iEARN-USA Intern, Dasom Jeon, shares her thoughts on Women’s History Month and recommendations for books and films on women’s rights and perspectives.
Hi! My name is Dasom and I’m an marketing and communications intern at iEARN-USA from South Korea. I expected the life in the U.S would be much better for women while I was living in South Korea. I can say it’s better but not enough. I hope the better world that I as a woman could live my life confidently and happily integrating into the society and people around me everywhere. We have to know more, and keep raising our voice for women’s rights.
Since one of my major is movies and films, I learn and get inspired from them a lot. For this Women’s History Month, I believe that one of the best ways to feel motivated and inspired is to learn through books, and films of women’s stories. We can easily learn more about what we’ve made, and the work that still needs to be done.
Here are the ones to try out this Women’s History Month!
Books
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
In these essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color and comments on the state of feminism today. The portrait that emerges is not only of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but an inspiring call to arms of all the ways we still need to do better.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
It shows how women had been treated throughout history. It is often regarded as a major work of feminist philosophy and the starting point of second-wave feminism.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
It deals with the lives of African American women in the South during the 1930s. It won a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In this, many of the characters breakaway from traditional gender roles. It was later adapted into a film and musical of the same name.
Films
North Country (2005)
A fictionalized account of the first majorly successful sexual harassment case in the United States, this film follows the female miners who fought for their right to work without suffering the abuse their male coworkers heaped on them because of their gender.
Mulan (1998)
Based on the legend of Fa Mulan, this animated feature film follows Mulan as she impersonates a man to take her father’s place during the battle against the Hun invasion.
Suffragette (2015)
In early 20th-century Britain, the growing suffragette movement forever changes the life of working wife and mother Maud Watts. Galvanized by political activist Emmeline Pankhurst, Watts joins a diverse group of women who fight for equality and the right to vote.
