Jean Smart of HBO Max's "Hacks" is one of only a few women over 60 on broadcast or streaming ... [+]
According to a new report, at about the age of 40, female characters begin to disappear in substantial numbers from both broadcast and streaming programs. And behind the scenes on these programs, women are still vastly underrepresented, particularly in director roles.
The report, released today by Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, tracked over 3,000 characters and more than 3,800 behind-the-scenes credits for comedies, dramas and reality programs. She found that on broadcast network programs, the percentage of female characters plummeted as women aged from their 30s to 40s. In fact, the percentage of major female characters dropped from 42% in their 30s to 15% in their 40s. The decrease was similar for streaming services. By the time they are in their 60s, women represent a mere 3% of major characters.
While the numbers also decrease for aging men, the percentage of major male characters over 60 is twice that of women (6% for broadcast and 5% for streaming). And there's also a much smaller drop in representation as men age from their 30s to 40s. On broadcast television, the number of major male characters only drops from 35% in their 30s to 28% in their 40s.
"I suspect this is something that flies below the radar of most viewers. It's such a dated gender stereotype that I'm always surprised to see that it remains in both television and film. It's also interesting that these findings have been consistent in the studies since I started conducting them over 20 years ago. The numbers just don't vary much from year to year," Lauzen said in an email regarding the age discrepancy.
"As women in the real world reach their 40s, they gain personal and professional power, yet it's precisely at this age that the numbers of females dwindle on television and in film. The majority of media images normalize regressive ideas about gender and age, valuing females for their youth and beauty and males for their accomplishments," Lauzen noted in a press release.
This age bias faced by women is not limited to the acting profession. Researchers have found that age discrimination is generally worse for women than men across the labor market. One study examined callback rates for job interviews for low and medium-skilled positions. Not surprisingly, they found the decline in the callback rate by age was steeper for women than for men.
Lauzen's research also revealed that women are severely under-represented behind the scenes in television. "In 2021-22, 92% of broadcast and streaming programs had no women directors of photography, 79% had no women directors, 72% had no women editors, 71% had no women creators, and 65% had no women writers," according to the report. In other words, a show chosen randomly would likely not even have female writers.
The findings of the report aren't all bad news for women. Original programs on streaming services featured major female characters in numbers that reflect the proportion of girls and women in the U.S. population. "As they have for the last four years, streaming programs feature more major female characters than broadcast programs. Half of the major characters on streaming programs are girls and women, approximating their numbers in the actual population," Lauzen wrote in a press release.
The representation of women of color varied from streaming to broadcast television. While broadcast network programs cast higher percentages of Black female (28%) and Latina (7%) characters in major roles than streaming services (21% and 3%, respectively), streaming programs included a higher percentage of Asian and Asian American female characters than broadcast networks (15% vs. 10%).
