Women’s Media Center Finds Women Underrepresented in 64th Emmy Award Nominations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement from the Women’s Media Center:

The nominees for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences 64^th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced last week and once again women were missing or underrepresented in some of the most influential roles in television production.

In the 69 non-performance Emmy categories the Women’s Media Center found that women were underrepresented in all but a handful roles. Sixteen categories, including, cinematography and stunt coordination, had no women nominated at all.

“Because women are underrepresented overall in behind-the-scenes positions in Hollywood, it’s not surprising that the Emmy nominations demonstrate just how few women are involved in the decision-making roles of TV’s most popular shows, said Julie Burton, President of the Women’s Media Center.

In two major categories, writing and directing, the men vastly outnumber the women. Only a single woman was nominated for directing award -- Lena Dunham for HBO’s “Girls” – compared to the 31 men in contention. In the awards for writing, only 21 women were nominated compared to 98 men, meaning they represent only 18 percent of nominees. 

For example, the award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety series, which constitutes the bulk of names nominated for writing and includes the comedy writing teams of “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the gender ratio is particularly unbalanced with a mere 12 women nominated compared to 58 men. However there was a bright spot: the newcomer to the category, sketch-comedy show “Portlandia,” has two women and two men nominated.

But it’s not only in writing and directing where women are underrepresented, Burton stressed. “The importance of the role of executive producer in creating a television show cannot be overstated.”

But across seven categories, such as the awards for Outstanding Reality Competition and Outstanding Children’s Program, the Women’s Media Center’s analysis found there were only 30 listed female executive producers compared to 63 men.

“How women are represented in the media affects everybody, and what these Emmy figures show is that women’s voices remain underrepresented in television production,” Burton said.

The full gender counts for all 69 non-performance categories are listed below. To the fullest possible extent The Women’s Media Center tried to verify the gender of all the Emmy nominees in every non-performance category using what information we could confirm online.

For more information, contact Rachel Larris, Communications Manager, rachel@womensmediacenter.com or 202-587-1625.

Women’s Media Center Gender Breakdown for the 64^th Primetime Emmy Award Nominations

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series
1 woman
5 men

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series
0 women 
5 men

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
0 women
5 men

Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series
0 women
5 men

Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special
0 women
5 men

Outstanding Directing For Nonfiction Programming
0 women
6 men

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
2 women
3 men

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
2 women
6 men

Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
1 women
6 men

Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series
12 women
58 men

Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special
3 women
21 men

Outstanding Writing For Nonfiction Programming
1 women
4 men

Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs
4 women
9 men

Outstanding Children's Program
8 women
20 men

Outstanding Children's Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Program
7 women
8 men

Outstanding Reality Program
12 women
28 men

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
30 women 
55 men

Outstanding Nonfiction Series
8 women
17 men

Outstanding Nonfiction Special
10 women
17 men

Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Nonfiction Programs
8 women
9 men

Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking
7 women
3 men

Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series
7 women
5 men

Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series
8 women
7 men

Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries Or Movie
6 women
13 men

Outstanding Art Direction For Variety Or Nonfiction Programming
2 women
11 men

Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series
7 women
5 men

Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
9 women
3 men

Outstanding Casting For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
7 women
4 men

Outstanding Choreography
1 women
6 men

Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series
0 women
5 men

Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series
0 women
5 men

Outstanding Cinematography For A Miniseries Or Movie
0 women
5 men

Outstanding Costumes For A Series
8 women
3 men

Outstanding Costumes For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
10 women
2 men

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
1 women
5 men

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series
1 women
4 men

Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series
1 women
4 men

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Miniseries Or A Movie
2 women
3 men

Outstanding Picture Editing For Short-Form Segments And Variety Specials
2 women
15 men

Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming
1 women
7 men

Outstanding Picture Editing For Reality Programming
6 women
23 men

Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series
12 women
5 men

Outstanding Hairstyling For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special
19 women
2 men

Outstanding Hairstyling For A Miniseries Or A Movie
7 women
3 men

Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Series
1 women
15 men

Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Special
0 women
12 men

Outstanding Main Title Design
5 women
12 men

Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)
13 women
8 men

Outstanding Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special (Non-Prosthetic)
16 women
5 men

Outstanding Makeup For A Miniseries Or A Movie (Non-Prosthetic)
6 women
3 men

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
5 women
19 men

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)
0 women
6 men

Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special (Original Dramatic Score)
0 women
8 men

Outstanding Music Direction
0 women
7 men

Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics
0 women
9 men

Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
2 women
4 men

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series
9 women
29 men

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
8 women
34 men

Outstanding Sound Editing For Nonfiction Programming (Single Or Multi-Camera)
4 women
19 men

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)
2 women
17 men

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Miniseries Or A Movie
1 woman
13 men

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation
1 women
14 men

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Series Or Special
0 women
22 men

Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming
0 women
10 men

Outstanding Special Visual Effects
7 women
44 men

Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Supporting Role
6 women
35 men

Outstanding Stunt Coordination
0 women
6 men

Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series
3 women
45 men

Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
2 women
47 men