TV Diversity Still Has a Long Way to Go, Darker-Skinned Women Still the Most Underrepresented On-Screen

On-screen diversity and representation has progressed so much over the last few decades — but what about the last decade in particular? It seems like the diversity gaps are closing, but more quickly for some demographics than others.

A few weeks ago, Google Research in partnership with the Geena Davis Institute and the University of Southern California revealed findings from a study on TV representation for scripted television shows from 2010 through 2021, in efforts to shed light on the status of inclusion and representation on TV in the United States and its evolution over the past 12 years.

“Entertainment media, like scripted television, profoundly shapes the minds of young people as well as social narratives. It influences how we perceive the world, how we see ourselves holding place in society, what we should value, what we should respect, what careers we may pursue, who gets to be the hero, and more,” reads the introductory purpose statement of the study. “Analyzing and measuring inclusion and representation in entertainment media contributes to eliminating unconscious bias that can reinforce negative behavior, prejudice, colorism, body shame, low self-esteem, and other harmful stereotypes. We hope this report inspires the creation of more equitable media content.”

The report, titled, “See It, Be It: What Families Are Watching On TV – A Longitudinal Representation Study,” analyzed 440 hours of the most popular scripted programming across genres, from comedies and political dramas to romances and supernatural and sci-fi series.

Google Research’s MUSE (Media Understanding for Social Exploration) team was able to analyze this data by building an AI-enabled system designed to understand patterns in how people are portrayed in mainstream media. For the study, the AI system processed more than 100 frames per second.

Fun fact: Google’s 2017 joint study of gender equity in Hollywood films was the first use of AI to effectively study representation in media. “See It, Be It” builds directly on this work.

Some of the most interesting findings of the study include the screen time gaps that exist between light and dark skin tones on TV, across gender. Though the screen time gap between characters with light and dark skin tones tapered from 81% in 2010 to 55% in 2021, the gap is still alarmingly wide, with the majority of screen time still being taken up by lighter-skinned characters.

Over the past 12 years, male and female characters with medium and dark skin tones saw screen time increases of 8 and 9 percentage points, respectively; female characters with medium skin tones saw an increase in screen time from 2.0% to 5.4%, and dark-skinned female characters saw an increase from 0.3% to 6.9%.

Though dark-skinned female characters saw a screen time jump of an estimated 7 points within the last 12 years, and a jump in speaking time at an average rate of 1.2% per year, they are still the group with the lowest overall speaking time, meaning they are the least likely to speak when shown on-screen. (In comparison, dark-skinned male characters speak 20% of the time they are shown on screen — there exists a 4 point gender gap, as dark-skinned female characters only speak 16% of the time.)

Overall, male characters with light skin tones fill the largest share of screen time than any other demographic in the study, while the group most likely to speak while on-screen are male and female characters with medium skin tones.

At the end of the study, four major recommendations are made to “continue [pushing] the needle forward on inclusion and representation.” Diversifying casts of long-running shows, diversifying the crew behind-the-scenes, eliminating the age gap in casting, and challenging expectations and preconceived notions “about who can play what.”

“To move the needle, we need greater acceleration [of screen time for female characters] to achieve parity with male characters, conscious casting to consider a broad range of skin tones for both live action and animated characters, and more diverse storytellers behind the scenes,” Madeline Di Nonno, President and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media tells Teen Vogue.

Entertainment media can affect change off-screen by showing audiences limitless examples about what is possible — for them, their communities, and the broader world. As the old adage goes, “if you can see it, you can be it.” But what does that mean for those who don’t see others but themselves represented, or those who don’t see themselves reflected at all?

“Eliminating unconscious bias starts with a script!” Di Nonno says. “When there are diverse storytellers behind the scenes, there will be more diverse and inclusive characters on-screen. It is imperative that creative executives use an intersectional gender lens when evaluating all the characters being shown on screen regardless of whether they are a lead, co-lead, or minor character.”

These new findings prove that we’re on the right track to a version of Hollywood that looks more like the everyday world around us, but we still have a ways to go.

Article published by Hear Her Stories

“Eliminating unconscious bias starts with a script.”