Gender analysis paper
People across the world are accustomed to seeing figures such as President Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing the the United Nations. This summer a woman in a pale gray suit standing at the podium in the iconic General Assembly hall was not a world leader, she just plays one on TV. In character as Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, the lead character in the CBS drama "Madam Secretary," What makes Madam Secretary so exceptional is the fact that, while its purpose of creating a strong female lead is very obvious, Elizabeth’s struggle of overcoming typical gender roles is not focused on within the show. We never see Elizabeth hiding in her office, nervous about addressing …show more content…
Although on Madam Secretary, almost all of Elizabeth’s colleagues that are of equal or superior status, nationally or internationally, are men. Elizabeth must assert herself within this group in order to do her job, and she does so with confidence. However, she does it in a way that suggests partnership and collaboration, never an aim for dominance. The problem is, not all of her colleagues play by the same rules, Russell Jackson, White House Chief Of Staff, frequently clashes with Elizabeth because of her lack of political background and how Russell believes things should be done. Although Jackson technically has a lower position of power than the Secretary of State, He is often given a position of power that mostly resembles or even exceeds Elizabeth’s power she holds as Secretary of State. And this can be seen as a form of sexism, although this is probably not the case as the president wants his advisors to have different opinions so he can better understand the impacts of a decision on foreign affairs and national security. These are the topics that both Elizabeth and Jackson hold very different opinions on and can be called experts on. This allows for a more unbiased view from more perspectives than before. Elizabeth and Jackson serve at the pleasure of the president, and while they never shy away from confidently expressing their opinion, they both recognize their lower position of power. But this leads to a lot of arguments behind closed doors. Although Jackson’s additional power wasn't meant to be sexist, throughout the show there have been multiple events when Elizabeth had to put Jackson in his place, or even threaten him because he was taking the power to his head. Jackson’s actions can be seen as him trying to be more prominent than Elizabeth because she has a more powerful position than him, and a successful woman. However this
People across the world are accustomed to seeing figures such as President Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing the the United Nations. This summer a woman in a pale gray suit standing at the podium in the iconic General Assembly hall was not a world leader, she just plays one on TV. In character as Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, the lead character in the CBS drama "Madam Secretary," What makes Madam Secretary so exceptional is the fact that, while its purpose of creating a strong female lead is very obvious, Elizabeth’s struggle of overcoming typical gender roles is not focused on within the show. We never see Elizabeth hiding in her office, nervous about addressing …show more content…
Although on Madam Secretary, almost all of Elizabeth’s colleagues that are of equal or superior status, nationally or internationally, are men. Elizabeth must assert herself within this group in order to do her job, and she does so with confidence. However, she does it in a way that suggests partnership and collaboration, never an aim for dominance. The problem is, not all of her colleagues play by the same rules, Russell Jackson, White House Chief Of Staff, frequently clashes with Elizabeth because of her lack of political background and how Russell believes things should be done. Although Jackson technically has a lower position of power than the Secretary of State, He is often given a position of power that mostly resembles or even exceeds Elizabeth’s power she holds as Secretary of State. And this can be seen as a form of sexism, although this is probably not the case as the president wants his advisors to have different opinions so he can better understand the impacts of a decision on foreign affairs and national security. These are the topics that both Elizabeth and Jackson hold very different opinions on and can be called experts on. This allows for a more unbiased view from more perspectives than before. Elizabeth and Jackson serve at the pleasure of the president, and while they never shy away from confidently expressing their opinion, they both recognize their lower position of power. But this leads to a lot of arguments behind closed doors. Although Jackson’s additional power wasn't meant to be sexist, throughout the show there have been multiple events when Elizabeth had to put Jackson in his place, or even threaten him because he was taking the power to his head. Jackson’s actions can be seen as him trying to be more prominent than Elizabeth because she has a more powerful position than him, and a successful woman. However this