History Main / MenActWomenAre

** Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who was at the time the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives as the Chair of the Republican caucus and who had voted to impeach Donald Trump in January of 2021 after the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, faced a ''lot'' of backlash after her vote, with many of the male members describing in a subsequent meeting just how much she seems to have hurt their feelings. In particular, Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania -- who, it should be noted, was not in any kind of leadership position whatsoever -- described her vote as "You're playing in the biggest game of your life and you look up and see your girlfriend sitting on the opposing side."
--->These were grown men. This was 2021. I was standing at the podium at the front of the auditorium thinking, You've got to be kidding me. Other female members started yelling, "She's not your girlfriend!"\\

--->These were grown men. This was 2021. I was standing at the podium at the front of the auditorium thinking, You’ve got to me kidding me. Other female members started yelling, “She’s not your girlfriend!”\\

*** Inverted for the 2012 congressional elections with disabled veteran Tammy Duckworth running against famously handsome incumbent Joe Walsh in the Illinois 8th.

* In the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' films, female characters who aren't the 1955 version of Lorraine are only there to serve as {{Satellite Love Interest}}s and victims to male characters. Not one of them has an active role in advancing the plot. In fact, they had to basically write around one (Marty's girlfriend Jennifer) because she was brought to the future at the end of the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first film]], but when they actually started making the ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', they realized they did not know what to do with her. Rather than {{Retcon}} her away, they solved this problem by making her stay sedated for much of the film.

* In the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series, Bella stands around while two supermen fawn over her and their families promise to lay down their lives to protect her. Everybody either loves her or wants to kill her to spite the Cullens, but about the only thing about her that stands out is that she's immune to mind reading. This, of course, is a trait she can't control and didn't even know about until Edward told her. On the rare occasion when she is called to action, it's usually just to find a man so he can take care of the problem.

* Kotori from ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' counts because she only duels once, while possessed, and the rest of the time her role is ''literally'' cheering Yuma on. Granted, most of Yuma's friends are only capable of cheering him on in duels since most of them lack hyper-advanced quasi-magical technology, strange psychic powers [[spoiler:due to being a reincarnated alien]], or a magical artifact, but Kotori is the ''only'' one who never holds her own plotline, never has an episode dedicated to her, and generally just tags along to shout Yuma's name and [[DamselInDistress get kidnapped.]]

* Anzu/Téa from ''Anime/YuGiOh'' is a good example. She has been shown on several occasions to be a skilled duelist, but she is never treated as though she might be interested in taking part in duels except when she is forced to by the circumstance: e.g, Yugi is too depressed to duel because Kaiba has just defeated him, or a member of the Big Five picks on her as an easy target. She is capable of being a good duelist, but as far as the story goes, good duelist is who she is, not what she does.
* Kotori from ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' also counts because she only duels once, while possessed, and the rest of the time her role is ''literally'' cheering Yuma on. Granted, most of Yuma's friends are only capable of cheering him on in duels since most of them lack hyper-advanced quasi-magical technology, strange psychic powers [[spoiler:due to being a reincarnated alien]], or a magical artifact, but Kotori is the ''only'' one who never holds her own plotline, never has an episode dedicated to her, never takes the opportunity to duel when she could (except when possessed by a male character), and generally just tags along to shout Yuma's name and [[DamselInDistress get kidnapped.]]

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': While the girls [[ActionGirl do have moments of taking part in the action thanks to their careers as heroes]], it should be noted that most of them barely have an impact on the major events of the storyline. A lot of their personalities fall under the [[GenkiGirl bubbly, friendly nice girl]] trope or the "Strong Female Character" stereotype while their male colleagues are given deeper, more complex characterizations and are actively involved in the story. It also doesn't help that the girls are significantly outnumbered in the student, Pro-Hero, and villain groups.

** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Galadriel doesn't do much of anything beyond giving gifts and advice to heroes. However, [[AllThereInTheManual Galadriel was a legit]] ActionGirl in the ''The Silmarillion'', leading her people across the local equivalent of the North Pole, on foot, when some JerkAss burned the ships that were supposed to come back for them.

** Ochaco Uraraka is the main female lead of the series yet 95% of her screentime is spent [[HesNotMyBoyfriend being reminded by others and feeling embarrassed about her feelings]] for [[TheProtagonist Izuku]]. While she did have a unique character arc of [[OnlyInItForTheMoney wanting to be a hero to financially support her family]], that arc has been sidelined so that Ochaco is known primarily for her developing feelings for Izuku. Not to mention how Izuku, by virtue of being the male lead, has so many conflicts and character arcs that give him a more fleshed-out identity while most fans can only recognize Ochaco as "Izuku's love interest".
** Nejire Hado is the only female member of the [[PowerTrio Big Three]] at UA. Apart from being bubbly and constantly curious, she doesn't have a lot of character depth compared to [[TheDeterminator Mirio]] and [[NervousWreck Tamaki]]. It's made apparent in the "Internship Arc" where Nejire stays behind with the other girls while both boys get their own spotlight fights that show them holding their own in battle along with receiving more backstory on their quirks and personal conflicts. [[SarcasmMode But don't worry, Nejire gets her own spotlight battle of her own a few arcs later]]. [[spoiler: [[MenAreStrongWomenArePretty A beauty pageant]]]].
** Himiko Toga is a zig-zagged case. On one hand, she's the [[TheSmurfettePrinciple only prominent female villain]] in the series and is regarded as a ShadowArchetype to Ochako because her MO is centered around her twisted feelings of love. On the other hand, she's very much involved in the storyline as she gets to fight alongside her male colleagues as they battle the heroes head-on. Her backstory is even given proper depth during the [[spoiler: "Meta Liberation Army Arc"]].
** Momo Yaoyorozu is introduced as a TeenGenius, who can see through the flaws of her classmates' performance very easily, before everyone else. However, once she is [[CurbStompBattle quickly defeated]] in the sports festival arc, her [[BrokenAce confidence takes a nosedive]]. She eventually gets better after she is paired of with [[TheAce Todoroki]] in the practical exam against their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa when Todoroki expresses his confidence in her and she comes up with a plan to beat Aizawa. The very next arc has her [[TheStrategist quick thinking and ability to make snap decisions]] prove to be a huge help for the pro heroes, when she manages to create a tracker to hunt down a Nomu with, and is praised by [[BigGood All Might]]. For the next half of the arc, she accompanies Kirishima, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Iida in [[spoiler:the rescue mission of Bakugo]], she has very little to almost no contribution, other than providing the boys with a device to track down the Nomu and suggesting that they all get disguises. Even the entire [[spoiler:rescue plan of Bakugo that Midoriya comes up with hinges on the quirks of [[SuperSpeed Iida]], [[LightningBruiser Midoriya]], [[SuperToughness Kirishima]], [[AnIcePerson Todoroki]] and even [[HavingABlast Bakugo]] himself, while Yaoyorozu doesn't do anything.]] Even the one time she could've used her quirk, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Todoroki, was to create the disguises, she opts for going into a store instead. While she does play an important role by helping everyone track down the Nomu, you can take her out of the latter part of the story and nothing changes.
** The same can be applied to a majority of the adult female heroes. Midnight and Mt. Lady are the two most prominent female Pro-Heroes in the show but are only recognized as being there for [[MsFanservice fanservice]]. Future heroes such as [[{{Weredragon}} Ryukyu]] and [[IWorkAlone Miruko]] end falling under the "Strong Female Character" stereotype as they both look cool and have powerful quirks but are stuck on the sidelines as their male colleagues, [[BoisterousBruiser [=FatGum=]]], [[CombatClairvoyance Nighteye]], [[ActionDad Rock Lock]] and [[PlayingBothSides Hawks]] are given more agency and direct action scenes in the arcs they were introduced in.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': While the girls [[ActionGirl do have moments of taking part in the action thanks to their careers as heroes]], it should be noted that most of them barely have an impact on the major events of the storyline. A lot of their personalities fall under the [[GenkiGirl bubbly, friendly nice girl]] trope or the "Strong Female Character" stereotype while their male colleagues are given deeper, more complex characterizations and are actively involved in the story. It also doesn't help that the girls significantly outnumbered in the student, Pro-Hero, and villain groups.