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<\/p>\n[tps_header]In all honesty, there should probably be more than one International Women’s Day a year–doesn’t it seems odd that despite two whole millennia of civilization, around\u00a0half of our population is glaringly\u00a0underpaid and underrepresented when compared to the other half? Strong women are all around us, from mothers and\u00a0friends who support us daily to the public figures\u00a0who inspire us with their work. Sometimes, even fictional characters can be a source of strength and empowerment, but then again, that should come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever enjoyed Jane Eyre.<\/p>\n
It’s maddening when television shows aren’t realistic or relatable in their portrayals of women, but sometimes, either through stellar performances or sharp plot direction, the woman on screen really does become someone you can genuinely see as a sister to learn from. Here are some of the silver screen’s strongest offerings right now:[\/tps_header]<\/p>\n
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Ah, poor\u00a0Doubt<\/em>: it just aired its second episode and the ABC series has already been cancelled.\u00a0That being said, I would have tolerated Katherine Heigl’s (unfortunately) insufferable turn as a litigator\u00a0for a million\u00a0seasons as long as I got to see Laverne Cox’s Cameron Wirth give Heigl the side-eye every episode. As a black, transgender lawyer who is astoundingly dignified when being open about her struggles, it was truly a privilege\u00a0to learn even a tiny spoonful\u00a0about experiences which many of our trans friends would identify with. There simply isn’t enough trans representation in our media and till Cox finds her next project, I’d say these first two episodes are well worth the watch.<\/p>\n Priyanka Chopra’s Alex Parrish is the MacGyver of negotiations, and it’s nice to see a semi-secret agent get by on wits and words over guns drawn from the slit in her skintight dress. On Quantico<\/em>, Parrish routinely talks her friends out of sticky situations, is quick to take stock of deceptive situations, and most importantly, is a strong advocate of using teamwork to accomplish big things.\u00a0Once an FBI agent-in-study and now a CIA trainee, Parrish is a naturally gifted at going with the flow and navigating\u00a0choppy waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Okay, perhaps Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Selina Myer isn’t quite back on TV just yet, but come April 16, she will be, and there’s no doubt she’s going to be as nutty and inspired\u00a0as usual. Fans of Veep<\/em> saw the 2016’s U.S.\u00a0election unfold with a deep sense of dread–many of the most egregious jokes made at Myer’s expense were but thinly-camouflaged barbs most often thrown at one Hilary Rodham Clinton–but Myer’s focus on achieving the office of power is genuinely inspiring when reviewed in context. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is sensational and Selina Myer is sensationally manic, but as a woman intent on ruling a boy’s club, it’s clear that Selina Myer will set fire to the house if she can’t conquer it, and it’s hard not<\/em> to empathise with that feeling.<\/p>\n Ostensibly, the strongest Shonda Rhimes character on screen is Viola Davis’s headstrong lawyer in How To Get Away With Murder<\/em>, but it’s Scandal<\/em>‘s Olivia Pope who makes this list for the simple reason that\u00a0she’s genuinely dangerous. Kerry Washington’s facial contortions can be distracting on screen, but the threats she makes as Olivia Pope are the whole reason I watch the show. People either see her character as a god or as a scared little girl always getting trapped by increasingly complex circumstances, but the whole point is that most of the show has always been Pope against the world, and to see Olivia Pope\u00a0survive–maybe even thrive–through crises is entertaining if not endearing. (Also, for anyone that thinks Olivia Pope is as soft as her wardrobe makes her look, that one time, she\u00a0beat someone to death with a chair because he made lewd comments intended to trigger her PTSD.)<\/p>\n Melissa McCarthy is a global treasure and I’m aware that most of us\u00a0know that, but her baby-with-a-sledgehammer portrayal of current White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is\u00a0almost historically noteworthy in the grander repertoire\u00a0of SNL characters. If you’ve watched any of Spicer’s press briefings, you’ll know for a fact that McCarthy’s infantile playground bully antics aren’t actually that far from the mark; the problem is, most people don’t<\/em> watch White House press briefings, which means they don’t<\/em> get educated on how\u00a0one of the most powerful offices in the world is operating. Doing skits on Sean Spicer is something we can thank the SNL writer’s room for, but for utterly committing to the bizarre, almost nonsensical mannerisms\u00a0of the Trump administration’s press liaison, McCarthy is the one that reminds us that even the folks in power can be\u00a0of questionable sanity.<\/p>\n Cersei Lannister is the resident bad girl of the Game of Thrones<\/em> ladies, ’nuff said. Does she have dragons or training as a knight? Perhaps not, but Lena Headey’s plotting, political aristocrat will betray anyone and anything for her children, and the reason we love to hate her is that Cersei knows how to follow through. If you’re still not buying it, in the last season’s finale, she killed off almost all her enemies by blowing up the very place where she was to be tried for conspiracy: a little excessive, some might say, but with few enough\u00a0loose ends to reveal Cersei as a master of strategy.<\/p>\n Samantha Bee is one of TV’s strongest women because she’s fighting for all of us, not just herself. Through her innovative reporting formats, caustic humour and well-researched, watertight arguments, Bee is a champion of sanity and balancing anger with humour. The way she holds politicians accountable is rather masterful journalism, while her ability to identify the contexts that make her questions important is something that educates us without being patronizing.<\/p>\n Taraji P. Henson’s been doing well as the front-woman of Hidden Figures<\/em>, but it’s still Empire<\/em>‘s Cookie she’s best-loved for, and with good reason. As a mom constantly juggling between saving her children and her\u00a0devious husband from each other, Cookie’s got it tough, but she never crumbles. The matriarch of the Lyon clan is fierce, both in dress sense and family pride, and with equal airtime given to her schemes and her love of her independence, in many ways Cookie is the ideal woman of the 21st century.<\/p>\n Not many people are going to find joy in a dystopian series where women are seen as walking wombs but, for what it’s worth, the upcoming TV adaption of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale<\/em> is likely to be a masterpiece. With Elizabeth Moss starring as Offred, the stalwart, hopeful narrator yearning to escape her life in a time when women who can’t bear children are called Unwomen, the time is right for a story about fighting your way out of your worst nightmare. Too many women in different parts of the world still don’t have the privileges shared by those in developed, forward-thinking cities, and Offred’s tale could not be better timed to remind us that the fight is lightyears from being over.<\/p>\n Christine Baranski’s veteran lawyer Diane Lockhart is the woman many of us wish we were: skeptical, smart, sassy and sophisticated, Lockhart is exactly the person you want in your corner when litigation gets tricky. After playing support for a number of seasons in The Good Wife<\/em>, Baranski’s chance to become a showrunner in The Good Fight<\/em> is both epically binge-able and totally satisfying. Reeling from a huge financial scam connected to her and her daughter, Lockhart is forced out of her previous job and takes up with a new Chicago firm in the new series, highlighting the difficulties of re-starting your life when a scandal wreaks havoc with your professional bearing.<\/p>\n [tps_footer]Main image via Bell Media[\/tps_footer]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [tps_header]In all honesty, there should probably be more than one International Women’s Day a year–doesn’t it seems odd that despite two whole millennia of civilization, around\u00a0half of our population is glaringly\u00a0underpaid and underrepresented when compared to the other half? Strong women are all around us, from mothers and\u00a0friends who support us daily to the public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84327,"featured_media":103709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81718],"tags":[82726,69244,82724,78824,80247,82723,65612,68286,82721,82720,72065,81741,78823,78268,82719,82718,66396,82573,82727,82728,82725,82722,74123],"class_list":["post-103443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-christine-baranski","tag-joe-simpson","tag-empire","tag-indigestion","tag-collagen-production","tag-julia-louis-dreyfus","tag-katherine-heigl","tag-flawless-finish-sponge-cream-makeup","tag-laverne-cox","tag-lena-headey","tag-melissa-mccarthy","tag-oitnb","tag-herbs","tag-dryness","tag-quantico","tag-samantha-bee","tag-scandal","tag-taraji-p-henson","tag-the-good-fight","tag-the-good-wife","tag-the-handmaids-tale","tag-veep","tag-viola-davis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/25-quantico.w750.h560.2x-850x635.jpg\")
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