It’s watching films like this that really make you thankful for the era that you were born in, but also the fact that there is still so much work to be done for equality.

Suffragette follows the suffragette movement where women were campaigning for the right to vote, and we follow a group of working-class women as they deal with the changing tides of England as well as everything that’s happening in their daily lives, including husbands who have far too much power over them, sleazy bosses, and people that just do not seem to care.

It is based on a true story and you have to think how horrific it must’ve been to be a woman at that time. Women as young as 12 were being put to work and being harassed by much older men and it’s disgusting that, that sort of a way of life was common, and women didn’t have the right to speak up or say anything against it for the fear of being fired or distanced from the community as a whole.

And the fact that such a simple thing as giving women the equal right to vote could cause such a stir is crazy! We saw women setting off bombs and smashing shop windows and even Emily Davison throwing herself in front of the King’s horse to set an example is insane and something that we just cannot imagine now because we are so blessed to have the privilege that we do.

And it’s such a shame that so many people do not seem to care about what women have gone through in the past and how lucky they are to have what we do nowadays. There are still countries out there where women don’t have the same rights as men and women don’t get to be free with their bodies and feel safe with themselves and be able to be independent. It’s so disgusting because we are simply humans, everyone is created the same and it’s our own prejudices that make people different, and it’s got to stop and the only way that it can stop is with change, and we have to be strong enough to be that change.

I feel regardless of how you feel in your own world, in your bubble, if you see injustices or if you see things that you don’t think are right you should speak up. Especially if the other person doesn’t feel they can use their voice in that moment, we should be able to use the privilege that we have to speak up for people less privileged than ourselves, whether that is being a white person or a man or able-bodied or whatever. We should be helping each other because at the end of the day you could be in that situation and you’re just lucky that you’re not and you shouldn’t let your luck blindside you to injustices in the world and think ‘oh they’ll be okay’ or ‘they’ll get over it’ because you never know, they might not.

Think about if these women never did what they did and never had the courage to speak up for what they believed in, where would we be? Would women still have less rights than men? Would women still not be able to vote? Would women be second-class citizens? It’s absolutely horrific to think about and something that I don’t even want to dream about because it’s so scary.

If you want to be more informed about where we come from and what we’ve gone through and how thankful we should be for these women then I highly recommend you watch this film. I feel it’s one of those films that everyone should watch to really get an understanding of what we’ve gone through and this is the sort of issue we shouldn’t ignore, because without it we would not be in the positions that we are today, and history could easily repeat itself and we could lose those privileges once again. It’s just not a thought that even bares a moment thinking about.

What do you think of the suffragettes?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding