Still, when the other day I read that the actress Janet MacLachlan had passed away it reminded me how her one-episode portrayal of Lt. Charlene Masters impressed me when I first watched that episode back in the 60s. Here was a female officer in Engineering – not exactly a stereotyped female position. Uhura was cool, Chapel a bit annoying, but as a lot of women pointed out both of them were doing what were considered 1960s “women’s jobs” – switchboard operator and nurse. (I was also glad whenever Uhura was shown doing nuts-and-bolts wiring work as well as “opening hailing frequencies”. And of course Chapel had become an MD in STTMP.)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Janet_MacLachlan
