Infographic: Where are the women in TV?
27 Aug 2011
Recently, Ms. Magazine had a very interesting story & infographic about how it works in tv-industry. Better: "Who" works behind the and on-screen in television 2010/2011? Thaughts?
The Answer Sarah Richardson posted:
Martha M. Lauzen has done it again. The executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film does gender audits of the entertainment industry each year, releasing stats on women’s employment behind and in front of the camera. Unfortunately, industry execs don’t seem to have gotten the message yet. Lauzen’s new Boxed In [PDF] study of women working behind-the-scenes in 2010-2011 prime-time TV gives us little to cheer about.
In short, women are grievously underrepresented among TV-makers, and it’s getting worse, not better.
Read and see the infographic right HERE and feel free to share your thaughts in the comments
Source: Serienload
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very interesting article
ReplyDeleteAn interesting article indeed.
ReplyDeleteAs a woman I can say that I prefer working in an all-male collective and watching shows/movies aimed at men and with a mostly male cast. In a female collective, I feel like I'm in a hen house and in shows with a large portion of female cast the storyline always inevitably turns to romance, marriage and the biological clock ticking whereas I prefer action, care chases, explosions, mystery. I can honestly say that I would give a try to a show with an all-male cast, but I would avoid a show with an all-female cast.
I find these kind of statistics depressing. The industry is way too male dominated and often white male to boot. I hope it will change but really its 2011 the TV industry like real life should be equal by now. Its ridiculous its not.
ReplyDeleteIt's still a man's world. I don't think it will ever change. I worked as a doctor's assistant. The doctor told me, you will know when woman rule the world because the men would be taking contraceptives. So true! Sad that we really didn't make a difference for woman in the job market after we burned our bras. I feel it's so much worse for us. We not only have to work now, work harder, but do everything else expected of woman. That's not liberation or equal rights. But, this is my opinion. I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteMeh. As long as the product is good, I don't care what gender is behind/on the camera. Gender equality shouldn't be at the cost of the product. Put the best available person n the job, man or woman.
ReplyDeleteObviously it's a boys club in many occupations and that should change.
ReplyDeleteThat said, gender equality does not mean 50% men on the work force and 50% women... or that 51% of the characters on TV need to be female to match the population.
Most series on TV seem to be cop shows and law shows. Both male dominated workplaces that will in all honesty likely always be male dominated. It seems to be more representational to have more men in those series. In cop shows most of the unsubs or criminals tend to men too. Another accurate portrayal of society.
In addition, am individual series tends not to be about society as a whole but rather a specific individual or group. Many of such groups are not an accurate cross-section of society and nor should they be. The artist/creative team should be true to their vision and story, not research the latest demographics on race and gender to make sure they are representing the population on the whole.
Having said that some of my favorite cops and lawyers on TV have been women and more certainly would not hurt! I just don't have an issue with the percentage of female characters overall.
I do have a bit of an issue with the extreme agism on network TV. Far, far too many roles have 20 or 30-something men and women in jobs that more often than not tend be older men and women (ie Chief of staff, lead detective). I won't even begin to touch on the appearances of said characters and how that fails to represent the population.
I think that is one reason I tend to enjoy British or foreign series more than US network series. They often have a more realistic sample of age, gender and appearances. Not to mention they are more story based than based on gimmicks. At least the series I watch... I can't speak to UK TV as a whole.
I think more women need to have a voice in TV and film, but I don't think all of those women need to write about women... or necessarily would write about women. In other words, I have an issue with so few women in the industry as writers, directors and executives, but I have no issue with the amount of female characters on TV. TV series should NEVER have to be an accurate reflection of the population. Let the writers write what they want and then judge it on quality of characters not gender of characters.
exactly!
ReplyDelete"Where are the women in TV?"
ReplyDeleteI know, I know!!!
Supernatural killed them off!
What do I win? :D
I think the point of the study is that women are not allowed the opportunity to make a product that you may or may not like.
ReplyDeleteHm, I haven't seen a statistic for how many women tried to sell their ideas/applied for a job and failed/didn't get it in the article. Is it there? Maybe I missed it, I don't know. If not, then such a conclusion cannot be drawn because there's a lack of data that would support it. Such an opinion would have the same merit as someone's thinking not enough women presented viable ideas. I'm not trying to be snarky or condescending, just pointing out the lack of data in that particular area.
ReplyDeleteThat's a legitimate statement, but how do you track the number of women who are denied a job, or even an interview? If we asked the decision makes, do you think that they would or could give definitive statistics? I doubt it.That is what makes discrimination so hard to combat. I can only assume that more women than are represented would like to participate in the field. Making the assumption that more women don't want the chance also lacks data. I suppose I would extrapolate my assumptions from the number of African-Americans in various jobs in the 50s to the number in those jobs today. Did their interests change or were they given more opportunities? Not that the playing field is even yet.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more. In every show I watch I prefer the male characters a thousand times more than the female ones. If we could get a female role that didn't end up being focused on relationships then I will be interested
ReplyDeleteTrue. To gather these data in any objective way it would have to be done without the knowledge of the network offering the jobs/accepting story ideas because already the knowledge that they are being screened would skew their decision.
ReplyDelete