New Study Finds Latinx Women Are Still Underrepresented on TV
The popularity of “Jane the Virgin," "One Day at a Time" and other television shows with Latinx casts has yet to significantly change the reality of televised representation for Latinx women. The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film illustrates this problem, and related trends for women of all races, in "Boxed In 2017-18: Women On Screen and Behind the Scenes in Television."
The Hollywood Reporter noted yesterday (September 11) that the report is the center's 21st under the "Boxed In" umbrella. Center director and report author Martha M. Lauzen examined 4,833 characters across all "dramas, comedies and reality programs appearing on the broadcast networks, basic and premium cable channels and streaming services" in the 2017-2018 television season. Per her assessment:
- Women of all races make up 41 percent of speaking roles.
- Latinx women represented 7 percent of all female speaking characters. That's a record high in TV history (last year they represented just 5 percent), but Latinx women represent about 20 percent of the female population in the United States.
- The corresponding figures for Black (19 percent), Asian (6 percent) and other female characters of color (1 percent) remain unchanged from the 2015-2016 season.
Read more from the report via WomenInTVFilm.sdsu.edu.