"So we all got basically what we wanted, and as far as the women are concerned, he figured that 30 good women could handle a crew of 300 anyway. So that's how we ended up with our crew"
About this Quote
The line lands like a backstage shrug that quietly detonates a whole era of TV assumptions. Majel Barrett frames a consequential production decision as practical arithmetic: 30 women for 300 men, a ratio that sounds like logistics but reads like culture. The phrasing "basically what we wanted" softens the power struggle into friendly compromise, the kind of language people use when they know the real negotiations were messier. Then comes the kicker: "as far as the women are concerned" - a neat little box she builds before stepping back, letting the casual sexism (and the industry logic behind it) expose itself.
Barrett's intent is partly anecdotal, partly defensive, and partly delighted. She's describing how a crew gets assembled, but she's also narrating how women were routinely treated as a manageable subset rather than a full share of the workforce. The word "handle" does double duty: it implies competence (women can do the work) while also echoing the patronizing idea that women are an operational problem to be managed.
Context matters: Barrett isn't speaking as an abstract commentator; she's an actress who watched labor, gender, and authority play out on set. Her tone suggests a survivor's pragmatism. She doesn't sermonize because she doesn't have to. The sentence's breezy math is the indictment: an industry that could quantify women like inventory still congratulated itself for being reasonable.
Barrett's intent is partly anecdotal, partly defensive, and partly delighted. She's describing how a crew gets assembled, but she's also narrating how women were routinely treated as a manageable subset rather than a full share of the workforce. The word "handle" does double duty: it implies competence (women can do the work) while also echoing the patronizing idea that women are an operational problem to be managed.
Context matters: Barrett isn't speaking as an abstract commentator; she's an actress who watched labor, gender, and authority play out on set. Her tone suggests a survivor's pragmatism. She doesn't sermonize because she doesn't have to. The sentence's breezy math is the indictment: an industry that could quantify women like inventory still congratulated itself for being reasonable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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