The annual “Boxed In” study on women in television has been released, and… it’s not good news.
Last year, the long-running report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film at San Diego State University found that the number of women in the TV industry increased significantly in 2024-25. (“Women Make Historic Gains in Streaming, as 36% of TV Creators Are Female” via Variety). It looked like substantial progress. Alas, the “historic gains” ended in 2025. This year, those numbers have “plummeted.”
Founder and publisher of “Boxed In,” Dr. Martha M. Lauzen—who looked at over 2,500 characters and more than 3,600 behind-the-scenes credits during the 2025-26 television year—found that the amount of women creating shows (specifically for streaming) dropped from 36 percent in 2024-25 to 24 percent in 2025-26. For women directors on streaming projects, the share dropped from 32 percent in 2024-25 to 22 percent in 2025-26. Other metrics, such as women in broadcast positions and female characters in streaming and broadcast, also saw slight decreases.
Additionally, the number of female characters in the 30-40s age range took a nosedive, while male characters didn’t show a similar drop until the 50s age range. In other words (and like we’ve always known), women are not permitted to age on screen as men are. Meanwhile, a study I personally conducted found that Taylor Sheridan shows starring washed-up male actors in their 60s have increased by 10 million percent…But all of this probably has nothing to do with the women-hating powers that be pressing their big orange thumb over Hollywood and the media landscape. Couldn’t be that! Come to think of it…How many streaming services and channels does the orange thumb’s buddy David Ellison own these days? I keep losing count.
In addition to decreased numbers across the board, Lauzen said that “the numbers of women creating shows on both platforms are now lower than they were almost a decade ago in 2017-18,” per the Hollywood Reporter. Looking back over the past decade, the industry has trudged through a pandemic, both writers’ and actors’ strikes, and now the looming threat of monopolies over the entire ecosystem. The surge in women’s representation last year gave us hope for sustained change, but as Mark Ruffalo wrote in his open letter of dissent against the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger, “There will be a loss of 4500 direct filmmaking jobs and the loss of another 10k ancillary jobs. Mergers like this are almost always bad for workers, consumers, and the industry they tend to dominate.”
“They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance,” Ruffalo added.
Will women’s declining representation on TV be the first domino to fall in the industry’s Big Crunch? Lauzen’s study supports the idea that we are already seeing the evidence of it. With women now, and soon with everyone else.
