The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State recently released a report indicating that women are reaching new heights in the entertainment industry, both on and off screen.
The “Boxed In: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes and On-Screen Women in 2013-13 Prime-Time Television” report findings were categorized into two sections. The first section shows that during 2012-13, the number of women in behind-the-scenes roles for broadcast networks continued to grow, with women making up 28 percent of those working in roles such as executive producer, creators, directors, producers, writers, editors, and directors of photography.
The study indicated this was a two percentage point increase from 2011-12, with an overall increase of seven percentage points since 1997-98, marking what the report called “a recent historical high.”
For the second section of findings, Executive Director for the Center Martha Lauzen and her research team included original programming on basic cable channels such as A&E and TNT, pay cable channels such as HBO and Showtime, as well as Netflix programs.
The report concluded that female characters were more likely to be featured in reality programs than in any other television genre. Women made up 48 percent of characters on reality programs, 43 percent of characters in situation comedies and 40 percent of characters on dramas.
The report also found the only network featuring female characters in accurate numerical proportion to the number of women in the U.S. population was the CW.
It’s particularly noteworthy that the percentage of women creators fell from 26 percent in 2011-12 to 24 percent this year, a decline of 2 percentage points, Lauzen said
“This decline is important because when a television series has at least one woman creator, the percentage of female characters increases substantially,” Lauzen said. “On programs with no women creators, females account for 41 percent of all characters. On programs with at least one woman creator, females comprise 47 percent of characters.”
These results prove a long-term trend of incremental growth for women in prime-time TV.
Theater, Television and New Film minor Brooke Schwartz has experienced firsthand the advantages of this trend.
“I interned in the media industry over the summer and most of the people I worked with were women … Women definitely have more opportunity in television right now,” Schwartz said.
Television Film and New Media senior Katlyn Jordan also noted the trend.
“It’s encouraging to see that women are being taken more seriously in the television industry, I’m happy to see that times are changing,” Jordan said.
For the last 16 years, the “Boxed In” report has periodically monitored women’s behind-the-scenes employment on prime-time television programs airing on the broadcast networks as well as the presence of female characters on screen.
