‘There is Still Some Work to be Done, But We’ve Come a Long Way’: The Changing Position of Women in Technical Television Jobs

Although there is a body of scholarship concerning women’s roles in the British media industries, few studies have analysed how women’s career paths within these industries have changed over time. This article addresses that omission. It draws on empirical research with 130 women working in the UK television industry, to provide insights into the changing nature of women’s roles across technical, production and editorial areas over the last forty years. Previous research and industry reports have shown women were concentrated in low status, low paid, feminised roles, with little chance of promotion. This new research demonstrates evidence of positive change, such as entry routes being less gendered and increased opportunities in some technical roles, while simultaneously highlighting persistent issues including pay inequality, the ‘old boys’ network’, managing caring responsibilities, and crises of confidence. This study provides significant evidence of women’s career paths now being more varied and flexible, with improved opportunities for women in ‘quasi-technical’ areas within production. Women are now better represented across television production roles, although the same cannot be said for many location-based craft occupations such as camera, sound and lighting, where difficult to tackle, unmanageable gender inequalities remain