Washington, Aug 24 (IANS) The number of women, both in front of and behind the cameras, in Hollywood has dramatically fallen during the 2010-11 television season, indicating that their roles have been reduced, says a new report.

Writers took the heaviest toll, as only 15 percent of writing jobs for prime-time shows on major channels including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW were occupied by women, compared to 29 percent in the 2009-10 season, says the report by the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

In direction, one of the most important spots in the trade, women accounted for 11 percent in comparison to 16 percent in the previous season, the study titled "Boxed In: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes and OnScreen Women in 2010-11" said.

Other behind-the-camera jobs also suffered a tumble in numbers. Programme creators fell to 18 percent from 21 percent, so did producers, who fell to 37 percent from 39 percent, Xinhua reported.

The study suggested that lack of women behind the camera could have also contributed to the lower number of women in front of the camera.

"Programmes with at least one woman creator or writer featured more female characters than programmes with no women creators or writers," it said.

On-screen jobs dropped from 43 percent to 41 percent during the season.

The researchers conducted the study from the 1995-96 season by surveying one random episode aired by each network in a single season.