Brit men outnumber women - on TV

London, Mar 7 (ANI): Men outnumber women on television in Britain, a new study claims.

Apparently, only one woman appears on the small screen for every two men.

The Channel 4 study, conducted to mark International Women's Day, found that younger women are heavily over-represented by the broadcasting industry.

The study claims that only four in every 10 women on screen are aged over 40, while for every 10 men, six are aged 40 or older.

In light entertainment, comedy and drama women make up just four in every 10 participants, even though they are well-represented in the soaps.

However, in serious broadcasting, such as news and factual programming, only one-third are women.

And even when they do feature in news programmes, they primarily discuss "softer" news topics, such as health, culture or cookery.

"This pilot research measures the gap between what we see in the real world, and what we see on TV, and is the first step in developing a comprehensive measurement of how well TV represents and portrays different groups on screen," the Guardian quoted the former Labour MP, Oona King, Channel 4's head of diversity, as saying.

King added: "Fundamentally, this is about how we view our world and which groups are hidden from view or significantly under-represented. The gender gap here is quite startling."

The study was based on sample period of 386 hours of peak viewing across BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Five and Sky1. (ANI)