Many of Alfred Hitchcock's films contain a strong female lead. From Grace Kelly's Lisa in Rear Window to Ingrid Bergman's Alicia Huberman in Notorious, these actresses were characteristically assertive, intelligent and rarely allowed themselves to be sublimated by men.
The term feminist may be ambiguous, so I'll define a feminist for this situation as: a person who believes that women should enjoy the same benefits as men through equality in the political, social and economic spheres.
Consider Alma Hitchcock, his wife. She was by his side for many of his films, and was considered an asset in the editing room. Per the Hitchcock Wiki, Alma "...noticed Janet Leigh inadvertently swallowed after her character's fatal encounter with Norman Bates' "mother" in "Psycho" (1960), necessitating an alteration to the negative."
Or even Edith Head, Hitchcock's favorite costume designer, who won eight Academy Awards-- more than any other woman.
By including such characters (or such actresses) in his films, and surrounding himself with smart and successful women, was Alfred Hitchcock (either consciously or unconsciously) expressing a personal desire to see equal treatment for women?
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