How Women Look On TV (And Why)

A new study of the television, analyzing the 2002-3 prime-time season, “found that women made up 22 percent of all creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged for the last four seasons. Meanwhile, on screen, male characters outnumbered females by almost 2 to 1 (62 percent males, 38 percent females). The women were also younger than the men: 70 percent of all characters in their 40’s and 80 percent of those in their 50’s were men. Among major characters, only men held political office or were military or religious leaders. A total of 93 percent of business owners were men.”