10 Times Star Trek: Voyager Went Woke
1. Women in Leadership
It cannot be overstated how impactful it was to see a woman in the centre seat. But it wasn't just that she was there. It was the character of Janeway herself, and how everyone around her reacted to her leadership.
There was no doubt that Kathryn Janeway was in charge of that bridge. Confident, smart and decisive, she was exactly the kind of captain that would inspire a generation of girls (and boys). And she didn't have to be overly ruthless or macho to make her mark. On the contrary, her compassion and empathy were continuously shown to be a strength.
But don't just take our word for it. Kate Mulgrew herself said in a 1995 interview for the Los Angeles Times:
[The captain] has to have an emotional center, an intellectual center, a power, a presence, a calm. Full thrusters, you know? This is a great woman.
Producer and writer Jeri Taylor was also quoted in the Los Angeles Times:
In the 24th Century, having a woman captain is nothing extraordinary. To all the people around her, there is nothing she has to prove. It's really the 20th-Century audience [to whom] it must be proven.
And that last part is key. Janeway was the captain of Voyager before women were even allowed to serve aboard UK or US submarines. In fact, in the year Voyager first graced our screens, figures show that only 9% of US senators, 2% of US state governors, and 0% of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies were women.
The good news is that Janeway was exactly the kind of role model we needed if that bleak reality was ever going to change.
Dr. Erin Macdonald, astrophysicist and Star Trek science consultant, wrote a beautiful piece on startrek.com about how inspirational Janeway had been. Likewise, Dr. Joan Schmelz, solar physicist and astronomer, looked to Janeway for the female leadership role model missing from her all-male mentors. And of course, there's the now-famous picture of astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, dressed like Janeway in space, with the caption 'there's coffee in that nebula'.
Kate Mulgrew spoke in a 2022 interview about how much it meant to have been such an influence:
Those women in STEM - a lot of them changed their minds, reformed, reshaped their opinions and their goals as a result of Captain Janeway. And because I saw it directly, I was deeply and directly affected by it. And over the years it's done nothing but evolve. Very, very few actresses have that. I've had it for over 25 years. It's extraordinary to me.
And one thing is absolutely certain. She inspired, encouraged and gave confidence to a certain article writer when she was a little girl, too.