In partnership with Banijay Entertainment and Everywoman Studios, this report focuses on women’s representation in reality television behind the scenes in decision-making roles in the following four countries over three years (2021 to 2023): The United States, The United Kingdom, Brazil, and France. Armed with the insights from this report, industry leaders can draw attention to gender inequality, and more precisely target interventions to foster greater inclusion behind the scenes in reality TV.
Key Findings
- Overall, men outnumber women in reality television production – men make up 58.4% of executive producers, supervising producers, and creators, compared with 41.5% of women.
- Across all countries, the percentage of executive producers who are women has increased nearly ten percentage points from 2021 to 2023 — from 36.6% to 46.0%.
- Despite the gender imbalance among executive producers, we find near-perfect gender parity among supervising producers (50.9% men and 49.1% women), across all countries and all years.
- Three in four reality TV creators are men (73.7% compared with 25.7% who are women) across all countries and all years. This gender difference among creators is most pronounced in the U.S. (80.6% men compared with 16.1% women).
Recommendations
This research suggests the need to reimagine reality TV, who is involved, and how to increase women’s representation in reality television behind the scenes. The data finds that as the roles behind-the-scenes gain more decision-making power, the percentage of women in the job decreases. And while there is some evidence of improvement over time, this change is slow and inconsistent. Progress does not happen on its own. Not only do women need more opportunities within the industry, they need the resources, support, and trust to carve new paths, and drive new stories. Therefore, we provide the following recommendations for increasing women’s representation in reality television:
- Create mentorship programs. There is a much wider gender gap at the executive producer level than at the supervising producer level. Provide learning and networking opportunities for women who are mid-level producers so that they can obtain the skills and connections they need to advance in their careers, to increase women’s representation in reality television behind the scenes. Crucially, do not put the onus only on women to mentor other women – successful men should mentor and invest in women to cultivate new talent as well. For one example, see Banijay Launch.
- Prioritize equity in salaries and opportunities. Ensure that there are no gender pay or opportunity disparities among existing staff (or correct any that do exist) and establish practices to prevent them in the future.
- Foster a culture of communication. Provide opportunities for lower-level staff to share their ideas and see them come to fruition. Similarly, provide options (such as anonymous check-ins) where they can report problems or obstacles in a way that does not threaten their potential success.
- Offer paid leave. Often, parenting and household responsibilities fall disproportionately to women. Provide the flexibility and stability that caregivers need so that they do not fall behind in their careers when caring for their families.
