My
opinion is that most Star Trek episodes at least hint at social
conflicts, whether they address conflicts between races or delve into
the issue of women working in jobs that might be seen as being for
men only. I live in Canada, but these conflicts are also present in
my country, maybe at a lesser degree than at the time that the
earlier Star Trek series were broadcast. The two episodes that I
watched to consider for my reply to the questionasked for this data entry were Charlie X
(Original series, Season 1, episode 2) and Let That Be Your Last
Battlefield (Original Series, Season 3, episode 15).
I
was trying to observe not so much the main theme of the episode, but
how women were portrayed as part of the crew.
In the Charlie X episode besides Lieutenant Uhuru, who plays a fairly
prominent role throughout the first three seasons, the character of
Yeoman Janice Rand has an important part in the plot. In Let That Be
Your Last Battlefield, Nurse Chapel is featured. Women are seen
along with men in the corridors and other areas of the ship, going
about their duties. While this may not seem to be an important as the
focus of the episodes, it suggests an environment where women are
accepted as part of the crew who contribute to the operation of the
ship.
