The Emmy statuette is a woman holding an atom, but in some of the top behind-the-camera categories women have not had nearly as many chances as men to hold the award over the past decade.
According to a study released by the Women's Media Center in Washington Thursday (http://wmc.3cdn.net/822202d95858d58f00_l4m6y45dk.pdf) in advance of the Emmy award broadcast Sept. 20 on Fox, only 22% of the nominees for writing, directing, producing and editing, which are the jobs WMC says have the most impact on what gets on the screen.
That percentage is only slightly better for the current crop of nominees, with 25% in those categories women.
"Clearly there is a connection between the broadcast, network, cable, and Netflix programs that hire exclusively male creators and the industry-wide gender divide," said Jane Burton president of the center. "When there are few jobs for women, it is easy to see why so few women in non-acting categories are recognized for their excellence.”
The categories break out this way:
From 2006 to 2015, women made up only 8% of directing nominations; 13% of writing nominees, 18% of editing and 28% of producing nods.
“Clearly, the number of nominees for Emmys is not representative of the impact or the accomplishments of women writers, directors, producers, editors," said WMC board chair Pat Mitchell, "whose overall representation in all those categories is still far from equal to their talents or the opportunities."
The Women's Media Center was founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem to raise women's profile and power in the media.
