
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35075702

Editors, H. (2020, February 21). 14th ammendment. Retrieved from History:

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fourteenth-amendment

Editors, O. C. (n.d.). Lucy Sessions. Retrieved from Ohio Hisory Central:

https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Lucy_Sessions

Michals, D. (2015). Alice Paul. Retrieved from Women's History:

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/alice-paul

Black's Law Dictionary 11th ed. (West Group, 2019), Bryan A. Garner, editor, ISBN 978-1-5392-2975-9

Alison Woodeson (1993) The first women police: a force for equality or infringement? Women's History
Review, 2:2, 217-232

6
Editors, B. (2015, December 12). Saudi Arabia's women vote in election for first time. Retrieved from BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35075702