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ollywood is a man’s world. Out of 3,500 television episodes broadcast in 2013 and 2014, women directed only 14 percent. A third of television shows had no female director at all. Women comprised only 25 percent of the Emmys nominees for writer, director, and editor. Women in television are underrepresented on and off the screen. Just last spring, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a request with both state and federal government to investigate why such a disparity behind the camera existed. Why exactly is it so important for women to gain higher representation behind the camera? It is about representation. Television shows tell a story, and these stories have been told with an overwhelmingly male point of view. Diversity behind the camera directly translates to diversity on screen. Different point of views create different kinds of stories. The presence of a female executive producer or creator can have a large impact on a show. For instance, television programs that have a least one female executive producer or creator feature a much higher percentage of female characters. This also holds true for amount of female writers hired. Only 6 percent of a show’s writers are women when there is no female producer, as compared to 32 percent when shows are being overseen by at least one female executive producer. Luckily things do seem to be improving. There has been a wave of prominent women in television over the past few years. Amy Schumer, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Shonda Rhimes, and Amy Poehler have all created successful prime time television shows, in both comedy and drama genres.
Diversity behind the camera directly translates to diversity on screen. 30 Rock (which was created by, written by, and starred Tina Fey) started a watershed moment for women in the television industry. Fey is critically and commercially acclaimed for her work in 30 Rock. Now, there are more shows than ever that feature women as their central character who are strong and independent protagonists: Parks and Recreation and The Mindy Project both have leading women that have prominent roles both on and off the screen. Amy Poehler served as the show’s producer and lead Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation. Poehler depicts an independent woman who works for her local town’s Parks and Recreation department. Poehler portrays a tireless, devoted city employee that gives a great name to public service. Mindy Kaling created, produces, writes, and stars in her show The Mindy Project, where she too portrays a hardworking woman. These shows have done a lot for the representation of women on the screen as well. Diversity for women on the screen has vastly improved. Scandal, a show featuring a minority woman as its lead is run exclusively by Shonda Rhimes, another woman of color. Rhimes is at the head of the industry. She has created, produced, and has written for several successful shows including Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Both were considered very
successful with audiences and critics alike. Kerry Washington was nominated for an Emmy for best leading actress for her role as Olivia Pope in Scandal at both at the 2015 and the 2014 Emmys. Transparent, a show about a transgender woman coming out to her family, is another example. This show is largely directed and created by Jill Soloway, and has been critically acclaimed. Soloway won the Outstanding Direction for a Comedy Series for the 2015 Emmy’s. Altogether, the show picked up 11 Emmy nominations and won 5 of those awards. Kerry Washington broke a long drought of black women in leading roles of programs. The last black woman given a lead role in a television show was Diahann Carroll in Julia, which ran from 1978-1981 and was also created and produced by Shonda Rhimes. Viola Davis made history during the 2015 Emmy Awards in September by becoming the first black woman to ever win a Primetime Emmy for Best Leading Actress in a drama. Her speech touched millions as she spoke about underrepresentation for women, especially for women of color, in the media. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” Her speech, and several others that evening, highlighted a lot of social justice issues that evening. It is important to analyze how a male’s point of view may be affecting how women are represented on the screen. The way a man views the world could potentially be very different than a woman’s view of the world. Storytelling via a visual medium such as television is enriched with different perspectives and experiences. For example, showing women as employed on television may resonate more with a female director than it could a male director. For instance, on primetime television of shows broadcast in 2012, only 44.3 percent of women were showed as employed compared to 54.5 percent of males. In reality, the female employment rate is over 60 percent. Portraying and seeing women as powerful decision makers should be a norm. What young girls see on a screen can strongly affect their ambitions and perceptions of how women can be successful in the world. It has been shown in a study by Kevin Durkin that television strongly influences children’s views and aspirations, and when children are consuming an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes of entertainment media a day, this can mean a lot in the long run. Take Doc McStuffins, a children’s television show featuring a young black girl who plays a doctor and fixes her toys’ various ailments and injuries, all while teaching a message of how to stay fit and healthy to children. From what we’ve seen, exposing children to such ideas does influence their perceptions of women in media. Another great example lies in primetime television. In The Mindy Project, Mindy Kaling portrays a successful OB-GYN in a healthy, loving relationship in New York City. She recently has had a child in the show and this doesn’t slow her down-personally or professionally. This is great for women and men of all ages to be seeing: women working even after starting a family Despite all of this improvement, women in media are still excluded, both on-screen and off. A majority of television still features white men as their leads, and a majority of those programs do not have much diversity behind the camera either. Television is an art, and art is an experience that all can create to show the world. Perspective influences this art, and it’s time that Hollywood takes a break from the overwhelmingly male storytelling in television. ◼
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