ReFrame Report Finds Gender-Balanced Hiring on Top TV Series Slipped in 2025–2026 Season
Gender-balanced hiring on television’s most popular series took a step backward during the 2025–2026 season, according to ReFrame’s latest annual report, compiled in collaboration with WIF. The organization awarded its signature ReFrame Stamp to 42 of the season’s top 100 series, a decline of three percent from the prior year, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The dip is not a small statistical blip. For ReFrame and WIF, it is a signal that the entertainment industry may be losing ground on commitments to inclusive hiring, even as conversations about representation continue to shape content development, talent deals, and awards-season narratives.
“It confirms what I think a lot of people are witnessing, experiencing, which is that we are backsliding on gender balance,” WIF CEO Kirsten Schaffer said in an interview. “We think we’ve made it relatively easy to get and so the fact that the numbers are moving backward rather than forwards is really an issue. We’re looking for forward progress.”
ReFrame, founded by the Sundance Institute and WIF in 2017, awards its Stamp to television productions that hire sufficient numbers of women or nonbinary or trans people in significant roles such as showrunner, lead actor, co-lead actor, director, and various heads of department. The organization’s eligibility requirements are built around a point system that considers both above-the-line creative leadership and below-the-line department heads. The Stamp is meant to recognize shows that reflect a meaningful commitment to gender parity across the full range of production decision-making roles.
Schaffer stressed that the change cannot be attributed simply to an industry-wide reduction in the number of shows being made. “Even though there are fewer television shows being made right now across the industry,” she said, “this is based on percentages, so the percentages should still stay there.”
This year’s report shows a clear decrease in the representation of women, nonbinary, and trans people in major roles. Only 39 women or nonbinary or trans people played lead roles in the season’s top series, marking the lowest number in seven years. In the previous television season, that number stood at 44. The drop is especially striking because it comes after years in which the industry appeared to be making steady, measurable gains in front of the camera.
Representation for women of color and nonbinary and trans people of color in co-lead roles also declined. During the 2024–2025 television season, 55 percent of the most popular series contained at least one woman of color, nonbinary person of color, or trans person of color in crucial supporting roles. In the latest season, that figure fell to 47 percent. The decline suggests that efforts to improve representation have not been consistently reaching people who face intersecting forms of underrepresentation, despite growing attention to diversity in casting and creative teams.
Behind the camera, the report offered a more complicated picture. The percentage of showrunners who are women, nonbinary, or trans ticked up slightly, but the absolute numbers remain strikingly low. This latest season, 31 people in that category served as showrunners across the top 100 series, compared with 29 in the previous season. While the year-over-year increase is encouraging, the total number remains far below proportional representation in a country where women make up more than half of the population.
Writing rooms showed modest progress as well. The number of series that had at least half their episodes written by women or nonbinary people rose from 49 in the previous season to 51 in the latest season. But direction lagged behind. The number of series with at least half their episodes directed by women or nonbinary people dropped from 38 in 2024–2025 to 32 in 2025–2026. That decline is notable because directors play an outsized role in shaping on-set culture, visual storytelling, and the professional advancement of crew members.
The report also tracked significant changes among crew departments. Representation dipped for first assistant directors by seven percent, for production designers by four percent, and for directors of photography by three percent. These roles are essential to the smooth operation of any television production, and losses in these areas can have ripple effects across the industry. However, there were notable gains elsewhere: representation rose for stunt coordinators by 12 percent, composers by two percent, and visual effects supervisors by three percent. The increases in stunt coordination and visual effects supervision show that progress is possible in technical and action-oriented departments, even as other areas struggle to maintain previous levels.
ReFrame has reported in previous years that the presence of a woman showrunner is highly predictive of a series earning the Stamp. That relationship remained important, though it also weakened slightly. This past season, 87 percent of the series awarded the ReFrame Stamp had a woman showrunner, compared with nearly 93 percent the previous season. The connection is one of the strongest structural findings in the report: when women are in charge at the top, they are significantly more likely to build leadership teams that reflect a wider range of voices. The slight decrease in that correlation may indicate that some productions are meeting the Stamp criteria without a woman showrunner, but it also suggests that the pipeline for women showrunners is not expanding as quickly as needed.
The report also looked at the business case for gender-balanced hiring, and the results are favorable. Gender-balanced series were slightly more likely to be renewed and less prone to cancellation. Of the 27 first-season series that received the Stamp, 24, or 89 percent, were renewed. By comparison, 38 of 45 first-season series that did not receive the Stamp, or 84 percent, were renewed. Eleven shows were canceled in the 2024–2025 television season. Of those, four had received the Stamp and seven had not. While the sample sizes are relatively small, the findings undercut the argument that prioritizing inclusive hiring is a creative or commercial risk.
The report’s conclusions arrive at a delicate moment for the television industry. Networks and streamers are consolidating, budgets are tightening, and many production companies are being more selective about which shows move forward. At the same time, public debate about diversity, equity, and inclusion has intensified, with some companies distancing themselves from programs aimed at increasing representation. Schaffer’s warning about backsliding is therefore not just about the data in this year’s report; it is also about the broader environment in which hiring decisions are being made.
ReFrame’s point system was designed to make the Stamp attainable for a wide range of productions, not just a small number of flagship shows. The organization has often noted that achieving the Stamp does not require the entire cast and crew to be made up of women or nonbinary or trans people. Rather, it recognizes shows that make a deliberate, measurable effort to distribute key roles more equitably. Because the barriers to entry are not particularly high, the decline in the percentage of stamped shows is especially concerning. It suggests that even the relatively modest bar set by the Stamp is becoming harder to reach.
The full list of recipients of the ReFrame Stamp for the 2025–2026 television season includes a mix of returning hits and new series across streaming platforms and broadcast networks. On Amazon Prime Video, the recognized shows are “56 Days,” “Ballard,” “Fallout,” “Gen V,” “Scarpetta,” “The Boys,” “The Girlfriend,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” and “We Were Liars.” Netflix earned recognition for “Bridgerton,” “Ginny & Georgia,” “His & Hers,” “How to Get to Heaven from Belfast,” “Leanne,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Something Very Bad is Going to Happen,” “The Beast in Me,” “The Diplomat,” “The Hunting Wives,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Wayward,” and “Wednesday.” HBO and HBO Max were well represented with “Euphoria,” “Industry,” “IT: Welcome to Derry,” “Task,” and “The Gilded Age.” Hulu received stamps for “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Testaments,” and “The Bear.” Peacock was recognized for “All Her Fault,” “Ponies,” and “The Miniature Wife.” Apple TV+ earned stamps for “Down Cemetery Road” and “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.” Disney+ was honored for “Ironheart” and “Wonder Man.” ABC’s “High Potential” and Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” and “The Madison” also received the Stamp.
The list represents 42 productions, a meaningful group, but the overall trend is clear. After years in which the television industry seemed to be internalizing the value of gender-balanced hiring, the latest ReFrame report is a reminder that progress cannot be taken for granted. Without sustained attention from executives, showrunners, and studios, the gains achieved over the past several years can erode quickly. As Schaffer put it, the goal is forward progress, and the latest numbers suggest that the industry still has a long way to go.
