The Change Mariner

Presence of Powerful Woman Behind The Screen Translates Into More Women On-screen

NYNewsDay:

... Ms. Lauzen's latest study, which analyzed the 2002-3 prime-time season, found that women made up 22 percent of all creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged for the last four seasons.

Meanwhile, on screen, male characters outnumbered females by almost 2 to 1 (62 percent males, 38 percent females). The women were also younger than the men: 70 percent of all characters in their 40's and 80 percent of those in their 50's were men. Among major characters, only men held political office or were military or religious leaders. A total of 93 percent of business owners were men.

But the presence of at least one powerful woman behind the screen translates into more women on-screen and more powerful women on-screen, Ms. Lauzen found. For example, women accounted for 36 percent of all characters in programs without female creators, compared with 44 percent of all characters in those with at least one female creator.

"I don't think there's some grand conspiracy out there," Ms. Lauzen said. "I think it's a subconscious thing going on. People hire people they feel comfortable with. But you can't possibly understand TV unless you look behind the screen to who is putting the words in the characters' mouths." Ms. Lauzen is just one of a growing number of feminist and communications theorists who have been studying the portrayal of women on television.

An ambitious new study of the top 15 Nielsen-rated network sitcoms from 1950 to 1999 by a group of Ohio University researchers, for example, is trying to document more precisely the ways TV warps reality and ducks nuance.