"I have the right to think," Alice said.
"Just as a pig wants the right to fly," said the countess.
This book was published in 1865. During the Victorian era, women hardly had the right to think.
Just as someone said before, the film "Women's Participants" has more meaning than form, and it is true. Three thousand weak waters only take one scoop, and it just chooses the highest peak of the feminist movement before World War I. I think its biggest advantage is that it is too real, every detail can be found, and there are almost no historical flaws. For example, Moud suffered nasal feeding in prison, which completely reproduced the pain suffered by countless women in prison at that time:
Those who do not understand the British feminist movement will be shocked by the truth of the film; and those who know it will also tacitly know.
1.
So let's start with the things before Moud started participating in the feminist movement.
In 1903, Mrs. Pankhurst participated in the establishment of the leading organization of the British feminist movement, WSPU (women's social and political union, which is the organization that provides accommodation for Moud after being kicked out of the house in the movie.) She and her daughters have joined the organization. The affirmative movement was even arrested and imprisoned in 1905 and 1906. And Pankhurst himself has been jailed several times.
In 1910, their years of hard work finally got some weak responses.
A group of male parliamentarians who sympathized with the campaign for voting rights that lasted for many years submitted a "Conciliation Bills" to the parliament, advocating giving voting rights to women with millions of private assets. In the initial debate, the lawmakers gave an absolute majority of support to this bill. However, the bill was later concealed due to opposition from Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. He declared that “decisions made by women’s government will lack de facto and moral authority.”
As Mrs. Pankhurst said, “Deeds, not words, was to be our permanent motto.” In response, she responded in November On the 18th, led 300 female political debaters to form a delegation to gather outside the entrance of the parliament. The police formed a human wall to control them, which later escalated into violence. They were beaten and even sexually assaulted.
result was bloody-115 women went to jail, countless were injured, and 2 women were killed. This day is called "Black Friday" (Black Friday). A photo of a policeman attacking a woman who fell on the ground made headlines in the newspapers, and the government soon realized that they had crossed the bottom line, so all the arrested women were released before Christmas. Mrs. Pankhurst's sister also passed away after this incident.
In the following year, people tried again to find a peaceful solution, but in 1911, the Prime Minister once again tore up the "Reconciliation Draft" passed by the House of Commons.
Women politicians have to raise their arms once again. 400 women worked together to organize a sabotage movement of smashing windows and attacking department stores and other places-this is the chaotic scene that the heroine Moud witnessed in the first place.
Returning to the movie itself, Moud went through a process similar to that of many female politicians in her struggle—coming out of the harsh working environment, being evicted from the house, losing her husband and children, being displaced, and being displaced. Several arrests and even torture. The seemingly "forced up to Liangshan" process is actually the process of countless women's inner self-awakening. It is precisely because of them that the struggle that lasted for hundreds of years quickly fermented in the 20th century, and finally began to gradually reach its peak in 1910.
The women's suffrage movement reached an unprecedented peak during the Great Race Day in 1913. Emily Davison, an activist who had been engaged in the struggle for women's rights for seven years, made the greatest sacrifice.
The movie came to an abrupt end here. However, the road to equal rights is so long that it will be fifteen years later that women over the age of 21 in the UK will truly have the right to vote. To this day, women still have not achieved true equality in all sectors of politics, economy, and culture. What is more ingrained is the "gender stereotype" that is difficult to remove, and the increasingly serious "materialization" of women.
2.
At the end of the film, China and India are also listed among the countries where women won the right to vote in 1949.
What about the history of female resistance in our own nation?
It is a pity that China has never had a female equal rights movement as shocking as the United Kingdom and the United States.
In ancient history, every appearance of women's status was improved only to cater to the Confucian patriarchal society's repeated compromises. Whether it was the few women who were able to handle government affairs in a short period of time in the Wu Zetian period, or the celebrities and prostitutes of the upper class in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, they organized associations and even engaged in the anti-Qing movement.
In modern times, the early feminist enlightenment in China did not give women freedom unconditionally, nor did it mean to completely eliminate traditional women’s shackles, but to readjust women’s status in the nation-state and establish a more complete foundation on this basis. And a reasonable modern political and cultural order centered on men. In other words, instead of letting women “divide the benefits without labor” without leaving their homes, it is better to let them participate in national salvation activities while performing their maternal duties; on the other hand, the Western feminist movement and feminist ideology are also regarded as advanced civilizations. It was introduced into China as a symbol, but these ideas have been greatly reduced by being reflected by people with a Western Christian background, and after passing through the second level of filtering by Chinese male enlighteners, they are often far from the original intent. If China has not faced the death of a nation-state since the 19th century, it is hard to say when women’s issues will be put on the agenda.
From the "good wife and motherhood" advocated by Liang Qichao and other early reformists to the various manifestations of women by the revolutionaries later, they all stand on the stand of men and arrange for women to assist men in loyalty to the nation-state. They rarely take it seriously. Even ignoring the vital interests of women. This is true even for first-class leaders-Sun Yat-sen and so on. "People want to Fuguoqiangbing, to salvation, to modernize, but forget all this in itself can not be the ultimate goal, the ultimate goal is only one, and that is man's own perfection and liberation."
Above modern "feminist" thought, probably spread to cities ; And in the countryside, the later communism/industry/zhu/yi/revolution/fate seems to have brought some ironic effects-revolution/fate not only strengthened the traditional peasant family model, but also improved this model. The reformed traditional family system and the silent patriarchy system it supports have existed in China stably and firmly, without fundamental doubts.
It is true that China cannot replicate the path of feminism in Britain and the United States. We lack the tradition of capitalism and individualism, and the history and social environment are different. Therefore, there is no feminist movement under the Western model, and there is no conscious and organized force.
Women's political participation is only the beginning of equal rights. Regardless of China or the world, this road is obstructive and difficult.
PS: Recommended documentary "Suffragettes Forever! The Story Of Women And Power"
And a book on feminism in modern China, "Women's Rights, Enlightenment, and Nation-State Discourse"
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