Women on television are affected by a "combination of ageism and sexism" that does not apply to men, figures show.
Released by Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, the figures suggest women disappear from TV screens as they get older.
As part of the work of the Older Women's Commission, Ms Harman said that once women on television turn 50, their days on-screen are "numbered".
Ms Harman, shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport, wrote to the six main UK broadcasters asking them how many older women they employ on screen and behind the camera.
The findings were that while the majority of over-50s in the UK are women (53.1 per cent), the overwhelming majority of TV presenters who are over 50 are men (82 per cent).
While TV presenters are broadly reflective of age in the general population – 30 per cent of TV presenters are over 50 compared with 34 per cent of the UK population – they are unrepresentative in terms of gender.
Ms Harman said: "The figures provided by broadcasters show clearly that once female presenters hit 50, their days on-screen are numbered."
Miriam O'Reilly, who won an employment tribunal against the BBC on the grounds of ageism after she was axed from Countryfile, said: "These figures raise the obvious questions of where have all the older women gone and why?"
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