The 30th Annual Women’s History Month Film Series Schedule

Mondays, Feb. 22 – March 21, 2016 ~ 7:00-9:00pm ~ 206 Kirkbride Hall

February 22: The Girls in the Band

In the 1930s and 1940s, hundreds of women musicians toured the country in glamorous All-Girl Bands, while others played side by side with their male counterparts. Yet by the mid-1950s female jazz musicians had literally disappeared from the workplace, their names, and their contributions to music, completely forgotten. The Girls in the Band tells the poignant stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 1930s to the present day. These incredibly talented women endured sexism, racism and diminished opportunities for decades, yet continued to persevere, inspire, and cultivate their talents in a field that seldom welcomed them. Gifted young women performers taking their rightful place in the world of jazz today stand on their shoulders.

Speaker: Nadjah Nicole of TV’s “The Voice”

February 29: A Girl Like Her

A Girl Like Her explores the hidden histories of over a million young women who became pregnant in the 1950s and 60s and were banished to maternity homes to give birth, surrender their children, and return home alone. They were told to keep their secret, move on and forget. The film combines footage from educational films and newsreels of the time period – about dating, sex, “illegitimate” pregnancy, and adoption – with the voices of these mothers as they speak today about the long-term impact on their lives of such rigidly imposed silence.

Speaker: Catherine Dukes, Planned Parenthood of Delaware

March 7: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry explores the history of the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971, from the founding of NOW, with ladies in hats and gloves, to the emergence of more radical factions of women’s liberation; from intellectuals like Kate Millett to the street theatrics of W.I.T.C.H. Combining archival footage with dramatizations and performances, the film recounts the stories of women who fought for equality, and in the process created a world-wide revolution. The film addresses many of the controversies over race, sexual preference and leadership that arose in the women’s movement and challenges many of today’s false stereotypes of second-wave feminism.

Speaker: Mary Jean Collins, Veteran Feminists of America

March 14: Gloria: In Her Own Words

Gloria: In Her Own Words, an intimate biographical portrait of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, takes a look back at her years as a reporter, her breakthrough exposé on the working conditions of Playboy Bunnies, and her experiences working with women during a 1969 abortion hearing in New York. The film showcases Steinem’s compassion and sharp sense of humor, as well as her role in founding of Ms magazine and becoming the “face” of modern feminism.

Speaker: Marie Laberge, University of Delaware Women and Gender Studies Department

March 21: Maquilapolis

Just over the border in Mexico is an area peppered with maquiladoras: massive factories often owned by the world’s largest multinational corporations. Carmen and Lourdes work at maquiladoras in Tijuana, where each day they confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos. In this documentary, the women reach beyond the daily struggle for survival to organize for change, taking on both the Mexican and U.S. governments and a major television manufacturer. Maquilapolis is a powerful film that brought filmmakers together with Tijuana factory workers and community organizers to tell the story of globalization through the eyes and voices of the workers themselves — overwhelmingly women — who have borne the costs but reaped few of the benefits. The result is not only an informative and disturbing film, but also an evocative and poetic one.

Speaker: Suzanne Cherrin, University of Delaware Women and Gender Studies Department