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Laila Brenner's picture

If you peruse the latest list of Fortune 500 CEOs, it's easy to notice what they have in common: there are almost no women among them. In fact, women lead only 12 of the FORTUNE 500 companies, down from 15 the previous year. Couple that with the fact that there are only 17 female Senators, and it's easy to see that women's diverse voices aren't regularly heard on a national scale. That's why it's so important to tackle the problem of the unbalanced representation of women in media, particularly television and film.

On October 29, Link TV will be the only US television network that will be premiering a drama series featuring a female head of state. Borgen, the latest Danish drama sensation from the producers of the acclaimed series The Killing, features our hero: the smart and principled Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg. Privately, Birgitte leads a happy life with her husband and two children, while professionally she is a woman with a burning passion for politics, a big heart and too little time. Borgen is a series that deals what it means to be woman in power and remain true to yourself, your ideals and your family. It addresses feminist issues such as female representation at the top echelons of the corporate world, media’s representation of female leaders, and the resulting public perception of those leaders. Borgen is a show that young American women, and ALL Americans, need to see.

As you are well aware, the American entertainment industry is woefully behind the times in representing positive female role models. Our hope is that Borgen will be a wake-up call to American television executives and filmmakers that powerful women leads do make for blockbuster television, and that audiences will embrace strong female characters in media.

Borgen has been a national hit in Denmark, where season two has just finished. On September 16, voters in Denmark elected the country's first female Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Did the strength, smarts and perseverance of Birgitte blaze a trail for Helle? Will life imitate art as Borgen crosses over to American shores? Tune in to Link TV this fall to find out.


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