Dorothy Day

We first see the young Dorothy marching with suffragettes during a rally for Woodrow Wilson. What are she and her fellow marchers demanding? What was the situation of women in American society of 1917? Which of society's dictates for women do we see Dorothy flaunting in the film? (Supporting herself outside the home; smoking; wearing her hair short several years before this became popular in the Flapper era; espousing radical ideas and demonstrating them publicly; flaunting authority, even the police, and later, the church; going to jail; free love; agreeing to an abortion; entering into a common-law marriage; having and raising a child as a single parent.)

Dorothy and her fellow marchers were demanding the right to vote, the right to be considered a citizen, equal rights as men, and overall, women's rights. Women in American society of 1917 were considered second-class citizens. They did not have the same rights as men, they could not vote, they were, looked down upon for working a job outside of the home, they did not have authority, their husbands were in control of their life and their children, the women did not have rights to their own children or they own property once married. Throughout the film Dorothy Flaunts several of society's dictates for women, including working for a newspaper, smoking, preaching radical ideas for the time, flaunting her authority, going to jail for her beliefs and demonstrations, free love, having an abortion, and raising a child as a single parent. Dorothy unlike women of her time worked a job for a news paper as a reporter, it was through this job that we started to see her trying to spread the injustices that were happening around her through the paper, espousing radical ideas against authority. Dorothy is also seen throughout the movie as a smoker, she publicly took part in this activity no seen as acceptable for women but a men's activity. Considered an anarchist, Dorothy preached radical ideas for her time and for a woman throughout her life, from preaching free love,birth control, and women's rights in the 1910's to against nuclear weapons in the 1950's. Dorothy also flaunted authority over the church and the police, she told the archbishop that she wouldn't take the word "catholic" out of the sign and she continued to go against his wishes. Dorothy was jailed in her protest against Woodrow Wilson and was one of the 168 women who were jailed for "obstructing traffic" who once in jail went on a hunger strike. She was also arrested for civil disobedience several times during her fight in her campaign against nuclear weapons. Dorothy not only at one point in her life preached free love but also took part in it resulting in two pregnancies, one that she aborted and the other she raised on her own as a single parent. Getting abortion was going against the catholic church as well as her participation in free love, it was also not something supported in society as we saw when she was taken to a back street apartment for the procedure. Raising a child as a single mother was also not seen as proper for women in society, going against another aspect of society. Overall, Dorothy flaunted the ways she went against society and the church but she made a huge contribution to reform and helping those in need.

Dorothy Day in the center with two friends selling the New York Call in 1917.