If there's a show out there that has a reputation for having strong woman (both good and evil) without them being... defined by their gender let's say. It's the Avatar franchise (not the movies, the TV shows, there's a big difference)
In Avatar The Last Airbender you have Katara, Suki, Kyoshi, Toph, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee just to name the main ones. That's not to say that sexism didn't exist in this universe. Sokka started out a tad sexist, and Katara had to fight the sexist waterbending Master Paku to try and get herself taken seriously.
I believe in equal opportunities, but that's not necessarily the case with Network Executives. There was some debate about putting a girl as the lead in the new Avatar series, because they believed it might put boys off. Fortunately in a focus test the boys proved that there is still sense in the world, and didn't give a sh*t, and thus was born: The Legend of Korra.
