Female directors in the UK Actual decline despite We Are Doc Women campaign.

The number of female-led non-fiction television shows in the UK has fallen over the past two years, despite a major campaign to improve gender representation.

According to a study by the We Are Doc Women campaign, the proportion of factual programs directed by women in the UK fell slightly to 24% between April 2021 and April 2023.

“It is disappointing that the overall number of female directors is declining,” a spokesman for the campaign group said.

However, there were green shoots in We Are Doc Women’s research. In the year ending April 2023, 47% of shows for those who signed the group’s 50/50 pledge were led by women. Launched in October 2022, the pledge aims to achieve 50/50 gender representation next year and counts the BBC, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse Productions and Hilary Clinton’s HiddenLight among its signatories.

The We Are Doc Women spokesperson said it was “encouraging” to see so many organizations moving towards the goal of the pledge. “Although there are currently huge financial pressures and difficulties in the sector, we hope that diversity and inclusion will continue to be a priority,” she added. “We don’t want to lose any further progress in gender equality in directing.”

We Are Doc Women was founded in 2020 after several men were BAFTA shortlisted for the Best Factual Director category. BAFTA has since revamped its TV awards to make them accessible to more female directors, and this year the winner went to Netflix The Tinder scammer Helper Felicity Morris, who prevailed against competition from two other women and a man.

The latest statistics from diversity data aggregator Diamond for the year ending July 2022 show that 26% of reality shows were led by women, and that number turned on its head for producers and APs. The lower position of researcher was also dominated by women, with 68% women.