‘She-Hulk’ Ep 8 ‘Female Lawyer Of The Year Award’ Scene Perfectly Sums Up How Token Appreciation Of Women In The Workplace Is

By Hauterfly Staff Updated October 07, 2022 3:26 PM

Through the previous 7 episodes, She-Hulk has taken us on a fun journey of ups and downs and surprisingly, all of them were incredibly relatable. I think this has got to be one of the most incredible and relatable shows created by Marvel, ever. It’s safe to say that watching She-Hulk has turned into a routine for me. So, I was incredibly excited to hear that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law dropped its 8th episode featuring the highly-awaited cameo by Marvel fan-favourite character Matt Murdock aka Daredevil.

The eighth episode of She-Hulk also brought with itself, a lot of other interesting arcs. But, one that caught our eye was the Southern California Law Awards gala that Jen has to attend. Why? Because it perfectly sums up how token appreciation of women is in professional settings.

So, What Happened At The Law Awards Gala?

In the concluding few moments of the 8th episode, we see an elegantly dressed She-Hulk walking the red carpet, ready to accept the Female Lawyer of the Year award. She is very excited to walk onto the stage and accept this honour and hence, she had called her best friend along with her parents, to witness her receive the award. But, the moment she gets up, she realises she wasn’t the only one who was chosen to receive the award. Turns out, it’s not an exclusive honour, and she’s just one of many women to be awarded at the Southern California Law Awards gala.

What makes this scene even more relatable is that once the women were handed their awards, the host asks each of them to answer “How does it feel to be a female lawyer?” *Rolls eyes*

She-Hulk has done so well taking the most relatable experiences of women with sexism and presenting to them in a satirical manner, and with this scene too, it hit the bulls-eye. This question of what it means to be a ‘woman professional’ or how a woman manages to juggle work and home responsibilities is perhaps the most cliché question that women get asked during press conferences and interviews.

Take, for example, the interviews that Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor have been giving lately, ever since the couple announced their pregnancy. The headlines are all about whether will Ranbir share parental duties, or will Alia Bhatt work after marriage. And the answers, of course, are yes and yes. But, if you ask me, it’s hilarious that the questions are centered around Alia, when she is clearly the more financially viable actor than her husband right now, and one of the few Bollywood actors who’ve had a stellar year at BO!

In a recent interview with Hauterrfly, director Tahira Kashyap Khurrana, who is married to Ayushmann Khurrana, also called out this need to ask these gendered questions to women alone, and never to men in the same field.

Another way this scene attacks sexism is by underlining the tokenism prevalent in professional spheres, predominantly the ones with more men than women professionals, when it comes to appreciation. Women are often either completely bypassed or put on a pedestal and lumped together for their gender instead of being appreciated for their distinctive qualities and what they bring to the workplace. All of these capable female lawyers are dragged to the stage and given trophies just to fake their appreciation for female representation, just because these lawyers are able to do ‘everything a male lawyer does and that too in heels’, as the incredibly patronising host of the gala exclaimed.

Most female professionals end up spending their lives, trying to defy the awful norms put up by the patriarchal society, they fight against it all to prove their worth and rise to the top of their fields as professionals, just to be greeted with mere token awards and just to be asked random questions about their jobs.

This is probably why Jennifer Walters is so surprised because well, she has to share the incredibly patronizing award with several other women. I also totally support Mallory Book’s reaction to the useless question posed by the host. At least she had the guts to say what the others had been thinking. I sincerely hope more people build up the guts to speak up and follow in her footsteps.

Also Read: ‘She-Hulk’ Ep 6: Jen Getting Single-Shamed By Her Friend Is Sadly Relatable, Why Do We This To Our Friends?

This literal and direct representation of the awful token appreciation that female professionals have to face daily definitely connects perfectly with the theme that the show is going for. It is literally taking a jab at the sexism that women are facing every day. This is exactly what makes She-Hulk so special, addictive and beyond just relatable. And I give full credit to the women writing and directing this show for so aptly calling out sexism. After the She-Hulk smashes in this episode, I genuinely cannot wait for the season finale. Can you?

Image Source: Disney+ Hotstar