Group of Men With a "Token" Woman

11 Tropes 9 Movies
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

Many movies have scenarios where having a balance between men and women in a group makes sense yet there will be several men and only one "token" woman.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • Kingsman The Secret Service (2014)
    Roxy (Sophie Cookson) is the only woman Kingsman to graduate after the other women candidates were killed off within minutes during training.
  • Too Big to Fail (2011)
    The federal government sets up a meeting with CEOs of the nine most prominent banks (nine men) plus Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen (William Hurt), Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (Paul Giamatti), president at the time of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy Geithner (Billy Crudup) and Chairman of the FDIC Sheila Bair played by a far less known actor (Patricia Randell).
    Staff Aside
    This is based on real life. The male to female bias is historically accurate. William Hurt refers to the chairman of the FDIC's powers to threaten the CEOs but the actor portraying her never actually says a word during the key meeting in the scene.
  • Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
    The terrorist crew are all men except one woman who is dating the head terrorist.
  • Thank You for Smoking (2005)
    A Senate hearing chaired by Ortolan Finistirre on the dangers of smoking has 8 male and only 1 female Senator with the woman on the end and only three male Senators doing the talking. To hammer in that point, Nick Naylor addresses the nine of them as gentlemen before answering a question.
    Staff Aside
    I guess they forgot or didn't realize women Senators do exist.
  • Thank You for Smoking (2005)
    The lobbyist group that refers to themselves as the MOD Squad has two men and one women with major actors cast which is reasonable. But when they later expand their "membership" after getting a lot of media attention, they add all men with cameo non-speaking roles when it would have been very easy to add women.
  • Ocean's Twelve (2004)
    The plot is Danny Ocean's (George Clooney) 10 male partners plus Tess (Julia Roberts) plan a heist to pay back Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) by outwitting fellow thief "The Night Fox" and winning Rusty's ex-wife Isabel (Catherine Zeta-Jones) back in the process.
  • Ocean's Eleven (2001)
    Rusty (Brad Pitt) teaches four young male and one female television actor how to play cards, and they are all depicted as really bad and dumb including someone laying down a non-matching flush saying "all red". Daniel Ocean (George Clooney) comes in later and wins a really big pot taking advantage of their stupidity.
    Other Tropes: Young People Depicted as Dumb
  • Ocean's Eleven (2001)
    The plot is eleven men plan a heist to rob another man's casino and win back his wife Tess (Julia Roberts) in the process.
  • Jurassic Park III (2001)
    The main search party starts with 5 men and 1 woman on a search for the woman's son and boyfriend.
  • Armageddon (1998)
    The entire mission crew consists of several male oil rig drillers and a NASA crew with one female co-pilot.
  • Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
    The terrorist crew are all men except one woman who is dating the head terrorist.