It can't be easy sharing the screen with a Marilyn Monroe-esque sexpot and an elegant Grace Kelly lookalike. But somehow, actress Elisabeth Moss brings depth and charm to Mad Men's unlikely heroine, Peggy Olson.
Peggy's journey from passive secretary to respected copywriter isn't picture perfect. She fights the prejudices of her chauvinistic male coworkers, struggling to prove that she and her ideas are worth taking seriously. Her relationships with her conservative Catholic mother and sister are tumultuous and difficult to say the least. And then there's that pesky little pregnancy she denies up until the baby pops out and she checks into a psychiatric ward.
Moving up the corporate ladder is challenging enough today. But for a young woman in the male-dominated advertising industry in the 1960s, it seemed all but impossible. Peggy might be a fictional character, but her resolute dedication to her job and increasingly fearless quest for workplace equality is inspiring. As she becomes more confident her creative abilities, her jeering, threatened male coworkers are forced to accept her as an equal, valued member of Sterling Draper Cooper Price.
Unlike 'Mad Men's' more talked about female leads, Joan Holloway and Betty Draper, Peggy seems to have gained control of her personal and professional life. She's not obsessed with being in a relationship or seemingly lost without the guidance of a strong man in her life. More importantly, unlike Joan and Betty, she doesn't use her sexuality as leverage to get what she wants.
Peggy's the first employee to bluntly ask for her own office, and to the dismay of her male coworkers, her request is granted. She evolves from the timid secretary who nervously refills the executives' liquor cabinets to the assertive businesswoman who drinks whiskey right alongside the boys.
By bravely dismissing protocol and quietly breaking down the unfair double standards against women, Peggy is so much more than Don Draper's spunky secretary. She represents the real-life, trailblazing ladies who paved the way for future generations of ambitious women in the workplace.
source: popeater
