“Bitches Get Stuff Done”

When I began thinking of ideas for this blog I instantly knew I wanted to discuss only the character played by Gina Torres in Suits, Jessica Pearson. Her character portrays pretty much a badass woman who runs the most dominant law firm out of New York City. However the more I researched and read, I found that Jessica Pearson is not the only BAMF (Urban Dictionary that if you don’t know what the acronym stands for) that has appeared on television over the years but are given little to no credit for how awesome these women really are. So, instead, I decided to discuss the representation roller coaster women have been on to gain strong female lead roles on television. Although this topic almost sounds like I am a ‘feminist’ and I am all about ‘women power’, I’m not the stereotypical roll down the street waving a flag type of feminist. It’s really just whatever to me (not that women power doesn’t matter because it does, I’m just not overboard with it.) This topic really becomes interesting to me because most of my favorite shows currently (even those on breaks) on television have women that play either the lead character or are shown to hold a strong position within their work setting. Throughout my blog I include television shows ranging from cartoon characters to dramas. 

As we all know, mostly anything on television primarily displays a patriarchal representation. We repeatedly witness this representation in shows such as Breaking Bad, Mad Men, even Grey’s Anatomy, etc. you get the point. In most instances audiences closely relate television to some form of realness. In an article written by Helen Ingham she states “there is a higher number of women in the population than men, so if television is more realistic, this should be reflected.”

Another issue I believe is important is whether or not women are accurately represented through television programs. Up until the last few years it was rare to see women hold any sort of strong lead role on television (at least any that we would remember.) Sitcoms such as Roseanne and Reba held the women in a strong family role as far as producing the ‘stay-at-home’ mother but lacked in providing the working mother routine. Most episodes displayed the women dealing with family issues, cleaning their homes or cooking for their families. However the balance between both was rarely existent; the women were never shown to have career advancements nor did they hold any authoritarian type of job position.

So while women have previously been totally under represented in a frame such as being unable to balance their career and personal lives. There has been a somewhat significant change that has taken place over the last few years; audiences are now seeing women hold lead roles in programming, with an obvious exclusion that I will further discuss a little later.

In Suits, Jessica Pearson, is an African American woman who co-founded Pearson-Hardman. As a managing partner, she holds the highest position in the firm. Just in that sentence alone I state two very significant points; the first is that she is an African American, the second is that a woman’s name comes first in a prestigious law firm in New York City! Likewise, Scandal features an African American woman who ‘fixes’ the political scandals, while she then too becomes political news (after an ongoing involvement with the President of the United States comes to light.) Like Suits, Scandal is based in an office named after the lead role in the show,  “Olivia Pope & Associates.” While both women hold high-ranking employment positions they lack the family orientated view. Again, the balance between being career driven and maintaining a family or even having children is non-existent. Like I stated none of the women in these programs have children, which can demonstrate that women are capable of handling only one or the either, but not both. This essentially becomes a misinterpretation in the real world. According to an article by Neda Ulaby, she states that “despite the fact that, of working women, 60 percent are working mothers.” Followed up by a quote from Jennifer Newsom stating “well, you know, our focus study group, they weren’t comfortable with the mother [character] working so hard and blah, blah, blah.” While according to the Geena Davis Institute, TV programs presented only 14 percent of companies being ran by women, while in realty it is 25 percent. And even with women having lead roles, they are still backed with a strong male character (bringing in the patriarchal ideology.)

Other programs such as Dora the Explorer portray women as the go-getter in society (obviously she has no children because she herself is a child!) while she is always looking for new explorations (of course with the company of Boots and back-pack) she is seen as role model to little girls. With this fact, it is clear on why she made the top list of powerful ‘women’ on television.

In conclusion, with the television programs I’ve discussed it is easy to see that the women in these shows are quite independent, career driven and ready to get shit done. The problem is that they are yet to be fully acknowledged for being able to balance their lives between their careers and their families (when that time comes.) To me it seems that over the last few years with the rise of women having lead roles becomes important in the sense that young girls will see this as motivation to become powerful working women.

Ingham, Helen. "The Portrayal of Women on Television." Women on Television. N.p., Nov. 1995. Web. July 2014.

Leahey, Colleen. "25 Most Powerful Female TV Characters." Fortune 25 Most Powerful Female TVCharacters Comments. Fortune, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. July 2014.

Pless, Deborah. "Kiss My Wonder Woman: Strong Female Character Friday: Jessica Pearson (Suits)." Kiss My Wonder Woman: Strong Female Character Friday: Jessica Pearson (Suits). N.p., 31 Jan. 2014. Web. July 2014.

Pless, Deborah. "‘Suits’: Secretly Subversive When It Comes to Talking About Women in the Workforce." BitchFlicks. Kiss My Wonder Woman, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. July 2014

Ulaby, Neda. "Working Women On Television: A Mixed Bag At Best." NPR. NPR, 18 May 2013. Web. July 2014.