Celebrate Women's History Month in March with these empowering movies
Need to feel empowered? These women can show you the way.
Despite making up more than half of the United States' population, women are underrepresented on TV screens and often get snubbed when it comes to awards nominations.
To help give women more of the recognition they deserve, we've lined up a Women's History Month movie guide to serve as a tool for learning about a variety of amazing women trailblazers and the impact they have made.
From the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's landmark legal wins to the first woman millionaire, here are the must-watch movies about women.
'The Woman King' (2022)
"The Woman King," set in the Dahomey kingdom of western Africa in 1823, tells the story of the real-life Agojie, an all-female military regiment protecting its people from threats of invasion. At the heart of the epic is Nanisca (Viola Davis), the skilled warrior general with the ear of King Ghezo (John Boyega), with her right-hand soldiers Amenza (Sheila Atim) and Izogie (Lashana Lynch) – and young recruit Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) – next to her in battle.
The film allows women "to look up on screen and see themselves heroic not as superheroes but real women," director Gina Prince-Bythewood told USA TODAY. "I want us to know that we still have so much fight to go and that we can do it together."
How to watch: Netflix
'Till' (2022)
"Till" stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of 14-year-old Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall), who was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi in 1955.
In one stunning, heartbreaking scene, Deadwyler's Mamie Till-Mobley is overcome with sorrow over her son's brutalized body. The movie received some criticism for piling on historical trauma for Black audiences, but Deadwyler told USA TODAY the film took "critical care" to not "re-traumatize."
She added: "Do you want to turn a blind eye to history in the way that certain people and systems and institutions want to turn a blind eye to our imprint on this country?"
How to watch: Peacock
'She Said' (2022)
Directed by German filmmaker Maria Schrader, "She Said" recounts the brave efforts of women who came forward about sexual misconduct by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the two New York Times journalists – Jodi Kantor (played by Zoe Kazan) and Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) – who broke the story in 2017.
The film details the painstaking process of finding and interviewing sources, as well as the challenges survivors faced in choosing to go on the record.
Weinstein is serving 23 years for his rape and sexual assault conviction in New York and another 16 years stemming from his Los Angeles criminal trial.
How to watch: Peacock
'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' (2021)
Director Lee Daniels' film about Jazz singer Billie Holiday, portrayed by Andra Day, tells the story of "Strange Fruit," a song Holiday made famous depicting the lynching of Black Americans. What's lesser known is how the United States government actively tried to take her down for singing it because they didn't want Black people in Jim Crow America galvanized by her musical telling of the horrors being perpetrated.
How to watch: Hulu
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (2020)
Netflix's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is a fictional drama about a real blues artist Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and tells a dramatized account of a tense recording session on a hot 1920s Chicago day.
Starring Viola Davis as Ma Rainey and Chadwick Boseman in one of his final roles as Levee, a young and hungry cornet player, director George C. Wolfe’s cinematic adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 play explores racial and sexual dynamics, though at its core it’s a struggle between a couple of very hard-nosed, stubborn and talented musicians.
Though Ma Rainey is dubbed the Mother of the Blues, Wolfe told USA TODAY there were only seven photos of the real Ma, an openly queer Black woman, to use for reference, noting that there were “hundreds” of pictures of Ma’s contemporary Bessie Smith in comparison.
How to watch: Netflix
'Miss Americana' (2020)
Taylor Swift practically grew up in the public eye and not without media scrutiny – whether for her relationships or her feud with Kanye West, now known as Ye. In her Netflix documentary "Miss Americana," Swift takes control of her story.
The look behind the scenes of the pop star's life touches on her music rights battle with Scooter Braun, the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty hashtag on social media and choosing to speak up about her political views after years of staying mum.
The film also shows her goofy side. We see Swift mocking her too-tight metallic dress for an awards show (“I look like a Pop-Tart wrapper”), but also wrestling to reconcile the “good girl” she’s always wanted to be with the mature, complex woman she’s become.
How to watch: Netflix
'I Am Greta' (2020)
Greta Thunberg caught the world's attention with her emotional speech in 2019 to world leaders at the U.N. Climate Action Summit. She was 16 at the time.
Thunberg made such a splash, she even found herself in the middle of a Twitter feud with former President Donald Trump.
"I Am Greta" follows the Swedish activist's rise to global prominence, from solo school strikes outside the Swedish parliament to regularly scolding world leaders at climate conferences. The film also shows the tolls of her newfound fame: how her father needs to remind her to eat and the way global inaction on climate change weighs on her psychologically.
How to watch: Hulu
'Self Made: Inspired By the Life of Madam C.J.' (2020)
"Self Made: Inspired By the Life of Madam C.J." brings the story of Madam C.J. Walker, who is known for becoming America's first female (not Black female, just first female) millionaire after developing a successful line of Black hair care products, to the Netflix screen.
The movie follows Walker, played by Octavia Spencer, from a balding, struggling washerwoman who was knocked down by racial and gender biases to her rise as an astute businesswoman and fierce activist with fabulous hair and a thriving company.
How to watch: Netflix
'Homecoming' (2019)
Is it really a Women's History Month women's empowerment viewing guide without Beyoncé, who has the most Grammy wins in history?
Aside from all her other notable accomplishments, the Destiny's Child alum became the first Black woman to headline Coachella in 2018, and put on a massive, two-hour tribute to HBCUs and Black Greek life, complete with a custom pyramid stage, a killer drumline and roughly 100 dancers.
Her Netflix documentary "Homecoming" details the grueling process she went through to prepare for her big debut following the birth of twins Sir and Rumi.
How to watch: Netflix
'On the Basis of Sex' (2018)
What better way to celebrate the life of the notorious RBG than a film about one of the justice's biggest legal wins.
"On the Basis of Sex" is part love story, part legal drama, showing how a young Ginsburg (Felicity Jones), then a lawyer, and her husband won their first case together in court in the early 1970s. The seemingly minor case, "Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue," involved an unmarried man who was denied a $600 tax deduction for payment for his aging mother's caretaker. The case ignited a spark in Ginsburg, who died in September 2020 at 87. The late Supreme Court justice continued to rail against gender discrimination throughout her storied career, and served in the highest federal court in the United States from 1993 to 2020.
Another good documentary about Ginsburg: "RBG" streaming on Netflix.
How to watch: Hulu
'Radium Girls' (2018)
"Radium Girls," starring Joey King, tells the true story of young women who were pioneers in the fight for workplace safety and public health.
At the center of the drama are women in the mid-1920s working factory jobs painting glow-in-the-dark watch dials with radioactive paint who fall mysteriously ill. The women were instructed to lick their brushes, unaware of the toxic materials they were ingesting. In the film, syphilis (a sexually transmitted infection), was cited by doctors as the reason for the women's illness and eventual death.
After one worker decides she's had enough, she rallies other women to launch a lawsuit against American Radium, a fictional company standing in for the real United States Radium Corporation.
How to watch: Amazon Prime
'Queen of Katwe' (2016)
Before Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" inspired a new generation of chess lovers, there was Disney's 2016 movie "Queen of Katwe," revealing the real-life story of Ugandan chess champ Phiona Mutesi.
Despite the Disney-fied melodrama, "Queen" uplifts with outstanding acting, deft filmmaking choices and the introduction of a new talent in Madina Nalwanga, who plays Mutesi.
Plus it's always fun seeing women crush it in a sport typically dominated by men.
How to watch: Disney+
'Hidden Figures' (2016)
We don't often see many women represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields in real life, let alone on the big screen.
"Hidden Figures" depicts the real-life story of 1960s Black NASA mathematicians Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), who died in 2020 at 101, Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), who died in 2005 at 83, and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), who died in 2008 at 98, who had to prove their worth in an era of overwhelming racial and gender inequality.
Jackson was the first Black woman to work at NASA as an engineer. In 2020, NASA’s headquarters in Washington was named after her.
Read more about women empowerment movies:
'The Woman King': The Viola Davis movie highlights joy, a less-depicted aspect of African storytelling
'She Said': Why the Harvey Weinstein movie is a 'tribute to the power' of journalism, working moms
'Till': Danielle Deadwyler cautions against skipping the film: 'Do you want to turn a blind eye to history?'
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom': Viola Davis sings the blues and demands her worth
Contributing: Amy Haneline, Anika Reed, Naledi Ushe, Brian Truitt, Patrick Ryan and Lindsey Schnell, USA TODAY; Alex Biese, Asbury Park Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women's History Month: Watch these movies about Billie Holiday, RBG
