EMMYS 2015: The reason why we're cheering for Breaking Bad and Mad Men this year.

Tomorrow is the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards and we’re rooting for Mad Men and Breaking Bad for an important reason. 

With the Emmy awards on tomorrow we thought it would be nice to look back at the year that was and celebrate all the wonderful men and women who have been nominated at these prestigious television awards.

Scratch that.

Let’s just call what it is. A male dominated and celebrated awards show.

The Women’s Media Centre collects date on gender inequality in the entertainment industry and has just released a comprehensive study of gender and Emmy nominations for the past 10 years (2006-15).

Sadly, the study revealed just how sexist the entertainment industry is (and has always been) when it comes to women working behind-the-scenes in film and television.

The category of acting was disqualified from the survey as it is divided by gender, leaving writing, directing, producing and editing to be surveyed.

Within the remaining categories, women received only 22 percent of the nominations over the last decade.

To break that down for you, that means 7,485 men received Emmy nominations compared to only 2,074 women – despite the fact they’re doing the exact same job.

The reason why it is so important to have more women behind our favourite TV shows, Women’s Media Centre president Julie Burton explained, is because the people making the product get to dictate the type of show being made.

“The men and women in these roles have the power to decide and mold what the story is, who is in the story, and how the story is told. This is crucial to making sure women’s experiences, perspectives, voices, and images are part of any story,” said Burton.

The Women’s Media Centre report did pin point some programs that had done an impressive job at giving women leading roles in the production of the show. For example, there was a significant portion of women nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series due to the show Mad Men (with women making up nearly half of the Mad Men writers’ room).

Similarly, Breaking Bad had women representing 40 percent of the nominees when it came to Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series.

It’s always fun to watch the Emmy awards show and celebrate in the success of our favourite actors and programs but it’s also important that we start thinking deeper about how equal our film and entertainment industry is. Surely, there is more we can do to support our talented women?

Have you noticed the gender inequality of the Emmy Awards nominees?