"There were not enough women like Kay on TV, and now there are none"
About this Quote
"Kay" matters because she's a placeholder for a type TV once made room for: women who aren't engineered to be aspirational, youthful, or endlessly legible. Depending on the specific Kay Leo is invoking, the subtext points to characters defined by competence, moral grit, plainness, age, or messiness - women allowed to take up narrative space without being softened into sidekicks or "relatable" branding exercises. Leo isn't pining for a golden age; she's marking how the current system rewards a narrower idea of what a woman on television is allowed to look like, want like, and sound like.
The line also reads like a rebuke to prestige TV's self-congratulation. We get more "complex female characters", the talking point goes, while the actual range of women who get centered - older women, working-class women, women who aren't styled into a mood board - can shrink. By insisting "none", Leo forces the uncomfortable question: if representation is improving, why do certain women keep disappearing?
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Leo, Melissa. (2026, February 17). There were not enough women like Kay on TV, and now there are none. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-not-enough-women-like-kay-on-tv-and-99765/
Chicago Style
Leo, Melissa. "There were not enough women like Kay on TV, and now there are none." FixQuotes. February 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-not-enough-women-like-kay-on-tv-and-99765/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There were not enough women like Kay on TV, and now there are none." FixQuotes, 17 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-not-enough-women-like-kay-on-tv-and-99765/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.


