Primetime television remains a white man's world where women and minorities are vastly underrepresented, according to a new report released this week by the National Organization for Women (NOW).

"On television, persuasive myths still exist about gender, race, sex, violence, class, age — you name it!" said NOW Foundation President Kim Gandy. "Network programming sends a distorted, often offensive, image of women, girls and people of color. Television remains very much a man's world, with women serving primarily as eye candy."

The country's six major networks – CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, UPN and the WB – employed 134 more men than women, according to the "Feminist Primetime Report." Of this fall's new shows, 57 percent are male-driven, 20 percent are gender-balanced and 23 percent are told from a woman's point of view.

While roles for women have increased during the past decade, the majority of female characters are homogenous: young, thin and white, falling under what the report calls the Jennifer Aniston rule.

Asian-American women are television's most under-represented segment. Last season featured only four Asian-American actresses playing substantial roles: Linda Park on 'Enterprise,' Ming-Na on 'ER,' Lauren Thom supplying three characters' voices on 'Futurama' and 'King of the Hill,' and Keiki Agena on 'Gilmore Girls.'

With more than 106 million Americans watching television on the average night, the networks have a profound power, the report said. 'TV has the power to bring people together, to show viewers a full picture of our society. It also has the power to endorse destructive behavior, to reinforce the inequalities between women and men, and to ignore whole communities and sideline other groups of people,' according to the report.

More than 80 teams of "feminist field analysts" monitored 107 programs last spring. Analysts reviewed shows based on four criteria: gender composition/diversity, violent content, sexual exploitation and social responsibility.

"TV bigwigs are using the incredible power of the medium to get rich by serving up an adolescent boy's fantasy world,' Gandy said. 'Women and girls deserve better."