I wanted to bring attention to a great article published today by Mo Ryan at AOL TV. “Why is Television Losing Women Writers?” The article is prompted by a study at San Diego State University’s Center for The Study of Women in Television and Film. In 2006-2007, the number of women writers was 35 percent. In the 2010-2011 season, that number is only 19 percent.
http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/08/women-television-producers-decline/
She has a lot of great interviews in there with veteran TV Producers both male and female sharing their opinions on why this is. I do find it funny that women are still considered a “minority” is most circles. Considering women make up easily 50 percent of the population…but that’s another topic.
It seems that Hollywood writing rooms are still a “good ole boy’s club” and any women in that environment feel out of place. While I have no doubt that’s true in Hollywood, that’s still also true in many lines of business, especially corporate America. I work in Information Technology, where if you’re not in the “good ole boy’s club” that usually means you’re Indian. Women still have a very minor presence in the IT world and are often alienated by their male counterparts. There are very few in management roles.
However, you do have to wonder, why the decline? Do you agree with theories in the article? Possible reasons mentioned are a bias that men are still the breadwinners for the family, the networks keep going back to the proven winners which are usually men, and that advertisers want to cater to male oriented audiences. I highly disagree with the latter, since statistics show that most of the viewers out there are women and that the 18-34 female demographic gets a very high advertising premium.
So I implore, please read Mo’s article and then share your thoughts about it either there or here, or both! If you’re confused about how the data was compiled, Mo shares some details about that in the comments section.
http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/08/women-television-producers-decline/
