The arrival of the woman detective
In popular culture,working women are getting their due
Netflix’s newest offering — the American true crime show, — is about as feminist a show as we have seen. It makes no bones about the fact that all the central characters are women, from rape victims of all ages and body types to the two investigators, and even the person who makes the biggest error of judgment in the narrative. Another TV show this year with a female protagonist, featured Shefali Shah as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi leading the investigation into the 2012 Delhi gangrape.
These are just two examples in a genre that seems to be taking off. The woman detective on TV is no longer simply pretty and dorky. She is competent and her gender is becoming, happily, incidental.
The woman detective trope has moved from stilettowearing waif-like detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), who ended up playing second fiddle to the dashing, irresistible titular character (needless to say, male). Both in and
the women dress for comfort, without being overtly sexualised. Other examples of this turn are Olivia Colman as Ellie Miller in Mireille Enos as Sarah linden in
and Gillian Anderson as Stella Gibson in With each show, the lead character moves closer to being a well-rounded character. In and these detectives live in well-adjusted families, with spouses in law-enforcement agencies and related fields — indicating that the pressures of the job are understood. The patriarchy is never more than a beat away. DCP Chaturvedi is even called “Madam sir” in indicating how hard it is to separate power from “sir”. The good thing is these are all shows that don’t explain their feminism. They are located squarely in the current context, making it clear that the ranks of these women in a still largely male setting are hard-won and harder yet to keep.
This focus on telling good stories, without having to rely on traditional worn-out tropes, is an indication of a thriving industry. As storytelling shifts mediums and means, smaller, tighter stories, of more kinds of people, are being seen. The female detective who just does her job is as interesting a protagonist as the cliched lonely misunderstood man who can be fixed by a woman’s love. It’s a positive new stereotype, and the small but accruing gains for the working woman character in popular culture give hope that real life is moving forward on that front as well.