Numbers of Women in TV Falls
Recently both the LA Times and the Globe and Mail published good articles on the latest numbers of women working in US Television. Sadly, the news is not good and continues the downward trend we’ve been seeing now for several years. We can’t legally republish the full articles, but snippets and links back to the original source are below. Kudos to both journalists for picking up this important issue.
What both journalists are picking up on is the latest study from researcher Martha Lauzen at The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. Her latest study found that among the ranks of directors and writers, women held those positions less in 2011 than they did in the previous television season. One drop does not a trend make, but when we are losing women from an already grossly underrepresented pool, it’s worth a serious look. The number of women writers fell from a “high” of 29% in 2010 to only 15% in 2011, while directors fell from 16% to 11%.
From almost any perspective you can think of – employment, equality, culture, business – these numbers are embarrassingly low and going quickly in the wrong direction.
Original Article: The Globe & Mail
By John Doyle, August 24th, 2011
Forget female empowerment. How about female employment?
“But even as a handful of women emerge as defining figures in television, the overall contribution of women seems doomed to endless decline.
Original Article: The LA Times
By Lee Margulies, Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2011
Numbers of Women in TV Falls
“The number of women working as writers and directors on prime-time broadcast programs took a big tumble in the 2010-11 season, a new study reports — part of an overall decline in women’s employment as actresses and in key creative jobs behind the camera.”
