Hilltown Families 
Has TV gender balance increased over the years?
Now You See ‘Em, Now You Don’t
When you were a kid, children’s movies and television didn’t have many females or characters of color. That’s all changed for today’s kids, right? Not.
Now You See ‘Em, Now You Don’t: Gender & Racial Disparity in TV for Children is a new report released today (03/21/07) that documents this persistent problem. The report draws on the most comprehensive content analysis ever conducted on children’s television and movies.
University of California researchers coded thousands of speaking characters in more than 1,100 children’s movies and TV shows. “Now You See ‘Em, Now You Don’t” analyzes the ratio of male and female characters in television shows created for young children and how frequently these characters occupy narrowly prescribed gender roles. The research shows some areas of progress, but many areas of stubbornly entrenched gender and racial imbalance remain in children’s entertainment.
This report is research brief commissioned by the See Jane program of Dads & Daughters.
Click here to read the report (pdf file).
The national nonprofit Dads & Daughters works to make the world safe and fair for our daughters. As one of its major programs, See Jane works to increase gender balance and reduce gender stereotypes in entertainment media for children 11 and under.
Primary Sources in the Women’s Movement, 1960 to Present: The “Second Wave” and Beyond
This site provides a forum “that brings together feminist thinkers, scholars and activists, to analyze compelling questions about feminist activism and theories, define new directions for historical research on this period, and provide a new venue for publishing traditional articles.” It features links to chronologies, oral histories, images of documents, book reviews, bibliographies, and teaching material. Also includes links to related sites. From Alexander Street Press. (LII)
URL: http://scholar.alexanderstreet.com/display/WASM/
I don’t think there is a great balance of gender on TV, especially for kids TV. The number of female leads are unapprovingly low during primetime. In general I think gender roles are starting to blend (a good thing) but it’s not being protrayed on TV.