Buffy is fairly sexist by modern standards, but it was revolutionary for its time to "allow" a hero to be a girl iirc. Similarly Star Trek the OG series put women and minorities behind the ubiquitous white male lead characters - not only Kirk but also his two chief supports Spock and Bones/McCoy. There is a very interesting story behind the actress who portrayed Uhura wanting to not take the job, but being advised by top black leaders to go ahead, bc it was more good than bad to help normalize a black woman being on the screen, even if not fully equal but... closer to that nonetheless. Buffy being a ditzy California gurl was nowhere near enough to achieve equality on its own - and yet Willow and Faith may have helped more, plus Buffy herself as the show went on - but it may have been an important step forward nonetheless (ignoring for the moment whatever was going on behind the scenes at the time).