ReFrame Data Shows Decline in Gender-Balanced TV Series
The latest industry report reveals that only 42 of the top 100 series earned the gender-balanced ReFrame Stamp this season.
Updated on Oct. 15, 2026 in Women’s Issues
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The ReFrame organization awarded its gender-balanced designation to 42 of the top 100 television series during the 2025-2026 season. This represents a three percent decrease in the number of series achieving the mark compared to the previous television season.
Why it matters
The metrics highlight shifting trends in workforce representation within the television industry across key roles including writing, directing, and showrunning. These figures are used to evaluate how hiring practices for women, nonbinary, and trans individuals impact show success and renewal rates.
A total of 31 series featured showrunners identifying as women, nonbinary, or trans, while 51 series reached a majority threshold for female or nonbinary writers. Additionally, 47 percent of top series featured women or trans people of color in supporting roles.
The players
ReFrame
This is an industry organization founded in 2017 that monitors and promotes gender parity in the entertainment sector.
The details
The designation is determined by a point system that tracks the inclusion of women, nonbinary, and trans people in critical positions like department heads, directors, and lead actors. Data shows that 87 percent of series earning the stamp featured a woman showrunner, while 89 percent of stamp-awarded first-season shows were renewed for another year.
Timeline
The ReFrame organization was founded in 2017.
Industry metrics were compiled for the 2024-2025 television season.
The latest report covers the 2025-2026 television season.
Culture Shift
These metrics track the historical progress of diversity in television, providing a standardized benchmark for evaluating how production companies prioritize gender parity. The report marks a departure from recent trends, illustrating a slight regression in the number of series meeting these gender-balanced benchmarks.
These trends influence the diversity of perspectives present in the television shows viewers consume at home. The data also suggests that shows meeting these benchmarks have a high likelihood of being renewed for subsequent seasons, affecting the longevity of viewer-favorite programs.
The takeaway
The data confirms that shows reaching gender-balanced hiring benchmarks maintain a high renewal rate compared to those that do not. Viewers can monitor these trends to see if networks prioritize diversity initiatives in upcoming programming cycles.
Further reading
Explore broader trends in media representation and advocacy on the Women’s Issues page.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
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