Reality TV industry blasted for ‘double standards’ and sexism after hiring ‘financially stable’ men over women

The CEO of a leading production company has criticised “double standards” and sexism in the TV industry following a damning report that highlighted the challenges women face in securing top jobs in the sector.

Sharon Levy, who leads the Banijay production company Endemol Shine North America, pointed to women being “pegged as demanding” during negotiations leading them to be pushed out of hiring roles, despite men being seen as confident for the same behaviour.

Speaking to The Independent, Levy said women’s communications styles are often “misinterpreted as weaknesses”, recommending mentorship programs for women in mid-level production roles among other measures to close the gender pay and opportunity gap.

Banijay’s report found that men outnumber women in executive producer , creators and showrunner roles with prior research claiming this inequality is due to men being seen as “more financially stable” in the entertainment industry.

Levy told this publication: “Men have long dominated the unscripted television space, and the historical lack of women in leadership positions creates an image of men as the norm for financial success in this field.”

She added: “But women can be as successful, if not more so, than men. One study we came across when conducting this research found that even with fewer work opportunities and smaller budgets, the work produced, written by, or starring women yielded, on average, higher returns on investments than those produced by men.”

For Banijay’s report , titled “Behind the Scenes: Women’s Representation in Unscripted Television in the US, UK, Brazil, and France”, researchers studied production teams across 360 unscripted TV programs in those countries between 2021 and 2023 and found three in four (73.7 per cent) reality TV creators to be male – across all countries and all years.

As well as prejudice over financial stability, Levy says “the double standard applied to communication and negotiation styles and how often they are misinterpreted as weaknesses” also works against women forging a career in unscripted television.

“Women who advocate for themselves are usually pegged as demanding,” she says. “At the same time, men who do so are seen as confident, which frequently leads to men securing better deals and reinforcing the perception of financial stability.”

Dr Rowan Aust, co-director of ReelTime Media added: “Men are seen as more financially stable because women are understood to be responsible for everything ‘outside’ of work and in being so, essentially supportive of men’s careers and this is replicated in the TV workplace. It is, obviously, not a reflection of talent, potential or capability.”

She said the success of writers Sharon Horgan, Daisy May Cooper, Sarah Phelps, Sally Wainwright, presenters Alison Hammond, Kirsty Wark, Alex Scott, Maya Jama, Claudia Winkleman, Emily Maitlis and comedians Katherine Ryan, Meera Syal, Sophie Willan, and Rosie Jones – amongst many others – all “points to the fact that women are extremely bankable across all genre, as writers, director, producers actors and presenters and across all aspects of programme making.

“This makes their continued exclusion, the gender pay gap, the failure to account for the differences in the ways women work, demonstrably nonsensical,” she said.

Authors of the Banijay report called on the reality TV production industry to prioritise closing the gender gap in both salaries and opportunities, creating mentorship programs for women in mid-level production roles to help advance them in their careers, and offering paid leave.

Marcus Ryder, CEO of the The Film TV Charity commented: “This study is incredibly important and research into this issue is necessary.

“We are often lulled into a false sense of complacency because anecdotally we can point to a number of women in high powered positions. But our research shows that people with caring duties disproportionately suffer financial distress and caring duties still disproportionately fall on women.

“There has also never been a woman Director General of the BBC,” he added. “And several studies have shown that women directors find it more difficult than men to direct their second films.”