Female voices were critically underrepresented on the Sunday interview shows of the main Spanish-language networks, Univision and Telemundo, in the first third of 2016.

A Media Matters study analyzing all guest appearances from January 3 to April 24 on Spanish-language Sunday interview shows found that on Univision’s Al Punto, male guests appeared more than three times as often as female guests, while on Telemundo’s Enfoque, men appeared more than twice as often as women. During the time frame analyzed, Univision’s hour-long Al Punto had 76 percent male guests and only 24 percent female guests, and Telemundo’s half-hour show Enfoque brought in 68 percent men and 32 percent women.

The underrepresentation of female guests on Spanish-language Sunday shows is especially glaring considering that Latinas “are more politically involved than their male peers,” according to Voto Latino president María Teresa Kumar, with issues like reproductive health and the wage gap likely driving them to the polls.

Sunday shows are a primary setting for discussing current events and thus play a major role in setting the political agenda. It is critical that women’s voices are included in the discussion of issues affecting the nation, as their perspectives can add valuable depth to the conversations. And some issues, like reproductive rights and wage inequality, impact Latinas disproportionately.

The dearth of female guests on Spanish-language Sunday shows follows a trend of underrepresentation of Latinas on English-language shows of similar format: In 2015, Latinas accounted for only 1 percent of total Sunday show guests, despite making up 9 percent of the general population.

Methodology

Media Matters analyzed every guest appearance on Univision’s Al Punto and Telemundo’s Enfoque from January 3 to April 24 using iQ media, coding guest appearances for gender. All participants appearing to engage in significant discussion -- defined as at least two speakers in the segment talking to one another -- were considered guests.

Dina Radtke and Sarah Wasko contributed to this report.