Although there are more females, by a head than there are males in the British population, on television women are still a distinct minority. Only one woman appears on the small screen for every two men, according to a comprehensive study recently unveiled.

The new research, commissioned by Channel 4 to mark International Women's Day, will also reveal that younger women are heavily over-represented by the broadcasting industry. Only four in every 10 women on screen are aged over 40. In contrast, however, for every 10 men featured on television, six are aged 40 or older.

By studying a sample period of 386 hours of peak viewing across BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Five and Sky1, the analysis has uncovered that men now take up 65% of all possible broadcast roles.

Although women were found to be well-represented in the soaps - where almost half of all the roles are for women - in light entertainment, comedy and drama they make up just four in every 10 participants. In the field of serious broadcasting, the research shows that women make up only one-third of participants in factual programming and even less in news, with only a 31% share of the limelight. When women do feature in news programmes, 69% of the time it's to discuss "softer" news topics, such as health, culture or cookery.

"This pilot research measures the gap between what we see in the real world, and what we see on TV, and is the first step in developing a comprehensive measurement of how well TV represents and portrays different groups on screen," said the former Labour MP, Oona King, Channel 4's head of diversity.

"Fundamentally, this is about how we view our world and which groups are hidden from view or significantly under-represented. The gender gap here is quite startling."

Source article: Guardian