Women—More Than Half Of U.S. Population—Only See Themselves On Screen 38% Of The Time, Study Finds

A Nielson study released Thursday looked at the 300 most-viewed programs last year on broadcast, cable and subscription streaming services and analyzed the identities and screen time of the  top 10 recurring cast members of each show. 

The study found that despite making up 52% of the U.S. population, women were only shown on television screens 38% of the time, and that gender disparity is even more pronounced as women age: Women older than 50 years of age only made up less than 8% of screen time.

Similarly, people of color make up about 42% of U.S. residents, but count for less than 28% of on-screen depictions.

According to Nielson, particularly underrepresented are Hispanic people, who account for only 5.5% of television screen time despite making up 18.8% of the population.

LBGTQ representation on television has improved in recent years, the report found: While the LGBTQ people make up 4.5% of Americans, their depictions make up 6.7% of screen time.

According to Nielsen, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu lead the way in diverse programming, followed by broadcast shows and then cable television.