Women make up more than half of the population, but it seems that there’s still a problem with representation in films and on television. Cartoonist and graphic novelist Alison Bechdel came up with a test when she was younger that a movie had to have:
At least two women
Who have at least one conversation
About something other than men
For her to see the movie, it had to pass these three standards, and this “test” was first featured in her 1985 column “Dykes to Watch Out For.”
Scandal: Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) spends her time cleaning up the scandals that could wrack Washington D.C. and its political elite. She works closely with Abbey Whalen (Darby Stanchfield), and has numerous confrontations with First Lady (Bellamy Young).
Shameless: The show depicts the dysfunctional Gallagher family. Because patriarch Frank is an alcoholic, it follows the story of how his kids pick up the pieces, led by oldest child Fiona (Emmy Rossum).
Damages: Brilliant but ruthless lawyers Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) take on the biggest cases in the city, and as the series progresses, the relationship between Hewes and Parsons changes.
Veep: Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Selena Meyer, Vice President, or Veep, and follows her as she attempts to make her mark on the country. It shows her close relationship with her chief of staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky).
Nurse Jackie: Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) is an emergency nurse, and will do anything to help her patients along the way. But she’s hiding a secret. She’s a drug addict, and she’s good at it. The show follows how Jackie’s relationships are disrupted by her drug use, especially with her kids.
Nashville: Country music star Rayna Jaymes (Connie Briton) has already established herself in the industry, and doesn’t take too kindly to new country pop singer Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) taking center stage. These two women clash over their respective careers and the directions they’re headed.
Parks and Recreation: Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is a bureaucrat working for the parks department in small town Indiana, but there she meets her best friends, Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), and Donna Meagle (Retta). Together these women tackle the people that try to stop them along the way.
The Good Wife: Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) must move past the humiliation and scandal of her husband landing in prison after a sex and political corruption scandal. She takes up her previous job as a defense attorney to provide for her two children, all the while shedding her old “good wife” reputation.
Broad City: Ilana and Abbi are two Jewish-American best friends trying to navigate life in New York City. They find themselves in new careers or no career, and end up getting mixed up in Ilana’s schemes. Throughout it all they remain each other’s best friend, there when the other needs them.
Orange is the New Black: Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) was sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary, a minimum-security women’s prison. The show is about the group of women living in the prison, and how Piper adjusts to her new life there, especially when she reunited with her old girlfriend Alex (Laura Prepon), who just so happened to be the reason she’s there in the first place.
M*A*S*H: The series takes place in a Korean hospital during the Korean War, and features mostly men. While there are a few female nurses that make an appearance, it’s not enough to warrant notice, as the men are the main focus.
Boardwalk Empire: The show follows Nucky Thompson, a political figure that controlled Atlantic City. Based on Enoch Johnson, the show portrays his relationships with the men who helped him rise to prominence.
Law and Order: While the later episodes featured several female characters, the early episodes had no female characters. Because of this, the early seasons fail the Bechdel Test completely.
Sherlock: Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John Watson (Martin Freeman) fight crime, much to the chagrin of Scotland Yard. With only three supporting female characters, Molly Hopper, Mrs. Watson, and Mary Morstan, none of these characters interact with one another, with the occasional exception of Molly and Mrs. Watson.
Breaking Bad: The show focuses on the relationship between Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston), as they are on the wrong side of law cooking meth. While Walter is married, his wife doesn’t have much interaction with other women, and when she does, it’s about Walter.
The Sopranos: Mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) isn’t getting along with his mother, so they’re in therapy together. While Tony and Livia have plenty of interactions with one another, there isn’t a lot of female-female screen time.
The Wire: The show is about Baltimore law enforcement and their war on drugs. The story follows mostly men as they attempt to tackle the problem and the men who are getting into trouble in the first place.
The Shield: An experimental division of the LAPD, the Strike team is led by Vic Mackey and made up entirely of men. While Glenn Close eventually becomes a recurring character, the show is essentially male dominated.
Gossip Girl: The show is a combination of high society New York City and snotty rich kids trying to get their way. While there are a number of female characters in the cast, the majority of the time they are fighting or talking about the boys that are or aren’t in their lives at the moment.
X-Files: For the majority of the show, Scully only interacts with Mulder, occasionally with a victim or a witness, but the show built upon the premise that Mulder believes in aliens and Scully doesn’t, and that is why they are working together.
For the most part, the shows that pass the Bechdel Test are shows about women who are devoted to their careers, Leslie Knope, Olivia Pope, Alicia Florrick. But the shows that don’t pass the test are about men who already have established careers, and so the relationships between women fall to the wayside.
