Women and Hollywood: We here at Women and Hollywood are always interested in new data that reveals where women stand in the film industry. Today, Stephen Follows, a producer and writer in the UK, released a new study called Gender Within Film Crews, and not surprisingly, men dominate most positions.
3 comments:
It truly baffles me how little progress has been made in a field who’s final goal is to enlighten people. Musicals, plays, and films alike almost always try to teach the audience a lesson, when instead they should learn a lesson on oppression. Now I know it is, sadly, not news that women are still not treated fairly in the work force, but there is absolutely no excuse for a DECREASE in opportunity for females. It’s ridiculous, and it’s sad. There’s not even a gradual pattern in the creative roles. Women make up almost 80% of both Casting Directors and Costume Directors, only for their next highest role to be Producers at less than 20%. Is it truly that outlandish for a woman to be more than a costume designer? Creativity is in no way gender exclusive, and with it being the 21st century neither should jobs centered around creativity. I mean honestly women are less than 2% of cinematographers, if that doesn't scream inequality to you nothing will.
What I find interesting about this study is the fact that the root of this problem is gender stereo-typing. While society has progressed significantly, it is hard to un-train our minds into not associating certain jobs with certain people. Typically, it is assumed men like action movies more so then women. This assumption carries over into who gets hired to work these movies. The mentality is you want to hire someone who is interested and invested in the job they are doing. However, it is unfair to assume that a woman is uninterested in working these jobs because she is a woman.
On a broader spectrum, the same goes for all forms of entertainment. Women have been given an image that is hard to stray away from when media portrays it so often. Supposedly, all women like romantic comedies, they like dresses, they like wearing makeup, the list goes on. Just like supposedly all men like action movies, sports, and doing hands on jobs.
While changing the ideas of society is not something that will happen overnight, the change can occur. It can start in a field like the entertainment industry which has always been known to break boundaries. Showing this change can only be determined by starting a dialog and watching the awareness and growth that follows.
This article, although it has a point, is hardly surprising. It's very well known that there is inequality in pretty much every workplace, and thus the time has come to look beyond what we can see in the numbers, and start looking for solutions.
The goal of the media is to supply the demand of the population. How can we go about exposing the fact that women can gauge the demand of the population just as easily as men? Just something to think about.
I was intrigued by the two positions radically standing out: costume designer and casting director, made up of 80% women. Costume designer is no surprise, but why casting directors? Are women stereotyped as a better judge of a person's talents? Who knows.
Altogether, this article has a good point, but is slightly unnecessary. What's important now is to utilize this information we have, and figure out what to do with it.
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