It has been a strong year for women in television, but only in some aspects. According to the Center for Study of Women in Television and Film the annual study, women make up 26% of all creators, directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography, which is up one point from the previous year and five points from the 1997-98 season. But 68% of all shows don't even have a female writer on staff.
The study, written by the center’s head Dr. Martha Lauzen, looks at individuals working on prime-time dramas, sitcoms and reality shows on ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC. It compares those employment figures with figures from the 1997-98 season. In the last year we have seen a major shift in television to more female-driven shows, especially comedic ones. Comedies that have debuted in the last year include "New Girl," "Girls," "Suburgatory." All of these shows were created by and focus on women. Plus, we are looking forward to new shows such as "The Mindy Project," co-created by Mindy Kaling as well as "Emily Owens MD" and "Nashville" premiering in the next few weeks. Shonda Rhimes also added to her television empire with "Scandal" (which is the first major network show to have an African American woman in 38 years.) But clearly we are still behind with getting women in the writing rooms. For every Lena Dunham and Tina Fey, there are…I can’t do fancy math…but there are just a lot more male writers.