THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE U.S MEDIA 2015

WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER
Historical comparison of race/ethnicity of female characters
80%
74 73 73
4 3 3
60
2014
2013
2002
40
20
11 14 15 4 5 4 3 3 3 4
0
White Black Latina Asian Other worldly
Source: Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film/San Diego State University
2 2
Other
Graphic produced by the Women’s Media Center
Of all female characters, 74 percent were white; 11 percent were black; 4 percent
each were Latina, Asian or some other race; and 3 percent were not earthly human
beings but “other worldly.”
By comparison, black female
characters comprised
14 percent of all women
in 2013 and 15 percent in
2002; Latinas accounted
for 4 percent in 2013 and
2002; Asians made up 3
percent in 2013 and 2002.
Twentysomething women
represented 23 percent of
all female characters and
thirtysomething women
30 percent. Of male characters,
27 percent were in
their 30s and 28 percent
were in their 40s.
Comparison of representation of female
characters in films with at least one woman
director/and/or writer and exclusively male
directors and writers
50%
40
30
20
10
0
37
28
All speaking
characters
At least 1 woman
All men
33
28
Major
characters
39
4
Protagonist
Source: Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film/San Diego State
University
Graphic produced by the Women’s Media Center
The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2015 TOC womensmediacenter.com 61