10 Times Mad Men Was The Most Feminist Show on TV

AMC’s landmark series Mad Men bids farewell after seven seasons this Sunday, and we figured there was no better way to celebrate than to bring you a run-down of some of our favorite times the women of Sterling Cooper & Partners spoke out for greater equality. Beneath the thick stench of scotch, cigarette smoke, and Don Draper’s four-day benders, there was always an air of revolution among Mad Men’s women. 

1. Season one, episode one, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”

Rachel's first words to Don set the scene for the struggles which will be experienced by female characters throughout the show. “You were expecting me to be a man,” she says. “So was my father.” 

2. Season two, episode five, “The New Girl”

"You're never gonna get that corner office until you start treating Don as an equal,” Bobbie tells Peggy. “And no one will tell you this, but you can't be a man. Don't even try. Be a woman. It's powerful business, when done correctly."

3. Season four, episode 13, “Tomorrowland”

The final episode of the fourth season saw Peggy land a big deal with Topaz pantyhose: but the talk of the office is Don and Megan's marriage announcement. "I signed the first new business since Lucky Strike left," she sighs, “but it's not as important as getting married."

4. Season five, episode 11, “The Other Woman”

Don pleads with Peggy not to leave the company, to which she responds "I'm sorry, but you know this is what you would do."

5. Season five, episode 12, “Blowing Smoke”

“You do your job so well,” Peggy exclaims as she bids farewell to Dr Faye. “They respect you and you don’t have to play any games. I didn’t know that was possible.”

6. Season six, episode three, “The Collaborators”

Megan confides in a shocked Sylvia, telling her that she's had a miscarriage – and she's actually not entirely sorry. "I'm such a horrible person… [but] I mean, to be pregnant now, at the moment? I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I was so relieved I didn’t have to do anything." 

7. Season six, episode three, “The Collaborators”

Pete's doormat of a wife, Trudy, finally cracks and puts her foot down after Pete's caught with his pants down. "There's no way for me to escape, to not be an object of pity while you get to do whatever you feel like. I've never said no to you. We're done, Peter. This is over.”

8. Season six, episode 10, "A Tale of Two Cities"

Joan and Peggy join forces to land a contract with Avon. Peggy jokingly tells Joan: "You'll be the account man, if that's what you want."

9. Season seven, episode 11, “Time and Life" 

Stan laments his upbringing and Peggy, who unbeknownst to Stan gave up a baby conceived during an affair with Pete, responds poignantly: "But you don’t understand your mother! Maybe she was very young and followed her heart and got in trouble, and no one should have to make a mistake just like a man does and not be able to move on.” 

10. Season seven, episode 12, “Lost Horizon”

Joan, furious at the sexual harrassment in the office and people overlooking the fact she is a partner in the company, delivers a knock-out speech to Don. “I wonder how many women around here would like to speak to a lawyer,” she fumes. “I think the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission has one… I think the second I file a complaint, I'll have the ACLU in my office and Betty Friedan in the lobby with half the women who marched down Fifth Avenue.”

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