18 Reasons for a Female Doctor

Recently, Matt Smith announced he would be leaving Doctor Who after the 2013 Christmas special. For those of you who aren’t avid fans like me, the premise of the show is that a 1000-year-old alien stole a spaceship that can also travel in time and is exploring all of space and time while scooping up companions to share the journey with along the way. The catch is that this Time Lord, that’s the Doctor’s species, can change bodies when hurt or dying thus providing an avenue for different actors to play the role. With Smith’s announcement, the odds-making and theory- writing about who would next take on the role began. With speculation rife about who the next actor to helm the TARDIS will be on the iconic show, it’s only time for some good old fashioned campaigning for a woman to step into the Doctor’s shoes. Here’s my not-so-comprehensive list of reasons why it’s time for the Doctor to be a woman:

• Why not?
• Some of the most popular shows on British television, and particularly those doing well in the US, are lead by fantastic female casts. Women anchor some of the best shows on British television right now (Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife, I’m looking at you). Doctor Who could use that dynamism.
• It’s the 21st century.
• The world is getting pretty used to seeing women in posts they haven’t traditionally occupied. Hillary Clinton, Sheryl Sandberg, Indra Nooyi, JK Rowling, Diane Sawyer, Meg Whitman, Mindy Kaling, Arianna Huffington. I could go on and on. The point is that the world can handle seeing a woman captain the TARDIS just like it can handle a female new-anchor or a female billionaire.
• Why not?
• There are so many talented actresses who would absolutely make the role of the Doctor their own. Helen Mirren has even said she’d love the job. My personal favorites for the role include Tina Fey (the longest of long shots) and Kelly MacDonald (who starred opposite former Doctor David Tennant in The Decoy Bride).
• It provides all sorts of new stories to be told. There is so much to explore with a female Doctor. For once in the Doctor’s long life, people might not automatically listen to him or her. That’s what the story has often been for women throughout history and even today and women should be able to see that story told. It would be deep and interesting plot material to see how the Doctor deals with being ignored because of something as silly as body parts. Not to mention this is, after all, a show about a time-travelling alien out to experience the universe and being a woman would come with so many new experiences.
• The dynamic between Clara Oswald and a female Doctor feels like it would just work. Clara always has her wits about her and she’s one of the few past companions we’ve seen who wouldn’t be that thrown off by a female Doctor. There’s something about her that makes it feel like she would just go with it, which, if you about it, is kind of a great attitude to have about the Doctor.
• On that note, it would allow the show to delve into one of the most prevalent and strongest bonds in human history: Female friendship. I mean Sex and the City was pretty much an entire show about it. Isn’t it time for Doctor Who to explore that kind of rich relationship.
• Why not?
• It’s canon. It’s been established that a Time Lord can change gender.
• It’s new and fresh. It would shake things up. Otherwise the show risks becoming a little bit, dare I say it, formulaic.
• The fans are ready. That’s the gift of River Song, a part Time Lord archaeologist who married the Doctor. For years the worry was that the qualities that look good on a male Doctor would look bad on a woman. The confidence, the swagger, and the intelligence that come with the character would all be unattractive for a woman to possess. A quirky woman in charge who knew her stuff wouldn’t be received well according to conventional wisdom. But River Song turned this paradigm on its head. She waltzed into the show with such a breezy confidence and she matched the Doctor in personality, talent, and intelligence. She was his equal and was, more or less, well-received for it. If the fans could handle her, why couldn’t they handle a female Doctor? The leap’s not that far.
• Why not?
• The whole point of the show is to explore and embrace change. So go for it! Make the biggest change possible!
• We often forget that the creator of this groundbreaking show was, in fact, a woman. Wouldn’t it be the most wonderful homage to Verity Lambert to make the fantastic fairytale character she created have the same gender as her, for once? Verity Lambert was an earth-shaker and a glass-ceiling-breaker. Don’t you think she’d love to see that the show she created continued to be dynamic and frontier-smashing even after 50 years?
• It sends a powerful message to young people and grown-ups, too. Doctor Who is supposed to be a family show. What does it say to young girls and boys that the lead character is always a man and the women are always the characters waiting to be swept away on adventures, groupies even? I see a problem with that, don’t you? It’s time to tell little girls and women of all ages everywhere that they can be the hero of their own story, they don’t need to be “the girl who waited.” 
• No. Seriously. Why not?

So there you have it. That’s why I think it’s time for a female Doctor. I know fans are divided over this subject but I also know that people usually are divided over change and progress even when that change is good. And I think this change would be the best.