Over half of the United States population is women, But women remain underrepresented on television.

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Gender representation is common problem amount today’s society. Women have spent centuries advocating for equality to men. In the television industry women are still to this day unequal to men. In prime T.V. men dominate the gender representation in all the following categories Reality TV, Animation, Dramas, and  Situation Comedies. Overall men contain 60.6 percent of representation in prime T.V. leaving women at 39.4%.

Reality TV: This category of television has the greatest equality leaving women at 49%, and men at 51%. This is due to the face that in today society reality TV has become a predominately female industry. For example shows such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Or The Bachelor. Women are very close to closing the gender inequality gap in prime television representation in the category of reality TV.

Animation: This category of television has the highest representation gap leaving women at a representation of 26% and men at a high rate of 74%. As a female I will  admit I  personally do not have a strong interest in animation, but this is not the same for all females. A reason for this large gap could be due to the type of shows being televised. Examples of animation shows include shows such as The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy.

Dramas: Women are significantly below men in gender representation. Women represent 40% meanwhile men represent 60%. This surprises me due to the feminine qualities of drama shows. Some examples of popular drama shows include Grey’s Anatomy, Orange is the New Black, and Criminal Minds. My best inference on why men dominate dramas is because they fulfill the leadership roles, or are seen as “attractive” to keep women interested and engaged in the show.

Situational Comedies. Men lead this category with a representation of 64%, leaving women at 36%. This category I can understand since the humor is intended to be sexual or sarcastic. Shows such as The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, and Friends.

Overall gender representation on Prime Time Television Needs Vast Improvement.With an overall representation gap of approximately 40% there is a large gap and need for improvement in order to represent genders equally. Which genre of television do you think will achieve equality first?