Certainly in the U. S. in recent decades, the experience of middle class and upper class men and women have been about the same in terms of quality and quantity (though this wasn’t the case 300 years ago and prior to that).
HOWEVER
The nature of the experience of men and women today is mediated primarily by men.
- If a man and a woman go to a movie or watch a show on TV, the film is much more likely to have been written, directed, produced, and filmed by a man (did you know that the standard camera height is that of a man, not a woman?).
- If a man and woman go to a concert, the music is more likely to have been written and performed by a man.
- If a man and woman go to a museum, the art on the walls and the curation is more likely to have been by a man.
- If a man and woman take a literature class, the authors are more likely to be men than women.
Etc. The percentage is changing, but we’re far from 50–50. It’s still a fluke to have a debate panel constituted entirely by women.
For the 3 presidential general election debates in 2016:
- Male
- Male-Female (50–50)
- Male
For 2012: (3 debates, one moderator per debate)
- Male
- Female
- Male
For 2008, 2004, and 2000: (one moderator per debate)
3 debates for each cycle, all moderators male (in 2000, all moderators were Jim Lehrer)
For the party primary debates in 2016 (Republican)
- One male
- Two male, one female
- Two male, one female (additional questions by two male, one female)
- Two male, one female (main debate); two female, one male (secondary debate)
- One male, one female (two female for secondary debate)
- Two male, one female
- Two male, two female
- One male (additional questions by one male, one female)
- Not clear
- Two male, one female
- One male, questions by one male, one female
Numbers are fairly similar for the Democratic primary debates, but the sixth debate moderators were all women. (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_Party_presidential_debates_and_forums )
Recap: all male moderator / panels are much more normative than all female; if you throw in mixed panels, all female panels are the definite outliers.
