While there has been a recent surge in high-profile awards and visibility for some actresses, reports from 2024 and 2025 reveal that mature women (ages 40 and older) still face significant discrimination and underrepresentation in the entertainment industry. Despite making up roughly 20% of the population, women over 50 are portrayed on television only 8% of the time. Representation Disparity
: On broadcast television, major female characters drop from 42% in their 30s to just 15% in their 40s.
When mature women are cast, their roles often lean on outdated or harmful tropes rather than nuanced agency. milfinternal gallery
: A 2025 report from the Geena Davis Institute found that only 6% of top-grossing films mentioned menopause; when it appeared, it was frequently used as a punchline or to portray characters as irrational ("meno-rage").
: In top films and TV from 2010–2020, only 1 in 4 characters aged 50+ were women. While there has been a recent surge in
: Streaming platforms show a similar decline, with major female characters falling from 33% in their 30s to 14% in their 40s.
: Most older female characters in popular films are white, middle-class, and heterosexual, with almost no representation for ethnic or sexual minorities in this age bracket. Industry & Behind-the-Scenes Trends Beyond the Stereotypes: The Reality of Aging Women in Films When mature women are cast, their roles often
: Women 60 and older represent only 3% of major characters on both broadcast and streaming programs. Critical Character Tropes & Stereotypes