In the UK, Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You and QI are heavily male dominated BBC panel shows in which women guests are a scarce sight.
Now, the BBC's director of television has set out plans to tackle the issue head-on, by ordering that every episodes of each BBC panel show must have at least one female guest.
"We're not going to have any more panel shows with no women on them," Danny Cohen told The Observer, "It's not acceptable."
A BBC spokesperson has confirmed that, while all-male episodes already filmed will still be broadcast, all future programming will feature at least one female panel member or presenter.
"There may be very rare occasions where shows that were already recorded - or whose panels were already booked ahead of the order - still have all-male line-ups, but hopefully the change should really become apparent," they said.