Men often spouted the opinion that they only wished to protect their wives and mothers from the evils of this world, saying that they were innately weak and subject to fall prey to sinful ways if they were exposed to the evils of the world. They often cited the story of Genesis as proof of this. Women were often punished for dissent. Some punishments were extreme, such as hanging in some cases in earlier times by religious sects who did not allow dissention, especially by women, who could be executed as witches. A case in point was the execution of Mary Barrett Dyer by the Quakers for disagreeing with the tenets of the church. (Wikipedia 2005). In this film, the violence is restriced to that on the part of the oppressors and those few women who acted out of fear. Like what happened with Ghani's struggle in India and King's struggle later in America for racial equality, the peaceful resistance of the oppressed prompted violence on the part of the oppressors, winning over more people to the side of the oppressed demonstrators. Whether this was always true is not mentioned, and is not well documented. However, the most publicized, and probably the most committed, violence was perpetrated by the oppressors, partly due to fear of losing their power.

When the parade which the two ladies organized to protest women's suffrage turns into a riot, because hecklers attack the suffragettes, we see the second type of action in living color. The women, themselves, did not become violent, but their oppressors did, and even some of the women who were afraid joined in the fray. The violence on the picket line when Paul and Mrs. Leighton join it is another example of violence on the part of the oppressors. Both of these...

However, the pacifists of NAWSA deplored the actions of their leaders, prompting the women to quite the organization and start their own: National Woman's Party (NWP).
The two main characters and their followers showed clearly that King (and Ghandi) was right. Passive resistance, acceptance of jail instead of backing down, hunger strikes, calls for boycott, peaceful demonstrations, and simply refusing promises of future change are all means of peaceful resistance to oppression. Senator Leighton's wife left when he cut her allowance for being involved with the NWP. However, Senator Leighton's wife shows the power of peaceful resistance works when her husband is won over by seeing how she is treated in prison. Senator Leighton is one of King's "men of good will" who only need to be shown the truth to become part of the action against oppression.

King's speech was well done, but, as it has been pointed out many times, "a picture is worth a thousand words." This film shows the true strength of passive resistance and peaceful resistance and powerfully dramatizes the strength and courage of women who worked on this movement. We all owe them a debt of gratitude, and we should work to make their dreams complete reality. Just as we need to watch for ways to end racial discrimitation, we need to foster gender equality in every possible way.

References

Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. 196?. "Three Types of Resistance to Oppression,"

HBO Films 2006. Iron- Jawed Angels. http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/

Wikipedia 2005 Article on the Execution of Mary Barrett Dyer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dyer