Amanda Tapping (Col. Samantha Carter) one of only 2 women to direct a Stargate episode. Ever. (Photo from GateWorld.net)

I was reading this post in the archives of  Feminist SF–The Blog! about the lack of women writing and directing science fiction shows on TV. Two of the shows author Ide Cyan cites as lacking in females behind the cameras are Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. In her post, Ide lists two Atlantis episodes written by women and one SG1 episode directed by a woman. That sounded a little short to me, so I dug deeper to see what the real tally of women writing or directing Stargate episodes is.

Here’s a run-down of female writers and directors in Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis and the up-coming Stargate: Universe (as mcuh as GateWorld.net knows about it):

Stargate SG1 episodes written or directed by women:

• Season 1 (22 episodes)
  • Emancipation: written by Katharyn Powers
  • Brief Candle: teleplay by Katharyn Powers
  • Thor’s Hammer: written by Katharyn Powers
  • Fire and Water: teleplay by Katharyn Powers who shares story credit with Brad Wright
  • Enigma: written by Katharyn Powers
• Season 2 (22 episodes)
  • Thor’s Chariot: written by Katharyn Powers
  • Family: written by Katharyn Powers
  • Sepent’s Song: written by Katharyn Powers
• Season 3 (22 episodes)
  • Learning Curve: written by Heather E. Ash
  • Foothold: written by Heather E. Ash
  • Pretense: written by Katharyn Powers
  • New Ground: written by Heather E. Ash
• Season 4 (22 episodes)
  • Crossroads: written by Katharyn Powers
  • Beneath the Surface: written by Heather E. Ash
• Season 5 (22 episodes)
  • Rite of Passage: written by Heather E. Ash
• Season 6 (22 episodes)
  • Smoke and Mirrors: story by Katharyn Powers
  • Metamorphosis: story by Jacqueline Samuda and James Tichenor
• Season 7 (21 episodes)
  • Resurrection: directed by Amanda Tapping

After season 8 they hung the “No Girls Allowed” sign outside the SG1 offices, apparently, so let’s look at Stargate Atlantis, which premiered in 2004 (coinciding with SG1 season 8):

Stargate Atlantis episodes written or directed by women:

• Season 1 (20 episodes)
  • Poisoning the Well: written by Mary Kaiser
  • Home: directed by Holly Dale
  • The Storm: story by Jill Blotevolgel
  • Letters From Pegasus: some of the excerpt credits go to Jill Blotevolgel and Mary Kaiser

And that was it for the women. The last two seasons of Stargate Atlantis had no women writing or directing. Ouch!

Stargate: Universe won’t air until October, so details are still sketchy on who did what, but GateWorld has directing credits (at least) on most of the episodes of the inaugural season. Guess what? No women. Now, some of the episodes don’t have writing credits listed, but I’m a regular reader of Stargate writer Joe Mallozzi’s blog and don’t recall him mentioning any female names attached to scripts (but I’m going from memory).

Final tally:

Caille Wray (Ming Na): the first openly gay character on Stargate (Photo from GateWorld.net)

And yet, SG1 and SGA provided some strong female characters who weren’t stereotypes. Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Janet Frasier, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Dr. Jeannie Miller, Dr. Jennifer Keller and Tayla Emmagan, anyone? From what we know about SGU so far, it looks like the trend will continue. I’m especially interested in Ming Na’s character Camille Wray, who is the first openly gay character for the Stargate franchise. There were rumors of other gay characters, but they were never outed on the show. Camille is in a long-term, stable relationship (she’s married)–in fact, hers is the most stable relationship on the show, according Joe Mallozzi and others.

Back when SG1 was airing, it bothered me that we didn’t see women other than Carter and Vala coming and going through the gate on SG teams. Atlantis rectified that a bit, even going so far as to having an episode with an all-female team. The male characters don’t make any comments about it. It’s the leader of the female team who jumps to the conclusion that Colonel Sheppard thinks she made a bad call by choosing all women for her team. Of course he’d know who was on her team, being the Chief of Security on Atlantis, but he still looks a little surprised. According to the show runners (in season 5 DVD commentaries), one of the characters on that team, Alecia Vega, was gay, but she got killed in a later episode. However, on the season 5 DVD extras you can see the scenes that were cut for time, including one of her asking Dr. Jennifer Keller for a date. Major Evan Lorne was also supposedly gay, but that might just be rumor.

I would also have liked to see more people of color going through the gate. There were main characters who were POC on both Atlantis and SG1 and there will be some on SGU. There was Teal’c (Christopher Judge) on SG1, and Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Franks), Tayla Emmagan (Rachel Luttrell) and Ronon Dex (Jason Momoa) on Atlantis. On SGU, we’ll get Mater Sergeant Ronald Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) and the afore-mentioned Camille Wray (Ming Na). And then there are the recurring POC characters like Bra’tac (Tony Amandola) and Apophis (Peter Williams) on SG1. So there’s some representation there.

Oh yeah, I should do some disclosure here: I’m a straight white female, but I pick up on lack of diversity on the shows I watch, and it bothers me that there’s so much of it.

In summary, it looks like the Stargate folks took a stab at having women writing stories for them then bailed on the idea for whatever reason. In spite of this, they still manage to write some female characters that I’ve liked and even admired. So, Stargate show runners, if by some miracle you read this, please give some more women a chance to write and direct, OK? I love you for creating some of my favorite shows, but I’d like to love you more for giving my fellow female writers more opportunities. And, hey, maybe awesome SF writer/consultant John Scalzi wouldn’t mind having one of the women from this list or this list joining him for those advising duties. They could tag team. It would be fun.

President Carter is also a devout Protestant Christian, who has spent his life trying to live his faith. I’ve admired him for that, as well, for unlike others who make the same profession but use their “faith” as justification for no end of abuses and oppression, Carter believes his God calls on His faithful to love and show mercy to all.

In a recent article in The Age titled “Losing My Religion For Equality”, President Carter condemns those who use religion to oppress women.

This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths. Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women’s equal rights across the world for centuries.

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

Carter left the Southern Baptist Convention several years ago because it refused to allow women to hold leadership positions in the church. He is a member of the Elders, a group formed by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. We have decided to draw particular attention to the responsibility of religious and traditional leaders in ensuring equality and human rights and have recently published a statement that declares: “The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable.”

I found this article so inspiring. In my country it’s rare to hear such sentiments publicly stated by an older white, Christian male. Carter’s demographic is usually part of the problem. These are views I’ve always struggled against, being raised in a conservative Christian household that believed women had a “place” that was proscribed by God and Jesus Christ, and they should shut up and accept it “gracefully”. It didn’t jibe with what I read in the Bible, particularly the words and actions of Jesus, so I flat out rejected it and continue to do so. I hope that more leaders from many religions will pursue women’s rights as passionately as the Elders are doing.

Thank you, President Carter.