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Art and Politics: A Comparative Study of the American Women’s Suffrage Movement and Iranian Woman, Life, Freedom Movement
Abstract
Art and Politics: A Comparative Study of the American Women’s Suffrage Movement and Iranian Woman, Life, Freedom Movement Art can play a significant role in the movements by helping to shape public opinion and mobilize people towards a common cause. Artistic expressions such as literature, music, film, and visual art can be powerful tools for communicating ideas and emotions that resonate with people and inspire them to take action. Additionally, art can also serve as a form of protest and social commentary, highlighting the issues and injustices that are driving the revolutionary movement. The focus of this paper is a comparative study of the American Women’s Suffrage Movement and Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom movement, with a focus on paintings and poetry. During the 19th century, women were attributed with the key characteristics of gentleness, beauty, and were expected to maintain a housewife standard. They were defined as representing the values of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. However, the female suffragists challenged those ideas. More importantly, they strongly confronted the myth that “women have no place in politics” through different paintings and cartoons. Among those are Lou Rogers’ “Tearing of the Bonds”, and “Welding in the Missing Link”, which became the most prominent images employed in the Women's Suffrage Movement. Additionally, some American activists such as Charlotte Pekins Gilman wrote poems distributed in the format of postcards throughout the nations. American women utilized different arts not only to resist but also to push forward their movement. As a result of their efforts and fights, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. And on November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted in elections for the first time. In the Iranian Woman, Life, Freedom Movement, too, art has been playing a considerable role. The painting of Mahsa Amini, whose death sparked this movement became placards and posters which have been utilized by protesters across the globe. Moreover, Shervin Hajipour wrote a poem and sang it. His poem became the anthem of the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement. He is the first recipient of the 2023 Grammy for Best Song for Social Change. In sum, in both the American Women’s Suffrage Movement and Iranian Women, Life, Freedom, art played a significant role in inspiring, motivating, and mobilizing protesters.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
None