When I watched the fourth season of the Danish political drama "Borgen," recently released on Netflix, I initially concluded that the show had captured the changing zeitgeist: Women's aspirations were spiraling downward. I was wrong. Women's rights and women's power never advanced as much as we hoped they would. We may have talked ourselves into believing that women could actually achieve equality. Now, both in fiction and reality, the darker truth is inescapable.
When "Borgen" first hit the U.S. airwaves in 2011, American audiences were smitten by Birgitte Nyborg (played by Sidse Babett Knudsen), a relatable but politically savvy party leader who becomes Denmark's first female prime minister. She was juggling work and family, but keeps most of the balls in the air. That first series concluded in 2013.
