Throughout her theatre career, Colleen had appeared on stage in several comedies. But the performances she became internationally known for were derived from very serious and emotional plays, such as the work of famous playwright Eugene O’Neill.
Murphy Brown gave Colleen a new persona in the television industry, but, as Colleen wrote in her autobiography, the role of Murphy herself gave women something much greater. Though she was writing at the end of the 1980's, Colleen’s words about the status of women are still true today.
“I love Murphy Brown for its class, innovation and particularly its recognition of where many women are today. Here is a sitcom in which the title character is a beautiful woman who has just come out of the Betty Ford Clinic. She is capable, intelligent and in a position of leadership. She is a woman of strength. Professionally she has the best credentials. She is aware, as is everyone around her, that she can do this job better than anyone else…and she is insecure.
Murphy Brown makes a statement to women across the country that is not often made anywhere else, including the stage. Much has happened since the women’s movement first began. In the seventies, women with whom I had gone to college would come backstage to say how proud they were to watch my career, to know a woman who had done so much with her life. Several times following this statement was the remark, “I haven’t done much with mine.” I would then discover that they had been married for twenty-five years, raised three children, were very well read, active in their communities—sometimes politically, sometimes as volunteers. How was I to explain to them that their lives might be enviable to someone like me? As women, they, too, have many accomplishments of which they can be proud. Instead they somehow feel that these more traditional efforts don’t count, that they should be out working and making more publicly recognizable contributions. We had truly believed, and still do, that women should have equal standing with men. That they should be recognized for the unique qualities that they, as women, bring to the community. We have found that we were right. Women do belong in government, in management, and as the creators and owners of their own businesses. We bring to these positions a feminine strength, compassion, a brilliance of intellect and, yes, that truly frightening word to some: intuition.
But then we women created another monster when we began to emulate the behavior of the very men to whom we had long objected. After thousands of years of submission being ingrained into our genes, in too many cases we turned around and embraced their patronization of others, particularly other women in subordinate positions. Sadly, the executive woman sitting behind her desk has too often became an almost perfect replica of the dispassionate, disconnected male executive, interested only in power.
…did we not hate ourselves for cringing when Patricia Schroeder broke down and cried as she withdrew from the presidential race? Why? Pat was right to cry. She was tired. She was disappointed. She had the credentials for her job. But we, the public, were embarrassed because she reacted like a woman. Our great fear is that this vulnerability, or better, this ability to feel, takes away from our ability to do and diminishes us in some way. It does not. The ability to display emotion appropriately does not diminish a situation or anyone’s ability to perform a job. Stultifying rigidity will bring you down long before being able to express your feelings will. But somehow, we have come to consider one kind of behavior male and the other female, on business-like and the other not. One strong and one weak. When we restrict what it is to be masculine or feminine, we lose out on the fullness of what it is to be just human.”
What do you think of Colleen’s opinion? Please comment with your own thoughts on the status of women today.
