7 inspiring feminist movies every woman should watch at least once

Cast: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart

What’s The Story: Erin Brockovich is a single mother who is desperate for a job and ends up getting one at a law firm despite having no legal experience. But she isn’t taken seriously because of her trashy dressing and unsophisticated mannerisms.

She comes across a case involving a power company that’s poisoning its customers by polluting the water it supplies them and goes to lengths to make sure that their illegal activities are exposed. Based on a true story, this case was one of the biggest class-action lawsuits against a million-dollar corporation in American history. Roberts won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance.

Why is it inspiring: It shows that women should never be judged by the way they dress or behave and that Brockovich was a heroine who didn’t let her appearance define her or the fact that she wasn’t legally trained get in the way of doing the right thing and letting justice prevail.

Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Glen Powell, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali

What’s The Story: It’s the 1960s in America and racial segregation was commonplace, despite African-Americans fighting against it. Even NASA wasn’t excused from this racist policy, as African-Americans were segregated at the workplace too. As the organisation worked towards putting a man in space – and doing this before Russia did – three women were the ‘human computers’ behind the fact that John Glenn managed to do so. And this is their story.

Why is it inspiring: We hear the stories of male astronauts and how they broke new ground all the time but now we know about the contributions of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Gobels Johnson, the women who worked behind the scenes and were the brains behind some of NASA’s success stories.

Cast: Parminder Nagra, Kiera Knightley, Jonathan Ryhs-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Archie Panjabi

What’s The Story: Jess Bhamra is the daughter of Indian immigrants living in the UK and loves football. But her parents don’t think it’s an appropriate activity for a girl to partake in and instead try to teach her how she, as a respectable Indian girl, should behave (this includes learning how to make the perfect round chapati).

Why is it inspiring: It shows that women (and girls) can set their own paths in life if they have a talent in something even if it is not considered what’s expected of her and her family/racial traditions. Because sometimes you just have to bend the rules, with the help of your family and friends.

Cast: Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Diane Keaton,

What’s The Story: Imagine being married to a man and supporting him and his career for decades, then he dumps you for a younger model. This is what three friends realise they have in common, when they reunite after 30 years. They decide to take revenge on their exes and get justice for what happened to them.

Why is it inspiring: Women standing up for each other, reclaiming their independence, and showing men that they can no longer be taken advantage of – what’s not to love about this? Plus, it’s really fun too.

Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen

What’s The Story: Gadot’s Wonder Woman is not just a superhero, she’s a badass (here are other Badass Women to Watch in 2020). Born as Diana, an Amazon princess, her destiny has always been to be a warrior and she has been training for it on the island where she lives. Then a pilot literally crashes into her life and tells her about a conflict taking place in his world. Diana sees this as her calling and that she’s the woman for the job of ending that war.

Why is it inspiring: It’s a kind of coming-of-age flick about how Diana becomes Wonder Woman and how she discovers her powers and what she’s capable of. We can’t think of anything more inspiring than a woman who finds her calling and fulfils her destiny by saving the world.

Premieres on March 8 at 9pm on Warner TV.

Cast: Characters voiced by Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Muphy, BD Wong, Pat Morita

What’s The Story: Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the Chinese army so that her elderly, ailing father doesn’t have to serve. Even when her real identity is revealed, she does her best to take on the opposing army. If animated movies aren’t your thing, wait for the live-action remake coming to cinemas later this month.

Why is it inspiring: A woman with no fear who challenges gender roles and does something brave so that her father doesn’t have to go through any hardship. Now, that’s empowering stuff.

Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann

What’s The Story: Her mother has died, her marriage has ended and this has resulted in Cheryl Strayed’s destructive behaviour. She decides to pick herself up and go on an empowering journey – hiking alone on one of the longest and toughest trails in America. It’s tough, it’s scary but it’s also, ultimately, rewarding and healing.

Why is it inspiring: It’s based on a true story so the courage that Cheryl shows is really impactful. The real Cheryl was 26 when she embarked on her hike, which inspires us to go out and do something meaningful with our lives too.

Read Next

18 Singapore women who are doing Singapore proud

Are you planning to travel solo? You must read these 8 tips to stay safe

What she’s truly thinking: Single and turning 40