Feminism & Hidden Figures

“And I work like a dog, day and night just to live from a pot of coffee none of you wanna touch!
So excuse me if I have to go and relieve myself a few times a day.” This was one of the most interesting scenes in the movie Hidden Figures that shocked me the most. The United States was in a race against Russia to see who would get to the moon first, NASA was working hard on their technologies to make sure that the USA was the winner. During that time racism was still something ongoing and with the Jim Crow law being something that caused segregation, things weren’t easy for African Americans. With NASA working to get to their goal, a section at NASA had some formidable women who because of their skin color and their gender were discriminated against, and not only that were ignored. Those women finally being noticed by their higher-ups were able to climb from their pits. However, they were still ignored and seen as lesser not only for their skin but also their gender, they were viewed as women who couldn’t possibly know what they were doing and the men should be doing that job. Based on a true story, these women made history possible not only with their great achievements but also with the way they stood for the women’s gender and for people with they’re skin color. Just like them, women in this day and age are striving to make themselves important and make themselves known. They go to lengths to make sure they are heard and understood, even sometimes taken seriously because in this society women are always put down for things that they aren’t responsible for.

Women had always received backlash for whatever they tried to do and they always tried to show society that they could do better if they were given the chance. Feminism is something that has been glorified for decades by women of any color, standing up for themselves and making sure that they’re heard for what they believe in and not what they are seen as. Throughout history women in politics have never been that great, women have always had to try more than they need to, just to make sure they are taken seriously. With feminism growing, that has opened a door for women who would like to take part in politics or would like to change things through politics. However, that hasn’t always been the case for in some cases many women had failed to make changes due to the oppression they faced. “Kidu the only MP who attempted to implement this provision to bring in additional women in the previous parliamentary term, but her proposal had been defeated in cabinet. Following the 2007 election, she made a second attempt to institute nominated seats. In this case, the prime minister then selected three women nominees following a recruitment process, but the leader of the opposition refused to support the move, and when Parliament voted to confirm the nominations, they were voted down” (63-65). Women have always tried many times to change things but it only has ever failed due to them having little to no power. When they try to use the little power they have they are put down. In a scene in the movie “Hidden Figures” one of the main characters Katherine, a mathematician who has been appointed to a higher rank just to help NASA find out a way to get to the moon, has been wanting to go to briefings that have been happening to conclude their work. Because every time her boss goes to these meetings he comes back with something new and she has to start over. In an argument with one of her colleagues, she argues that she needs to get inside because she needs to attend and see what goes on in there, but her colleagues keep on refusing her making it seem like it’s because she doesn’t have “clearance” about what’s talked in there. Their boss approaches them and asks her colleagues why she can’t, which pushes him to say that “she’s a woman and there’s no protocol that allows a woman in there”. Katherine wanted to do her job like she was assigned to do but due to her being a woman but also a colored woman, things became harder for her. This argument between her and that colleague had been going on for a long time, even with her persistence nothing worked for that colleague until their boss stepped in. With all that Katherine was able to finally show up to those briefings. She made sure that everyone in those briefings knew what she was capable of and how determined she was to achieve it.

Women are always told that men are the breadwinner and if they need something they should always look up to them to be able to achieve it. Legally Elle Woods is a lawyer who isn’t like a typical lawyer, she’s someone outgoing and very true to herself but also someone good at her job. After a trial that she had with her higher-up, he called her into the office to compliment her, and to acknowledge all the hard work she put in to make sure everything in this trial went well. Elle was very grateful for the compliments and felt seen because as someone who’s very free-spirited, many always doubted that he would do well in the courtroom. So having your boss compliment you and that person being someone very respected would make you feel accomplished. Now that it got to this point, her boss proposed to her that she try looking for other better options, which she was very thrilled about. However, her boss had other plans in mind, while talking to her about those proposals he made inappropriate advances towards her, to show that to get those better opportunities she would have to do something for him. Elle though crushed, disappointed, and scared stood up for herself and rejected his offer. To his surprise, he refuted back saying how she’ll get nowhere if she has that mindset (he didn’t say exactly that but it could be inferred that that’s what he meant). Not too long after that, though still feeling bad and uncomfortable about what happened, Elle showed him that she would get somewhere even without his help. All of this is just to showcase that women in their workplace though it’s very hard to be recognized for things that they do and things they believe are right, once they get to that milestone many people will try to bring them down and try to show them otherwise. Just like how Katherine was recognized as someone with a great mind she always had to try harder than she could to show how capable she is to do certain things and how she should be respected for it.

Women in politics always have to take extra steps just to show they’re diligent. People don’t listen to their ideas or points of view and no one tries to understand them just because they are women. Women interested in politics are turned away because they’re parents and many stereotypical things are said about them. Due to that many women that are running for a seat in the office have to do extra steps just to prove themselves. “ These female candidates adopted a variety of campaign strategies from Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst who touted her credentials as a soldier and a mother with unique ‘pork-cutting’ skills to Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis who emphasized her background as a single, working mother. These divergent strategies reflect the diversity of women running for political office, but also different ways candidates can talk about their gender.” Many with no real knowledge of how motherhood truly works tend to bring that factor into the political field and deem it as something that will affect women in their political journey. Women running for candidates have done many elections where they try to stick out for their uniqueness and not their gender and stereotypes around that. (195-197). Many say that women are emotional people and that they wouldn’t be able to lead a country or a state, due to how quick they are to make decisions, when in crisis or overwhelmed.

However, a study showed that during the time of crisis women whether parents or not were shown to show more leadership than men. Those women were seen as mostly capable of understanding their workers’ feelings and in many aspects lessening their burden. It was said that “female leaders expressed more awareness of fears that followers might be feeling, concern for wellbeing, and confidence in their plans.” Showing that even if women are emotional beings, having that as part of their identity allowed them to create a better workplace for people in their surroundings. They also took the time to make sure that they were doing their best and setting a good example so that their employees or colleagues could also feel comfortable in their workplace because a crisis was already enough to stress someone out.
Women in their time have always had difficulty taking power over things, sometimes they would find it hard to communicate their needs to society. Because society has always seen women as lesser than and always ignored their feelings because they always believed they had no common sense to help lead the world. However, some women who grew up in this oppressive state didn’t let society bring them down and always made an effort to strive for success. Many women want to be in politics and want to make a change for the women’s gender. No matter how many failures they’ve encountered they always tried their best to make things work out of them. The smallest success is a big step for them, so everything isn’t taken for granted. Connecting back to Hidden Figures we can see how far the main characters had to work and how they didn’t let their colleagues and higher-ups determine what they could and could not do. Something that can happen to help feminist women grow and strive to do more things, especially in politics, is voting for them or if not encouraging them. Lessening the stereotypes made about those women and their lives and also defending them, let society learn about the hidden side of their power, and help them grow to become something bigger, something powerful enough to make a change.

Kerryn Baker (2019), Pacific Women in Politics: Gender Quota Campaigns in the Pacific Islands, “Gender Quota Campaigns in Papua New Guinea, 2007-2012”, JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7r42qp.2

Papua New Guinea, women only had 2.8 % of parliamentary seats, though the number of female candidates has increased significantly. Only seven women have been elected since their independence. In the 2007–2012 term, Dame Carol Kidu, the only MP, introduced a bill that would have a gender quota. The Equality and Participation Bill, known as the ‘Women’s Bill’, would allow for a reserved seat for women in each province of Papua New Guinea. Kidu attempted to bring in additional women in the previous parliamentary term, but she was rejected. During the 2007 election, she attempted a second time for institute nominated seats. However the leader of the opposition didn’t support it so it failed. I do understand what feminism is about and what they strive to do, but I wanna understand things about the failures that many feminist encountered, this article was one of them.

Angela L. Bo’s & Monica C. Schneider (2017), The Political psychology of Women in U.S. Politics, “Gender Stereotypes and Group Identity”, Libproxy, https://www-taylorfrancis-com.libproxy.smith.edu/books/edit/10.4324/9781315544687/political- psychology-women-politics-angela-bos-monica-schneider

Women in politics come a long way because not only are they given stereotypes of how they’ll act but also they are put down for many things regarding the female gender. Motherhood, one of the factors that affects how these women are perceived but also how they present themselves in society. Many with no real knowledge on how motherhood truly works tend to bring that factor in the political field and deem it as something that’ll affect women in their political journey. Women running for candidates have done many elections where they try to stick out for their uniqueness and not their gender and stereotypes around that. Many women have experienced being described as a stereotype due to their gender and since women in politics have to deal with that, they choose to go to the extreme. I want to also talk about the work that feminist women have to put in order for their voice to be heard and how difficult it can be for them.

Hidden Figures, 2017
The United States was in a race against Russia to see who would get to the moon first, NASA was working hard on their technologies to make sure that the USA was the winner. With NASA working to get to their goal, a section at NASA had some formidable women who because of their skin color and their gender were discriminated against. However these women made history possible not only with their great achievements but also with the way they stood for equality, not only for them but also for people with their skin color. They became such an inspiration for many nowadays and are praised for their courage. Talking about this is to show how sometimes though women are always doubted by the people around them, they can prove to them that they are better.

Jack Zenger & Joseph Folkman (2020), Research: Women Are Better Leaders During a Crisis, hbr.org https://hbr.org/2020/12/research-women-are-better-leaders-during-a-crisis#:~:text=One%20study %20found%20that%20outcomes,leaders%20had%20lower%20fatality%20rates.

During the pandemic a study took place. People would take a survey towards men and women in the workplace, specifically leaders or people with a higher status in the workplace. In that survey they were rated on many aspects, such as comfortability in the workplace, the work done, the meeting and that. In that survey women were seen as more capable and better at leading when in crisis. Because it was around covid many people were stressed and many couldn’t focus on their work, though the women still were worried about the outcome of the virus, many showed leadership and guided their employees. Using this article will help me show how sometimes women are better at their job when they have pressure on them, though it’s not the ideal way to work. It shows how they are always striving to be their best no matter what.

Legally Blond (2001-2003)
Elle Woods is an aspiring lawyer and thought she went through a lot to get to where she is today, to show to her ex boyfriend that she doesn’t care anymore how good she can be. She started facing any challenges on her way up the ladder. While in school she was always judged for her character and at work she was always seen as nothing but pretty to her boss, though all these were setbacks she never let that stop her. Using this I can make a connection to Hidden figures to show how though these women were discriminated against they never let that stop them from reaching their goals.