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Report: Women’s employment in prime-time TV ‘plateaued’ in 2013-2014

Shonda Rhimes, who's behind "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal" and the upcoming "How to Get Away With Murder," is one of the most prominent women in television.
(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)
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Though Julianna Margulies said in her Emmys acceptance speech that it’s “a wonderful time for women on television,” a report issued on Tuesday suggests that may not be the case.

Women’s employment in prime-time television has “plateaued” in the last year, according to a report released by San Diego State University film professor Martha Lauzen.
The survey has been tracking women’s representation and employment in prime-time television for the last 17 years.

This year’s survey, titled “Boxed In,” looked at one randomly selected episode of each series on broadcast networks, cable and Netflix to determine women’s representation and employment in prime-time television.

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Female creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography working on prime-time television airing on broadcast networks account for 27% of individuals working behind the scenes.
The figure has decreased 1 percentage point from 2012-2013 but is on par with employment numbers from 2009-2010, according to the study.

“Whereas we were seeing slow but incremental growth over the last two decades, in the last five years or so it appears that women’s employment has stalled both on screen and behind the scenes,” Lauzen, who serves as executive director of the SDSU Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, said in a statement.

About 44% of programs employed four or fewer women, but only 1% of programs employed four or fewer men, according to the study.

Overall, on broadcast networks, women predominately took on roles as producers (43%), writers (25%), executive producers (23%), creators (20%), editors (17%) and directors (13%). Females constituted only 2% of directors of photography.

The percentage of female characters with speaking roles on screen also declined from 43% in 2012-2013 to 42% in 2013-2014.

Programs airing on ABC featured the highest percentage of female characters at 44%. CBS followed with 42%; Fox with 41%; CW at 40%; and NBC at 39%.

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Among the genres, situation comedies were most likely to feature female characters.

The study determined that gender stereotypes remain prevalent in programming on broadcast networks, with female characters less likely than males to be seen at work or working. Female characters also continue to be portrayed as younger than their male counterparts.

However, shows with females working behind the scenes helped diversify the content, the study found. For example, on programs with at least one female creator, women constituted 47% of all characters.

Many, including Margulies, believe the landscape for women in television has improved in recent years.

For example, Shonda Rhimes has received praise for creating a TV empire -- with shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and the upcoming “How to Get Away With Murder” -- that is home to characters of various minority groups, including women.

Likewise, Mindy Kaling and Lena Dunham have seen success starring in and writing their respective hit shows “The Mindy Project” and “Girls.”

“Look at what’s happening right now,” Margulies told reporters at the Emmys. “All these incredible actresses are being written as complicated, interesting characters.”

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