Hidden Figures (2016) is based on the true story of some of the first women of color to work for NASA in the 1961. These women, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) were very gifted mathematicians whose job it was to calculate important equations that would eventually enable rockets to launch into space. They may have been segregated from the rest of the workers and started off having to walk half a mile just to use the “colored” restroom, but they persevered regardless. The work that they did would prove to change history as we know it, for both women of color and human kind. Hidden Figures is an empowering feminist film that shows the perseverance of women of color, one of the most underestimated and oppressed populations, and the history of inequality in the U.S.

It’s important to look at what was happening with the women’s movement and black history around the time that this film takes place. It wasn’t until 1963 that Congress passed the first federal gender equity law in over 40 years, the Equal Pay Act. This was the first big push towards equality in the workplace for women. But keep in mind, these were women of color, who are not only seen as second class citizens because of their gender, but also their race. Not long before this in 1954, supreme court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Our country was still getting used to the idea of women in the workplace and of integration throughout schools at the time this film took place, so the way these women were treated is not shocking in that context. The Civil Right’s Act was passed in 1964, which prohibited race and gender discrimination in employment, and finally made all laws that upheld segregation void. So in 1961 when this film took place, the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Right’s Act had not yet been passed. Women of color were still very much seen as the lowest on the totem pole in society.

It took the influence of strong women like Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary to really start knocking down the pillars of inequality in this country. This is demonstrated in my favorite scenes. We see Katherine coming back into her work space (which was full of white men only), soaking wet and obviously frazzled. Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), her supervisor, starts lecturing her and rudely asks, in front of the entire room of her coworkers, where she was going for long periods of time during the day. She tries to explain and he only continues to come down hard on her. This is when Katherine has absolutely had enough! She stands tall in this room of white men all staring at her and gives a passionate speech about how she was simply trying to use the restroom but she has to walk an entire mile because the restrooms are segregated and there isn’t a “colored” restroom any closer than that. She goes on to mention how her coworkers won’t even touch the safe coffee pot after she’s gotten a cup. She leaves everyone speechless. We then see Al bludgeoning down the sign above the segregated bathroom that says “Colored Ladies Room”. Because Katherine had the bravery to stand up for herself and speak her truth, she inspired this huge change.

I think this is a feminist film because it shows real women who, despite having everything against them from the beginning, were able to persevere and even inspired change in their workplace. This story took place in a time that being a woman of color in the U.S. was extremely difficult. I am truly inspired by anyone who can stand up in the face of adversity and not only stay true to who they are, but also speak up for what they know is right. These women were some of the first to start paving the way for the women of my generation and the generations after me to have the same opportunities as everyone else. They weren’t asking for anything radical. They just wanted to do their jobs and be treated with respect like everyone else.

References:

Melfi, T. (Director). (2016). Hidden figures[Motion picture on DVD]. USA: Fox 2000 Pictures.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) is the third installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. This continuation of the story follows hero, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) of the dystopian country of Panem, through the events following her escape from the infamous “Hunger Games”. She had been rescued from the evil clutches of the rich Capitol and President Snow (Donald Sutherland) to a secret, underground bunker, where the hidden District 13 had been secretly living underground since their assumed demise years previously. And so ensues strong female leaders popping up all over the place to show the varying ways in which a woman can, “slay (Beyonce, 2016)”. This film follows Katniss, along with her comrades and followers, on her journey to becoming the symbol of the rebellion in Panem, the Mockingjay.

First, we have the teenage Katniss, who is not usually very emotionally expressive and a little rough around the edges. She has been the sole provider for her mother and child sister for years. Despite the increasing poverty of her district, she was able to manage things quite well by hunting and trading illegally with her neighbors and friends. That is, until Katniss refused to be used as just another one of the Capitol’s disposable pons. She demonstrates authority by being fierce, yet fair. Katniss spent her life caring for her family and now she is caring for over half of the country. She shows incredible strength through so many trials and horrors and holds her own even while under unimaginable stress. Katniss Everdeen did not take no for an answer, and continued to follow justice in her own way without listening to all of the chatter telling her what to do and how to do it.

“You will hold yourself and your government responsible or you will find another Mockingjay!”

-Katniss Everdeen

Our next fierce leader is President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), the leader of the large underground bunker in District 13 and the rebel forces in Panem. She leads for her cause in a strict and precise manner, sometimes coming off as cold. However, this is what she believes will be the approach that is going to win them their liberation from the Capitol. She leaves little room for mistakes and runs a tight ship, but also knows when to let up. Her followers are overall very united under this style of leadership that leans towards the Authority-Compliance approach on Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid. “This style is result driven (Northouse, p. 75).” Perhaps because the stakes are so high, the rebels knew they had to be united as one under a firm leader. We don’t see President Coin struggling to balance her work and personal life, or having trouble getting her followers to take her seriously. She is just her personal version of a damn good leader, and that is the kind of role for women I want to see more of!

Plutarch: “Madame President, I know it’s not my place…”

President Coin: “It’s not. You’re a welcome guest, but you’re out of your depth down here.”

Another main female character may not be the obvious choice for the title of “Feminist Leader of the Year”, but Effie Trinket really comes to life in this film, standing alongside Katniss to support her, although this time they’re outside of the Capitol (the place she previously called home) and The Games. Effie was the Escort who advised and guided Katniss through not only one, but two Hunger Games. She has a flair for the wild fashion’s of the Capitol and can be a little narrow minded, but we see some of her artificial layers come off (psychically and emotionally) as she comes into herself in this film. She supports her fellow women and makes the difficult choice to leave the only home she has ever known to join the rebel forces. She’s a feminist leader in her own way.

Haymitch: “You know, I like you better, Effie, without all that makeup.”

Effie: “Well, I like you better sober.”

There are many other strong women in this film, such as Katniss’s little sister Primrose (Willow Shields) who is wise beyond her years, Commander Paytor the leader of the rebel forces in District 8 who was in charge of a hospital of refugees, and Cressida (Natalie Dormer) the director of the film crew who is tasked at following Katniss around the Capitol, whose job it was to not only create propoganda messages for their rebel forces, but to gently guide and inspire passion in Katniss as she films her raw reactions to the Capitol’s destruction of the districts.

As discussed, throughout the film we see female leaders who are fierce, femme, harsh, and empathetic. Not all great leaders look or lead in the same way. Which leadership style is needed depends on each particular situation as stated by the Situational approach. “Effective leaders are those who can recognize what followers need and then adapt their own style to meet those needs (Northouse, p. 94).” The amazing women of this series demonstrate just that. The Hunger Games shows many feminist leaders and had feminist undertones throughout.

Sources:

Lawrence, F. (Director), Jacobson, N., & Kilik, J. (Producers), & Craig, P., & Strong, D. (Writers). (2014, November 21). The Hunger Games, Mockingjay, part 1[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQEkLPDVjo8

[Lemonade]. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/songs/

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Intern (2015) follows young entrepreneur, Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) who is running her own successful startup business selling clothing online. At first glance this seems like the perfect recipe for a feminist film. The successful business woman who works while her husband is a stay at home dad, getting things done, not taking crap from anyone, and basically living her best life. However, as the film goes on we see Jules start to crash and burn, needing the guidance of Ben Whittaker (Robert DeNiro), being manipulated by her husband Matt (Anders Holm), and being pushed to interview and hire a CEO to basically be her boss (all of the people being interviewed also “happen” to be male). It was a good effort of showing women in more leadership positions in film, but ultimately a failed one.

When we first meet Jules on screen, she seems like a modern day women who “has it all”. She started her own company, it’s doing extremely well and growing rapidly, she does things in her own way but it works for her, and she’s got a beautiful family who loves her at home. As time goes on, we see the other mother’s at school obviously disapprove that she is a “career woman”, and even her husband and mother act cold towards her about how much she works. Yes, she has definite workaholic tendencies. However, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, if this were a film about a man in a leadership position, we most likely wouldn’t be seeing all of this negativity towards him for nurturing his own passion project turned career, and the struggle to maintain his work/life balance. After all, she created a business from the ground up that was still getting it’s feet on the ground and growing almost faster than they could keep up with. I’ve used this quote from Gloria Steinem before, and I’ll use it again because it is just that relevant and accurate: “I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.”

Let’s take a look at things from a behavioral leadership perspective. According to Eagly & Carli, “There’s a basic expectation that a woman is going to be the comfortable, team-building, soft, forgiving type.” The behavioral model could be problematic for females because of gender stereotypes that convey what it looks like to behave in a feminine vs. masculine way. “Classifying a person as male or female evokes mental associations, or expectations, about masculine and feminine qualities (Eagly & Carli, p.3).” So from the get go, because Jules does not have a traditionally feminine leadership type, some people are going to react in a negative way. The men around her think they know what will be best for her, try to convince her to do what they want her to do, and some even guilt her about being the dedicated, slightly cold kind of leader that she was. However, it was that leadership style that got her business to the thriving place it was.

One of her male workers Cameron urges her to hire a CEO because he thinks the company is going to get overwhelmed otherwise. On the other hand, Ben is telling her to follow her heart and reminding her who got the company to where it is today. And she also has her husband Matt whispering in her ear to hire a CEO as well. Jules obviously doesn’t like the idea of handing her company over to someone else after working so hard to build it. I understand that everyone needs advice and guidance at times, but Jules is constantly going back and forth with it depending on who she spoke with last. If we were looking at this film from the perspective of how important the wisdom of old age is, then sure, it accomplished that. However, we are discussing women’s leadership roles in film, and this one really missed the mark.

I was also very frustrated with her husband throughout the film. First, he had made the decision together with Jules that she was going to work full-time to get her business started up and he was going to stay home and care for their daughter. It was even his idea. Flash forward to the events taking place in the film and he just can’t handle it. He has zero understanding or compassion for her situation, and seems to have forgotten that this was his idea in the first place. He is acting cold towards Jules and we later find out he has been cheating on her, while she has been absolutely busting her ass at work. He knew full well the time and dedication starting up her business was going to be, and then acts like he is the victim here. And to top it all off, she takes him back in the end, after he has done nothing but cause her extra stress and devastation. The music builds to a lovely tune meant to make the viewer feel like everything is okay again, but all I felt was extreme annoyance. Not okay.

While it has a few redeeming qualities, The Intern was just not all it’s cracked up to be. I as pretty disappointed with this film. Throughout the movie everything kind of builds up to Jules decision to hire a CEO or continue to run things on her own. She finally decides to go with her gut and continue to be head of her company, and then promptly forgives Matt for everything. Is this having it all? I don’t think so. It was great to see her believe in herself enough to not be swayed by the people in her life telling her to hire the CEO (although this was after much council from Ben). However, then to see her take Matt back after a flimsy apology? Huge disappointment. Maybe if they had shown some scenes of Matt down the line actually changing his attitude and supporting her like he should have been doing from scene one, I would have felt more satisfied. But as I have said, this did not hit the mark as a feminist film. Not one bit.

References

Eagly, Alice H., and Carli., L. Linda (n.d.) Through the labyrinth : The truth about how women become leaders.Harvard Business Review Press, 2007. Retreived at http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unomaha/detail.action?docID=5182653. 

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

I am so excited to cover this film! Alice Paul is an inspiration for the ages and Iron Jawed Angels (2004) is one of my favorite films! First Wave Feminism is so interesting to study; I remember the first time I saw this movie as a young feminist in the making and it was world changing for me. Alice Paul was an incredible woman! I am always thinking back to what she (and the other suffragists) did for feminism and women’s rights and it is very humbling. She dedicated her life to the movement and sacrificed everything she had for it. Alice Paul was unjustly jailed, force-fed, abused, and ridiculed even by other suffragists, yet she still persisted. If this isn’t a feminist film, I don’t know what is!

The film starts out showing Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O’Connor) working tirelessly for the Suffragists cause to win the vote for women. The two women go to hand out flyers and rally the female factory workers to come to a women’s march they are organizing. One worker in the crowd starts questioning them and says, “We take Sunday off to la-ti-da with you, we get fired on Monday. Do you have children missus? They don’t eat ballots.” This was what the women of this time in history were risking by supporting women’s rights. There was no protection from discrimination for women in the workforce. If a woman were to speak up about her rights, she could easily lose her job, husband and livelihood, and end up having no other options besides living on the street and having starving children.

Alice Paul was a directive leader and was always frank with her followers (Northouse, 2016). She was clear about her vision, ideas and how to execute them and when. With this clear vision to follow, the suffragists who looked to her for guidance were able to persevere through the many hardships of being a feminist woman in early 20th century. She lead, she inspired, and she pushed us through to victory! Early leaders like Alice Paul realized that if we could get the vote, then we could obtain rights within the workplace and much more. However, the first wave feminists had a big job to do. They had to try to get a foot in a locked door. These women could have given up so many times, but they refused to take no for an answer and kicked the door in instead!

“It is better, as far as getting the vote is concerned I believe, to have a small, united group than an immense debating society.”

–Alice Paul

So who was Alice Paul? Alice was born in 1885 to a progressive thinking family for the time. With the support of her family, she earned a biology degree as well as a Master of Arts degree in Sociology. She even went on to receive a PhD. ( Michals, 2015) This was a very educated woman! She went on to form the National Woman’s party with Lucy Burns because they had a different vision for their cause to win the vote: newer, more radical strategies such as hunger strikes and picketing the white-house, even when times got tough (Lange, 2015). It was this vision that helped wake America up! Women finally won suffrage in 1920. It was women’s time turn to vote for the first time in U.S. history.

Let’s move on to the treatment of the Suffragists, particularly the women who were part of Alice Paul’s more radical group of feminists. The film does a good job of capturing the horrible events that ensued after Alice and her girls were exercising their right to assemble and to free speech. They were protesting outside of the White House when they were forcibly stopped and many of the women were arrested. The police used the excuse that they were “obstructing traffic”, but let’s be real here. The government, as well as the general public, was not on board with these woman at this time. They wanted to silence them, like so many women before them and so many women after. While in jail, the women were treated horrendously and unfairly.

“Food simply isn’t important to me.”

–Alice Paul

Alice eventually went on a hunger strike because she knew that the arrests and treatment of her girls was unethical, unlawful, and just not right. As a result, she was transferred to the psychiatric ward and force fed through a tube. Although there are still advocates for it’s use, force feeding has been condemned by The American Medical Association and the Red Cross as unethical, inhumane, and a form of torture. “English and American suffragettes…reported that their gums bled constantly from the repeated force-feedings. Feeding someone this way can break their teeth, and cut into their tongue. Very early force-feedings occasionally broke people’s jaws (Inglis-Arkell, 2015).” This is just the tip of the iceberg of the physical and emotional damage this does to people. So this is how these women in the film (and in real life) were being treated because they wouldn’t fall in line with the status quo. As if they were less than human beings.

“When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row.”

–Alice Paul

Alice Paul was a firm leader to countless woman and continues to be a leader and inspiration to women all over the world even today. She was passionate and grounded in her beliefs that were backed up by years of formal education as well as years of personal experience in the movement. She was unwavering and was able to rally her followers even at the darkest of times. Alice Paul was a true leader.

“There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it.”

–Alice Paul

References

Inglis-Arkell, E. (2015, April 21). Here’s What Really Happens When You Force-Feed Someone. Retrieved from https://io9.gizmodo.com/heres-what-really-happens-when-you-force-feed-someone-1699078018

Michals, D., PhD (2015). Alice Paul: 1885-1977. Retrieved from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/alice-paul?gclid=CjwKCAjw0tHoBRBhEiwAvP1GFSnQAixunOAXsEYr_djdE9z2_qGM2tpgkvb_J59FGyM6OUA1kkP1nxoCTY8QAvD_BwE

National Women’s History Museum. (n.d.). National Women’s Party and Militant Methods. Retrieved from http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/nwp-militant

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

“Please bore someone else with your questions.”

The Devil Wear Prada (2006) showcases the fast-paced world of high fashion, with Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) at the top of the food chain, and boy does she know it. She is bold, curt and frank in her interactions with just about anyone in the business, and that mixed with her personal talent is what got her to the top. The film opens up with Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a smart yet not so stylish girl, applying to work as an assistant at a prestigious fashion magazine. She is met with hostility, but hired anyway. And so ensues her struggle to fit in to a world that is so foreign to her, while maintaining a balance with her personal life. A theme that is present for many of the characters, even the unexpected ones. Miranda and Andrea’s personal lives both end up crashing and burning because of the value they place on their careers.

Now, if it were a man as the boss of this company instead of Miranda, I don’t know that we would even be discussing his leadership styles because our culture associates traditionally masculine traits and behaviors with effective leadership. But, because the film is about a powerful, abrasive female leader, it is something to be discussed. It is well summed up by Andrea herself, “Okay, she’s tough. But if Miranda were a man, no one would notice anything about her, except how great she is at her job (The Devil Wears Prada, 2006).”

“Oh, don’t be absurd. Everyone wants to be us.”

According to the Behavioral approach’s Leadership Grid, Miranda would have a “9, 1” style when it comes to leading her subordinates. This leadership style “places heavy emphasis on task and job requirements, and less emphasis on people, except to the extent that people are tool for getting the job done (Northouse, p.75).” This is Miranda’s biggest downfall. She has virtually no relationship skills when it comes to her employees work satisfaction. However, we also have to remember that this is all taking place in the fashion industry, where things are fast paced and not always friendly. Miranda conducts business this way simply because she can. She is one of the best and she knows that she is one of the best. In her mind, she does not have time for niceties. Could she be a less cold to her employees? Sure! But is she an effective leader? I would say definitely. She has worked her butt off for years getting to the position she is in, she knows how she wants things run, and will not accept anything less. I can’t emphasize enough that if she was a man, no one would bat an eye.

“I’m not your baby.”

Andrea’s leadership style is more passive. She is smart and confident when in her element, however the fashion world is not her forte. As the film goes on, we see Andrea’s leadership skills in this situation go from completely flustered and uncertain to assertive and quick-thinking. Once she got into the groove of her workplace, there was no stopping her. She gained the favor of Miranda and learned a lot about herself in the process. She ends up being stern, yet personable. Because of this she was able to act as a buffer of sorts at times for Miranda. They made a good team, Miranda having excellent task management skills and Andrea having great relational skills. For the job at hand, they did well managing things with their own personal styles.

“Let me know when your whole life goes up in smoke. That means it’s time for a promotion.”

As the great Gloria Steinem once said, “I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.” Both women in this film have major difficulties balancing their personal and work lives. We don’t see all of the details of Miranda’s marriage, however we do see that her husband asked her for a divorce presumably because of her “workaholic” tendencies.

Andrea is not far behind, with her boyfriend splitting things off for the same reasons. She is no longer at his beck and call, but instead is trying to put in a years work at a very difficult and prestigious company to fulfill her dreams of becoming a serious journalist. Now, I can see where he is coming from, but I also think he was very selfish. She told him what her plan was from the beginning and yet he never really took it seriously, teasing her instead of supporting her. We also see her father giving her unsolicited advice even after she explained her very valid plan to get herself where she needed to be in her field. Again, I cannot stress enough that if the roles were reversed here, she most likely would be expected to take on the supportive role while he focused on his career, just as Ms. Steinem pointed out.

“Truth is, there’s no one that can do what I do.”

I think because of the harsh nature of Miranda Priestley’s attitude towards her subordinates, it is easy to just write her off as, quite frankly, a nasty bitch. However, when digging a little deeper, I think she falls victim, like so many women, to the antiquated ideals of the patriarchal system we are living in. She’s tough, she’s curt, and she doesn’t give a damn about what anyone has to say about it. She is completely, apologetically herself. If you ask me, I would say the world could use a few more nasty women in it.

References:

Frankel, D. (Director), McKenna, A. B. (Screenwriter), & Weisberger, L. (Writer). (2006). The devil wears Prada[Video file]. USA: 20th Century Fox. Retrieved from https://www.hulu.com/movie/the-devil-wears-prada-35ee3632-230a-4e4b-8520-46063f9282a3.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

North Country (2005) is a film inspired by the true events leading up to the historic class action lawsuit against a mining company in Eveleth, Minnesota by Lois Jenson (named Josey Aimes in the film) along with other female employees. “The case became the first sexual harassment class action tried in US federal court and set a precedent for future harassment trials (Dill, 2018).”

The film follows the life of Josey Aimes (Theron), who we initially see being physically and emotionally abused by her husband. She is able to get herself and her children to the safety of her parents house in Eveleth, Minnesota. Josey shortly runs into an old friend, Glory Dodge (McDormand), who works driving trucks for the mine and shortly decides, much to her parents dismay, that her best option financially is going to be working in the mine where her father and Glory work. On their way to Josey’s first day of work, Glory tells her, “You know they don’t want us up there, right?” Throughout the remainder of the film we see Josey and the other women’s struggles with sexual harassment and bits of the lawsuit that follows.

“Take it Like a Man”

In North Country, we see the women working in the mines withstanding horrible treatment from a large number of their male coworkers on a daily basis. Not only are they almost constantly disrespected just for being women, they are very often the targets of disgusting sexual harassment. To be clear, sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature (EEOC).” The women have nasty comments made to them, pornographic photos and items left in their lunchboxes and lockers, and the men talk to and about them as if they are nothing more than a sexual objects there only for their enjoyment. When Josey brings the problem up to her supervisor, Arlen Pavich (Berkeley), he basically blows her off and tells her to “take it like a man (Caro & Wechsler, 2005) .” This is obviously a comment made by someone who has never been on the receiving end of sexual harassment. The men in this mine were not experiencing anything even close to what the women had to endure day in and day out, so for him to tell Josey to “take it like a man” was absolutely outrageous.

Josey Aimes eventually brings her complains to the owner of the mines, Don Pearson (Cada). However, when she arrived, Don was sitting in a room with Arlen Pavich, her supervisor, and other “important men” in the company and basically tells her that he already knows about the situation and her conduct (obviously whispered to him from Arlen who had a grudge towards Josey) and begins a very condescending, one sided conversation letting her know that they will accept her resignation immediately. They try to push her out quietly, but she refuses and continues on, humiliated and feeling defeated.

What brings Josey to her breaking point is when Bobby Sharp (Renner), pins her down and sexual assaults her while at work. She immediately bursts into the cafeteria, covered in dirt and blood, and demands that something be done about the problem, but still nothing is done to help her. She quits and pursues the lawsuit, entreating the other women to join her. However, most of them are not willing to help and even blame Josey for a lot of their troubles. Josey became a situational leader while working in the mine and continued her leadership all the way to the courtroom where she was finally able to lead the other women to testify against the company and stand up for themselves and women everywhere. A situational leader is someone who can “adapt his or her style to the demands of different situations (Northouse, 2016).” Josey is just your every day worker, but when she sees her coworkers and friends being treated horribly she steps up and take the leadership position to convince these women to stand with her.

The Historical Timeline of Feminism

I think to better understand just what Jose Aimes and the other female workers were up against in filing this lawsuit, we need to take a look at where women’s rights were on the historical timeline. The condescension and bullying Josey received from her male superiors were not an uncommon occurrence for working women in the 1970’s and 80’s, especially in a small Midwestern mining town. I’m going to look at roughly 1975 when the first female worker was hired at the mine until 1989 when the class action lawsuit took place.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, 1975 is the year that Congress opens U.S. military academies to women, however they are not actually integrated until 1980. I think this really sets the scene of where women stood at this time in history. This was the first time women were starting to have opportunities such as this. An exciting time for women met with the opposition of the patriarchy. A few years later in 1982, the Equal Rights Amendment failed because there were not enough states that ratified. Just a year later, female workers in Washington state won the landmark decision of “comparable worth”, which promotes equal pay for female workers in comparable jobs to male workers. In 1986, Congress updated rape laws to now recognize marital rape. So up until this point, in the eyes of the law, a husband could not rape his wife. And in 1989, NOW (National Organization for Women) organized the largest rally in the history of Washington D.C. (MacLean, 2009).

Feminist Activism in the Boonies of Minnesta

As you can see, women were just starting to get their foot in the door of the workforce at the time in U.S. history that the events of North Country take place. The losses were still great, however they became fewer as the years went on. Women have fought with everything they have to gain the legal equality and respect of this nation. They have sacrificed their jobs, reputations, and even their safety to pave the way for the generations of women to come. Although North Country may not be perfectly accurate on the details and timeline of these events, I think it encompasses its overall point well. That point being to show the uphill struggle for equality that brave, everyday women have been fighting for decades. Is North Country a feminist film? My answer is yes.

References:

Caro, N. (Director), Wechsler, N. (Producer), & Seitzman, M. (Writer). (2005). North country[Video file]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/North-Country-Charlize-Theron/dp/B000GOW0X0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3I2WPAWJT2VRJ&keywords=north country&qid=1561246870&s=instant-video&sprefix=north cou,instant-video,158&sr=1-1.

Dill, E. (2018, February 26). Jenson v. eveleth taconite co. Retrieved from http://www.mnopedia.org/event/jenson-v-eveleth-taconite-co

MacLean, N. (2009). The american women’s movement, 1945-2000: A brief history with documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (n.d.). Sexual harassment. Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm