overcoming invisibility • feminist movement • women's suffrage • World War II • the Great Depression • Arab women
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
A Veiled Revolution (USA 1982)
Film, 16 mm, 26 min., color, in English
Made by Elizabeth Fernea and Marilyn Gaunt
Distributor: International Development Education Resources Association (IDERA Films) (Canada)
Egypt was the first Arab country where women marched in political demonstrations (1919); the first where women took off the veil (1923); and the first to offer free public secular education to women (1924). Today the granddaughters of those early Arab feminists are returning to traditional garb, sometimes with full face veil and gloves, which they call Islamic dress. What are the reasons for this new movement? Is it an echo of the Iranian revolution? Is it a rejection of Western values? What do women themselves say about it? This film looks at some of this history, and attempts to answer some of these questions.
ASIA
Power to the Women in Us (Philippines)
Slideshow, color, in English
Made by Center for Women's Resources
Distributor: Center for Women's Resources (CWR) (Philippines)
This slideshow depicts the history of colonialism in the Philippines and how women have been oppressed.
Japanese Women (Japan)
Film, 30 min., in English
Made by Don Hopkins, John Tayler
Distributor: Studio D (USA), National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
A film that contrasts the changing roles and problems of women in Japan and North America. Archival footage describes the impact of the U.S. military occupation on the status of women in postwar Japan and contemporary footage captures prevailing cultural attitudes.
Fusae Ichikawa: Japanese Woman Suffragist (Japan 1976)
Ninth in a ten-part series
Video, U-matic, 30 min., color, in Japanese, Chinese and English
Director: Haruko K. Watanabe
Producer: HKW Video Workshop
Distributor: HKW Video Workshop (Japan)
Fusae Ichikawa, 82-year-old pioneer woman suffragist and a member of the Diet (parliament), discusses the history of the Japanese women's suffrage movement, initiated by Raicho Hiratsuka and herself. She also makes an apology to the Filipino people for Japan's wartime behavior. She talks about her views of the women's liberation movement in Japan and the activities of the National Organization for Women in the United States.
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
Bread and Dripping (Australia 1981)
Film, 16 mm., 20 min., color, in English
Made by Wiminsfilms Collective
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
In this film, women talk about their experiences of the Great Depression in Australia. The use of archival footage illustrates the hardships women faced in a time of political and economic crisis. The Great Depression, and in particular the role of women in that period, has been neglected in Australian history. The memories of these women about their experiences at that time are relevant today.
EUROPE
La Historia de la Mujer a Traves de los Tiempos (Spain)
(Women's History Through the Years)
Slideshow, 40 min., color and b/w, in Spanish
Made by Union de Mujeres Feministas
Distributor: Union de Mujeres Feministas (Spain)
This audiovisual illustrates the many ways in which women have contributed to the history of humanity. The slideshow is divided into five parts, each of which deals with a different historical period from antiquity to modern times.
The Paris Commune, 1871 (Canada 1976)
Video, 3.4 in., 30 min., color, in English
Made by Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
The workers' revolution of Paris in 1871 and women's contributions to it are the topics of this extensively researched videotape. The Commune, although short-lived, attempted to create an alternative social and economic order where workers' interests were the priority. Women played an active role and were described as heroic and noble by supporters of the revolution. A historical document of an important social revolution, the tape also raises questions about women's strategies within other social movements.
The Song of the Shirt (England 1979)
Film, 16 mm, 135 min., b/w, in English
Made by Susan Clayton, Jonathan Curling and the Film and History Project
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
The film examines the lives and working conditions of women employed in the clothing industry in 19th century England. With the decline of cottage industries following the introduction of mechanized forms of production thousands of women left home for London to work as apprentice dressmakers. The film goes beyond the stories of the needlewomen to consider the role of women in British history and industrialization.
Teresa Rebull: Una Experiencia Cantada (Spain 1985)
(Teresa Rebull: A Story in Song)
Video, U-Matic (PAL), 3/4 in., 32 min., color, in Catalan
Made by Teresa Valls
Distributor: Atelier Video Saint Roch. T.V.S.R. (France)
This video tells the story of a Spanish woman's experiences during the course of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the Franco dictatorship (1939-78) and the return to democracy in the late 1970s. The woman is from Catalonia, a region famous for its anarcho-syndicalist tradition and fierce opposition to fascism, as well as for its strong cultural and linguistic traditions. An experimental documentary, the video interprets historical events by looking at the protagonist's personal feelings about life and politics, as an alternative to traditional historical accounts that focus on external events and male protagonists.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Retrato de Mulher (Brazil)
(Portrait of a Woman)
Slideshow and video (VHS), 14 min., color, in Portuguese
Made by Colectivo de Mujeres de la Fundacion Carlos Chagas
Distributor: Fundacion Carlos Chagas (Brazil)
This slideshow sheds light on women's "invisible" contributions to Brazilian history.
Tigresa (Brazil 1978)
(Tigress)
Film, 16 mm, 16 min., b/w, in Portuguese
Made by Wilson Barros
Distributor: Cinema Distribucao Independente (Brazil)
A woman recalls her life in Sao Paulo from 1967-77, a time of intense social and political struggles between Brazilian civil society and the ruling military regime. This film won the award for best montage at the 12th Film Festival of Brazil in 1979.
La Historia de la Mujer en Peru (Peru 1984)
(The History of Women in Peru)
Slideshow, 120 min., color, in Spanish
Made by Revista Mujer y Sociedad
Distributor: Revista Mujer y Sociedad (Peru)
This slideshow deals with Peruvian women's lives and the various ways they have organized themselves from pre-Incan times to the present.
La Mujer y la Ciudad (Peru)
(Women and the City)
Slideshow, 80 slides, 12 min., in Spanish
Made by CEDHIP
Distributor: Centro Peruano de la Mujer Flora Tristan (Peru)
Parts I and II of an audiovisual history of women in Peru from the 17th to the 20th century.
Historia de la Participacion de la Mujer en Mexico (Mexico)
(The History of Women's Participation in Mexico)
Slideshow, color, in Spanish
Made by Comunicacion Intercambio y Desarrollo Humano en America Latina (CIDHAL)
Distributor: CIDHAL (Mexico)
This slideshow is still being produced as the guide goes to press (June 1985). Advance information indicates it deals with the changing role of women in Mexican society from 1900 to 1940.
NORTH AMERICA
Histoire des Luttes Feministes au Quebec (Canada 1980)
(The History of Feminist Struggles in Quebec)
Video, 1/2 and 3/4 in., 40 min., b/w, in French
Producer: Video Femmes
Distributor: Groupe Intervention Video (GIV) (Canada)
This video is based on a talk given by Canadian women's historian Michele Jean. Jean was one of the first academics in her field to challenge the age-old concept of history as a record of male deeds and to rescue women's history from its status as a secondary field. Here, as in her essay entitled "Twentieth Century Quebecois Women," Jean describes and analyzes major trends in the history of the women's liberation movement from a feminist perspective.
Some American Feminists (Canada 1975)
Film, 16 mm, 56 min., color, in English
Made by Nicole Brossard, Luce Guilbeault and Margaret Westcott
Producer: Office National du Film du Canada
Distributor: Office National du Film du Canada (France)
Ten years of North American feminism as recounted by well-known feminist activists and writers Betty Friedan, Kate Millet, Margo Jefferson, Ti-Grace Atkinson, Lila Karp and Rita Mae Brown.
Just a Lady (Canada 1980)
Film, 20 min., in English
Made by Margaret Wescott and Kathleen Shannon
Distributor: Studio D (USA), National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
The film examines a photo album of a single family, discovering six generations of women in the process. The evolution of women from the Victorian era to today is shown.
Emerging Woman (USA 1974)
Film, 16 mm, 40 min., b/w, in English
Director: Helena Solberg-Ladd
Producer: Women's Film Project, Inc.
Distributor: The Development Education Center (DEC) (Canada)
Emerging Woman is a carefully researched documentary film about the history of women in the United States. Using old engravings, photographs, newsreels, and other film clips, the filmmakers show the varied economic, social, and cultural experiences of women, how they felt about their condition, and how their sex, race and class often determined their priorities. The film traces women's struggle to attain equal rights in education, employment, politics and the courts. Special attention is given to myths that have distorted our images of women and to the important role played by Black women in struggles for freedom and equality.
Great Grandmother (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 29 min., color, in English
Made by Anne Wheeler
Distributor: New Day Films (USA)
The film recreates the little-known history of pioneer women through oral history interviews, still photos, and dramatic reenactments.
Good Work, Sister! (USA)
Slideshow, video, 3/4 in. U-matic, Betamax, VHS, 20 min., in English
Producer: Northwest Women's History Project
Distributor: Northwest Women's History Project (USA)
During World War II, American women were actively recruited into defense production jobs for the war effort. They were encouraged to enter skilled trades that had been practiced exclusively by men in the past. Good Work, Sister! is a media production that tells the stories of women who went to work in the shipyards of Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, between 1942 and 1945. It illustrates the problems and successes that women war workers had and describes the context in which skilled shipbuilding jobs were first opened and then later closed to women.
Union Maids (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 45 min., in English
Made by Miles Mogulescu, Julia Reichert and James Klein
Distributor: New Day Films (USA)
This film documents the active participation of women, one of whom is Black, in union activities, during the Great Depression in the United States. A lot of archival material was used to depict the reality of those days. All these women were very militant and aware of sexism among their fellow workers and union activists.
Rosie the Riveter (USA 1979)
Film, 1 hour, in English
Made by Connie Fields
Distributor: Clarity Educational Films (USA)
Set in the wartime United States, this film tells the story of the "hidden army," the women drafted into the munitions factories when the men went off to war. It is based on extensive interviews with five women - three Black and two white — as well as original recruiting films and posters. The film presents a segment of women's struggle and development history books have ignored. It also shows us some of the recent history from which U.S. women's struggles evolved.
SEE ALSO
Other resources that address the themes of this chapter are listed below. The chapters where they may be found are given in boldface type.
WORLDWIDE
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Women of the World
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Women in Struggle
Fatma '75 (Tunisia)
ASIA
Our Work
Tamaku Chakila Gob Aali (India)
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Japanese Women (Japan)
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
Lesbian/Gay Liberation
Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters (Australia)
EUROPE
Women in Struggle
Donna: Women in Revolt (Italy)
Vrouw (Italy)
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Tue Recht und Scheue Niemand (W. Germany)
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The Craft of Culture
Mulheres de Cinema (Brazil)
Eh Pagu Eh! (Brazil)
NORTH AMERICA
Against Apartheid and Racism
Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker (USA)
The Long Shadows of the Plantation (USA)
Black Women Organized for Social Change: 1800-1920 (USA)
Our Work
Talkin' Union (USA)
Lesbian/Gay Liberation
Before Stonewall (USA)