The crown jewel of awards season airs this Sunday. And, if the Oscars are anywhere as eventful as the SAG Awards (i.e. Jennifer Lawrence’s wardrobe malfunction) then we are in for a great show.
Will Best Actress nominee Jessica Chastain prevail?
The ladies at Little PINK Book certainly hope so.
Chastain is nominated for her role in Zero Dark Thirty, where she plays Maya, a young CIA officer who has dedicated her life to following terrorist organizations after the September 11 attacks, specifically al-Queda leader Osama bin Laden.
Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow, who became the first women to win Best Director for Hurt Locker in 2010, did nothing to skirt controversy by placing a strong female character at the center of a military film that has sparked impassioned debate around the CIA’s decade-long search for bin Laden.
Throughout the film, Chastain asserts herself as an indispensible part of a predominantly male intelligence team focused on apprehending bin Laden.
Although her performance leaves her audience in awe of the “woman power” Maya brings to this mission, reality tells us a different story.
A report by a U.S. Executive Branch claims women account for only 13 percent of upper level intelligence roles in national security agencies.
In an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Times, Chastain weighs in on how her character deals with this gender gap.
“There are two women that work in fields dominated by men,” says Chastain. “They do expert work and they lead with their work before anything else and they never complain about the glass ceiling in their jobs. If you do good work, it will rise.”
Bonus PINK Link: Check out this leading lady of the business world.
How do you think women fighting on the front lines will affect American militarism?
By Meghan Miranda
Meghan is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, GA. Check out her blog about life as a 20-something. Follow her on twitter @meghan_says.
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