Photo by Vlad Tchompalov
Independence among women came to the forefront of politics once again last year with the Women’s March on Washington to protest the presidency of President Donald Trump.
This did not come out as a “new” fab or fling, but has been around for years, but it had been on the back burner until our president brought up his consideration of women with comments made public by the press.
We can look back to several role models in our world of television and reality who stood up for women and their rights to independence. The role model who was one of the first to prove women could be independent and protect themselves from undesired sexual advances is Mary Richards of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” ran from 1970 to 1977 with WJM-TV news producer Mary Richards as the leading star. Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, was an independent woman in her 30’s who casually dated men, and who was committed to being the better at her career than any of her male co-workers, including her boss.
In today’s world, Mary Richards would fit in like an egg in the basket, but it was a new way of life for women of the 1970’s. Women through the 1950’s and 60’s were still predominately held lower in society than men for several careers and everyday jobs. We still, however, are not to the age of total equality for women in 2018. Women are still held below men for several professional and everyday positions in our society.
The effects holding women lower in society has caused them to be put through several situations such as seeing a man earn more money for the same job or being sexually abused. According to the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center, In Kentucky, 1 in 9 adult women has been “forcibly raped” at sometime in her life, which totals more than 175,000 women.
Sexual harassment has occurred for a long time, but it was pushed under the rug by men and women for multiple reasons. Several episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore” show put Richards in a position where she is sexually advanced by a date or even by a co-worker, however she always came out ahead and stood up for herself and her body, denying the advance or the relationship. Richards makes her own choices about dating and relationships based on her needs and the person as a whole.
The twist that makes her stand out is that she does not put her career or other’s opinion of herself before the sanctity of her body and her esteem. She denies the advance and speaks her mind without fear when she feels it is necessary.
This is a standard all women can come to appreciate in a time when women are still being taken at an advantage.