In the last month, Netflix has premiered two very different series primarily set on academic campuses that feature women in leadership positions historically filled by white men: the third season of Sex Education and The Chair .

Yes, it is encouraging to see small-screen narratives reflect the professional and interior lives of women, especially women of color, whove risen through a system against all odds. But the challenges women face in those posts makes you wonder whether this type of success is even worth it.

Its a demoralizing thought, but one that neither show has any qualms about portraying. Take, for instance, Hope Haddon (Jemima Kirke), the new headmistress at Moordale High on Sex Education. On the surface, she has landed a dream role. Though she instantly becomes the bane of her students existence when she applies conservative and borderline abusive rules to eradicate the schools radical sex positivity, she seems to have achieved a level of power that is still too rare for women in education.

But Sex Education peers behind that unpleasant exterior to reveal this to be a double-edged sword. The amount of pressure Hope is under has, in part, exacerbated her long battle with infertility. In addition, her appointment is tokenized. Her male superior (Alistair Petrie) and predecessor constantly hounds her to enforce the rigid standards previously set in place to restore the schools more chaste reputation. Whatever individual goals she might have had once gaining this position went right out the window in order to uphold a Tory standard that does little more than support an antiquated patriarchy.