Review: ‘Makers’ celebrates some of the women who’ve made America

As the title would suggest, the point of the six-part documentary “Makers: Women Who Make America” is to celebrate outstanding work by women in all areas of society, to remind us of the obstacles they have faced before being allowed to do it, and to re-invigorate attempts to dismantle the inequalities that still exist.

Indeed, this miniseries is a continuation of last year’s three-hour documentary of the same name that chronicled the rise of the modern women’s movement. And both are part of an even larger multimedia project. Launched two years ago in conjunction with PBS, “Makers” is dedicated to creating “the largest and most dynamic collection of women’s stories ever assembled.”

The question is: Do we still need such a thing?

Early episodes offer contradictory opinions.

In “Women in Comedy,” which premieres Sept. 30, most of the comedians interviewed insist the industry has moved past the sexism that once plagued it. Joy Behar pointedly voices her hope that this will be the last attempt to separate the comedic experience by gender.

In the second installment, “Women in Hollywood,” the sentiment is quite different. While recent strides are acknowledged — Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar for directing, the rise of female creators and show runners including Shonda Rhimes and Lena Dunham — both pie charts and personal testimony argue that women remain woefully underrepresented on and behind the camera. Television is heralded as the new land of Canaan, but in one clip, Laura Linney speaks candidly of the emotional isolation of perpetually being one of only a few women on any given project.

In this way, “Makers” mirrors a very real cultural seesaw: Even as women become more powerful and prevalent in every part of society (subsequent episodes of “Makers” will deal with space, war, business and politics), issues that have defined the women’s movement, including domestic violence, rape, equal pay and media depiction of women, are all over the news.

The NFL’s decision to create an all-female “social responsibility” team is both heartening (at least the organization is addressing the problem) and heart-breaking (really? women need to be in charge of football’s “social responsibility”?).

The point of all social revolution is obsolescence. When women (or blacks or gays) have fair access and opportunity in all facets of society, there will be no need for equal rights movements, and documentaries like this one will become more historical than activist.

But while it is reassuring to hear Behar and others proclaim that there is no need to discuss “women and comedy” because women “own comedy,” it’s also hard to believe. None of the working and very accomplished women interviewed here, including Sarah Silverman, Ellen DeGeneres, Chelsea Handler, Kathy Griffin and Jane Lynch, were, for example, seriously considered as a replacement for either Jay Leno or David Letterman. Despite Handler’s move to Netflix, comedy of the late-night variety is clearly still “owned” by white men.

It’s possible to imagine a world in which series like “Makers” are unnecessary. But when “first woman” remains a frequent descriptor of many things, and issues of domestic violence, rape and equal pay continue to spark controversy, it’s clear that we don’t live there yet.

Follow me on Twitter @marymacTV

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‘Makers’

Where: KOCE

When: 9 p.m. Tuesday

Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under age 14)