A study commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has found that audiences want more normal and older women on TV.
In the study, gender portrayal on television differed by genre. Generally drama, soaps and children’s programs perceived gender positively and in a balanced way. Comedy was also positively perceived by audiences to have high profile examples of real women.
The under-representation of older women in the news was highlighted as an issue for audiences of the BBC. Although the genre was perceived to have a balanced representation of both men and women, audiences were surprised and dissatisfied once they were told that there were four men for every women on BBC news programs (in 2015).
Audiences expected that in the sports news genre, there would be more male presenters and reporters to reflect the perceived audience. However a few high and respected female sports presenters were adding to the perception that there were lots of women working in sport on TV.