50 influential fictional women in nerd history

Captain Janeway

Is it surprising that Janeway is on here? She is a captain of a Starfleet ship. And as someone who grew up watching Star Trek, it was incredible to see. The series is known for being inclusive. From Uhura to being the series that had one of the first interracial kisses ever shown, Trek is no stranger to changing the way we see pop culture.

With Janeway, she was the first female captain that we got to see on screen. With Star Trek: Discovery, we know she isn’t the first one, but Janeway was the first that we, as the audience, got to see. It is honestly the simplest thing, and it isn’t a big deal on the show, but to see a woman captain a Starfleet ship was truly life changing.

Beforehand, it was all men. From James T. Kirk to Ben Sisko, the men seemed to lead the charge, and then Janeway came along and made it clear that women could be in charge, too. Again, it is a small thing to see, but it means so much because she was the first we saw.

For men, it is clearly not a new thing and sometimes that means they don’t understand the importance. But to see Janeway take on Starfleet showed us that the future could be bright.