Women’s Portrayal in News

Women were just 14% of the guests on the Sunday morning public affairs television programs in the U. S. from November 2004-July 2005. Women were also less likely to make repeat appearances on these programs, and tended to appear in later segments of the programs. The 14% figure represents a three-point increase since 2001. (The White House Project, 2005)

In another study, of the 600-plus persons who appeared on the Sunday morning talk shows between January 2004 and June 2005, only three were black females – Condoleezza Rice, Donna Brazile and Gwen Ifill (National Urban League, 2005)

Women in Congress received fewer total newspaper articles, fewer mentions in front-page, national, foreign, metro, business and sports articles, fewer issue-based articles and fewer mentions and quotes in newspaper articles than their male counterparts (Anat Maytal, Media Report to Women, Summer 2005)

Women’s Portrayal in Television Entertainment

During the 2005-2006 primetime television season:

• Females accounted for 40% and males 60% of all characters. (Last season: 39% and 61%, respectively.)

• Overall, female characters were younger than males

• Females in prime-time are overwhelmingly white (Professor Martha Lauzen, San Diego State University, 2006)

The number of sexual scenes on television has nearly doubled since 1998. And while the inclusion of references to “safer sex” issues – such as waiting to have sex, using protection, or possible consequences of unprotected sex – has also increased since 1998, that rate has leveled off in recent years. This study examined a representative sample of more than 1,000 hours of programming including all genres other than daily newscasts, sports events, and children’s shows. All sexual content was measured, including talk about sex and sexual behavior. The study found that 70% of all shows include some sexual content, and that these shows average 5.0 sexual scenes per hour, compared to 56% and 3.2 scenes per hour respectively in 1998, and 64% and 4.4 scenes per hour in 2002. These increases combined represent nearly twice as many scenes of sexual content on TV since 1998 (going from 1,930 to 3,780 scenes in the program sample totaling a 96% increase between 1998 and 2005). But despite these overall increases in sexual content, the number of shows in which sexual intercourse is either depicted or strongly implied is down slightly in recent years (7% in 1998, 14% in 2002, and 11% in 2005). (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005)

Women’s Use of the Internet

Males and females have had approximately equal rates of computer use since 1997. In 1997, males were more likely than females to be Internet users. Between October 1997 and August 2000, this difference disappeared. Since August 2000, males and females have had virtually identical rates of Internet use (U. S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration)

Women Pursuing Media Careers

The percentage of women in daily newsrooms increased slightly to 37.7 percent. This percentage has gone up and down since 2001 when women made up 37.35 of newsroom professionals. Minority women account for 17.55 percent, up from 17.20 percent, of the women journalists in newsrooms last year. Six years ago, minority women represented 14.28 percent of newsroom journalists. In terms of positions held, men dominate: 64.5 percent of all supervisors are men. They are also 58.5 percent of all copy editors, 60.3 percent of reporters and 72.6 percent of photographers (American Society of Newspaper Editors, 2006)

The first of its kind “2006 Racial and Gender Report card of the Associated Press Sports Editors,” covering more than 300 AP newspapers, was released at the APSE annual conference, establishing a set of baseline data for the industry. Among the findings: White men and women comprised 88% of the total staffs of all APSE member newspapers; women made up 12.6% of total staffs of APSE member newspapers; Women made up less than 7% of columnists at APSE member newspaper sports staff. Out of 298 columnists counted, there are 19 white women and 1 African-American woman. (APSE, 2006)

At the major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) in 2004, women correspondents reported just 25% of news stories – the same ratio as the preceding three years (Center for Media and Public Affairs, 2005)

The percentage of women in the television news workforce in 2005 was 40 percent, up from 39.3 percent in 2004. The percentage of women news directors was 25.2 percent, up from 21.3 percent in 2004. The percentage of women in radio news fell to 24.8 percent from 27.5 percent in 2004, while the percentage of women radio news directors dropped from 24.7 percent to 20.4 percent. (Radio-Television News Directors Association, 2006)

Women continue to be significantly underrepresented on television and in the movies. While they are the majority of Americans, women were awarded only 38% of roles cast in 2003, consistent with past years. One bright spot was the increase of 215 support roles over the previous year. The 2003 data also supports the wide belief that age is a further barrier to opportunities for women actors today. In 2003, women over 40 were cast in only 11% percent of roles, while men over 40 secured 25% percent of roles cast. (Screen Actors Guild, 2004)

Bylines in the nation’s top intellectual and political magazines are heavily male. In an analysis of 11 magazines published between October 2003 and May 2005), male-to-female byline ratios ranged from 13-1 at the National Review to 7-1 at Harper’s and The Weekly Standard to 2-1 at the Columbia Journalism Review. (Columbia Journalism Review, July-August 2005)

A similar byline study, this one a year long, of the Atlantic, Harper’s, the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair found a 3 to1 ratio of male to female bylines. (Ruth Davis Konigsberg, www.womenTK.com, 2006)

Women have been the majority of college journalism majors since 1977 (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication)

Women fare somewhat better in pursuing communication jobs. In 2005, female journalism and mass communication graduates were more likely to have found fulltime employment than their male classmates, as they have every year since 1987. (Cox Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, University of Georgia, 2006)

Statistics compiled by Sheila Gibbons, Editor
Media Report To Women

Updated February 2007