Women will be the main focus of the upcoming Paley Center Honors gala. According to Variety, the Paley Center will celebrate “the achievements of women in media” during its May 17 ceremony. The event will also pay special tribute to comedy legend Carol Burnett.

“That Girl” actress and activist Marlo Thomas will provide the opening remarks at the gala. “What’s so compelling about women’s roles on television is that they have reflected — and often instigated — the seismic changes that have taken place in our culture for the last half century,” Thomas observed. “In the early days of TV, women were supposed to be perfect — innocent and chaste, cooperative and never angry, an ideal wife and supermom. It took warriors to break through and depict women in all their complex, imperfect splendor.”

Television comedy icon Burnett stressed, “I will always be grateful for the opportunity to be on television as long as I have. It is a wonderful and powerful medium that, when done well, can impact millions of lives in a positive way.” The Emmy winner added, “It’s very exciting to take part in this special evening with these amazing women.”

Other high-profile women in TV like Lauren Graham (“Gilmore Girls,” “Parenthood”), Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”), Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife”), Mariska Hargitay (“Law & Order: SVU”), and Chrissy Metz (“This Is Us”) will attend. Olympic track and field athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill, and journalists María Elena Salinas and Paula Zahn are also set to participate.

Burnett has been a regular presence on TV since the 1960s and solidified her place in comedy history with “The Carol Burnett Show.” The variety show ran from 1967 to 1978 on CBS. And Burnett is set to return to TV soon: her next project, “Household Name,” secured a formal pilot pickup from ABC in February.

The Paley Center Honors will be held May 17 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.