Gender-Balanced Hiring Dips for Women Working in Television, Study Finds

As a devoted fan who has grown accustomed to witnessing groundbreaking stories and characters gracing my screen, I find myself deeply disheartened by the recent findings of the IMDbPro and ReFrame report on gender representation in TV. The drop in women’s representation in lead roles, as well as the decrease in gender-balanced hiring on television shows, is truly a step back in our progress towards true equality.

On small-screen productions, the representation of women appears to be declining, as indicated by a recent report on gender and employment in television from IMDbPro and ReFrame. This report shows that women have seen a significant decrease in almost all roles examined over the past few years.

In the previous year’s data analysis, it was revealed that women and gender-diverse actors held 54% of leading roles. However, this year’s report shows a decrease to 41%. Simultaneously, the study introduced the ReFrame and IMDbPro Stamp to honor TV shows with gender-balanced casting, and in 2023-24, 77 out of 200 popular series received this distinction, equating to approximately 38.5%. This represents a decrease of 8.5% compared to the previous year, or 20% less than the peak achievement in 2020-21.

For a third straight year, the bulk of Emmy nominees for best comedy series earned a Stamp including Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows. Three of eight nominated drama series also landed one, including Fallout, The Morning Show and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and three limited or anthology series including Baby Reindeer, Lessons in Chemistry and True Detective: Night Country.

Additionally, you might want to check out other popular series that qualify for a Stamp, such as “Ahsoka,” “American Horror Story,” “A Murder at the End of the World,” “Dr. Death,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Gen V,” “Girls5eva,” “Griselda,” “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Sex Education,” “Special Ops: Lioness,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Under the Bridge” and “Will Trent.” For a comprehensive list, visit this link.

“In their joint statement, ReFrame founders Keri Putnam and Cathy Schulman note that while there have been positive strides in reducing bias, these advancements often plateau or even regress after initial progress. It’s encouraging to see an almost doubling of Stamped series this year compared to 2018, but the 20% decline over the last four years suggests a concerning pattern. If this rate of decrease persists, all the gains made in diversifying media talent in the U.S. could be undone within just two years.”

In summary, the recently acquired data reveals that most distributors have seen a decrease in gender-balanced series compared to the previous period (2020-21), except for Amazon MGM Studios. This trend highlights the significant role women and women of color are playing in key positions within the industry. Interestingly, out of the top 200 series, all 13 run by women of color have been awarded the ReFrame Stamp. Moreover, around 60% of these ReFrame Stamped series have female showrunners, compared to just over one-third (32.5%) across all series.

Gender-Balanced Hiring Dips for Women Working in Television, Study Finds

Since 2018, I’ve been proudly following ReFrame’s seasonal assessment of staffing on scripted television shows. This organization, in partnership with IMDbPro, evaluates shows based on gender-inclusive hiring practices for key positions such as showrunners, writers, directors, producers, leads, and department heads. Extra points are awarded to productions that hire women of color and those striving for overall gender parity among the crew. This year’s honorees will be selected from the 200 most popular narrative TV and streaming shows with a full season released between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024. I can’t wait to see which shows receive ReFrame’s prestigious Stamp for their commitment to diversity and inclusion!

2024-08-08 18:54

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