Table of Contents

Introduction.......1

The Statistics.....3

Womens Stories......4

The Workplace......7

The Solution.........10

Conclusion........12

References.....14
 Closing the Gap: Gender
Inequality in the Film Industry

Introduction

A client walked into our post-production office and said to me,

Can you go get the Editor and get me a coffee while youre at
it? I responded, I am the Editor and the coffee is in the
1
kitchen.

This is the daily experience of many women filmmakers. Impassioned with their
love of film, they enter the industry facing ridicule, discrimination, and
harassment. Many Hollywood studios are guilty of systematically excluding
women from directing jobs, by use of discriminatory screening and recruiting
practices.2 Women rarely appear on producers short list of directors they are
considering hiring for a big-budget picture, and if they do, they are often weeded
out due to sex stereotyping.3 Programs to proactively hire more women are
almost nonexistent, or at the least, grossly ineffective.4

Though guilty of gender discrimination, Hollywood is extremely difficult to

handcuff, as many directors work as independent contractors rather than for a
company. In the 1960s, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
with the intervention of the Justice Department, found employment

1
2016. Shit People Say to Women Directors . Accessed October 16, 2016.
http://shitpeoplesaytowomendirectors.tumblr.com/.
2
Goodman, Melissa, and Ariela Migdal. 2015. Women's Rights Project. Letter, Los Angeles : American Civil Liberties
Union.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
1
discrimination in Hollywood based on gender. Remedial measures were set in
place with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, but never
got off the ground.5

Though justice requires that legal action should be taken on this overt
discrimination, a more realistic solution to gender inequality exists: creating a
larger pool of women in the industry. If there are five female editors in the
editing suite instead of just one, it will be harder for men to disregard them. The
closer the film industry becomes to having fifty percent of large-budget films
directed by women, instead of just nine, the more equal the workplace will
become.6

Female filmmakers are often the only woman in the room, their coworkers and
bosses unable to offer them the support they seek. They find it extremely
difficult to move up because often there isnt a female boss who can bring them
one step closer to the glass ceiling. The more women there are in the film
industry, the more quickly this discrimination will decrease.

Awareness from an early age is essential to young women entering this industry.
Therefore, I propose that girls and coed schools in the St. Louis area implement
clubs and programs that develop girls leadership skills, promote awareness for
the film industry, and encourage them to join it. If these programs are
successful, the sheer amount of women pervading the business will eventually
rise to a number executives can no longer ignore, and womens voices will be
heard.

5
Goodman and Migdal, 3
6
Zurko, Nicholas. 2013. Gender Inequality in Film. New York Film Academy Ltd. . November 2013. Accessed October
4, 2016. https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/.

2
The Statistics
The need for more women owning this industry speaks louder than ever in the
numbers. Currently, according to the New York Film Academy, only about nine
percent of major-budget films are directed by women. Fifteen percent are

How Women are Portrayed in Film. Infographic. New York Film Academy. Accessed October 4,
2016. www.nyfa.edu.

screenwriters, with executive producers and editors bringing in seventeen and

7
twenty percent, respectively. Female filmmakers input is often belittled or
ignored altogether, with men overtaking womens positions on set as director or
cinematographer.

7
https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/.

3
This gender disparity affects the way women are portrayed in film. In a study
from the San Diego State University Center for the Study of Women in Television
and Film, only five percent had a balanced cast, and 39% of all speaking
8
characters were female. A study performed by the New York Film Academy
exposed that nearly 30% of actresses wore sexually revealing clothes, while only
7% of actors did, and 26.8% percent of women showed partial nudity, as opposed
9
to 9.4% of men.

Male-centric stories result in lower pay for actresses, even when they do get to
play a lead role. In 2013, a Forbes study revealed that the ten highest paid
actresses made a collective $181 million as opposed to $465 million raked in by
10
the men. Womens characters are not only grossly misrepresented, but the pay
gap yawns wider than ever.

The Workplace
Women filmmakers are constantly fighting to get hired and combat
discrimination at their workplaces. Many women directors gain incredible
success from their independent, smaller-budget films; however, discrimination
grinds their careers to a halt when they try to take on larger-budget productions.
11
One female director interviewed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
has heard countless times from producers, Well, its hard to have you direct it
because its such a big budget film. You dont have the experience. They
dismiss her because shes a woman, instead of seeing that Ive done five feature

8
Lauzen, Martha M. 2016. Boxed In: Women on Screen and Behind the Scenes in Television. Research, San Diego:
Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, San Diego State University.
http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/2015-16-Boxed-In-Report.pdf.
9
https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/.
10
https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/.
11
Goodman and Migdal, 5
4
films. But a guy can be hired off of one feature film thats low budget.12 The
industrys hierarchy has been so male for so long that its incredibly hard to
crack, as Annie Howell, a film professor at San Diego State University, explains:

The history of [this] network is based in a profile that is

entirely male and once that power structure is entrenched, even
if there are some women there, the choices being made at the top
reflect the interest [...] of those people. This impacts who
gets through the door, who gets hired and who gets financed.13

Women directors are constantly undermined, or not even considered, because a

significant percentage of industry executives believe women cant handle big
films with large crews, according to the ACLU. 14 They are victims of sex
stereotyping, limited to directing clichd womens films such as romantic
comedies or girls commercials. They are proactively excluded through word of
mouth recruiting practices, very rarely appear on executives short lists of job
candidates, and if they are hired, they are often there to fill a shows begrudged
one-woman quota.15

The Tumblr blog Shit People Say to Women Directors provides a safe space for
female filmmakers to anonymously voice their experiences with discrimination
and harassment. Many women have reported experiences where men ignored
womens skillset and input:
I was working as one of two Cinematographers on a music video.
Our (male) Director didnt seem to understand that we
were collaborating. He would only discuss the shots with my male
partner, completely disregarded my opinions, and would even flat
out ignore me. At one point he handed me the clapper and said,

12
Ibid.
13
Gottlieb, Meryl. 2015 . Report Shows Lack of Female Filmmakers . February 23 . Accessed October 12 , 2016.
https://www.ohio.edu/finearts/film/whats-happening/news-story.cfm?newsItem=68F3F29E-5056-A81E-8D951B31AC
3A26A1.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
5
Youre clapper loading. The credits had to end up being fixed
because I wasnt credited as Cinematographer.16
In addition to discrimination, women have also experienced disgusting sexual
harassment in their workplaces. While many male filmmakers enter the
industry because of their genuine passion for the art, they encounter few
professional women, fostering a belief that women arent cut out to do their job.
The women they do encounterthe actressesare often beautiful and
sexualized. As Martha Coolidge, former president of the Directors Guild of
America, explains:

There are even some men in this game for the sexual perks [...]
and if they want to be on a set where they are the king and they
can f*ck anything out there, theyre not gonna want women around
who are like their mother or their sister or their principal. So
they are not going to hire women in any important positions.
They are going to hire cute women that are their prey and
conquests. [...] They dont want someone watching who might say
something to their wife or their boss.17

lunt Talk p
Actor Patrick Stewart surrounded by scantily clad dancers at the B remier.
Getty Images

In the beginning of the film industry in the early 1900s, women numbered about
fifty percent of filmmakers and were involved in almost all aspects of

16
http://shitpeoplesaytowomendirectors.tumblr.com/.
17
Ibid.
6
production. Alice Guy-Blanche (1873-1968), a secretary for a French photography
company at the turn of the twentieth century, is believed to be the first director
of a narrative film. She created and produced a short film to demonstrate the
companys new motion picture camera, and produced about 400 more short
films thereafter.18

Women filmmakers were perceived as equal to men, as screenwriter Beulah

Marie Dix (1898-1973) explains: Anybody on the set did anything [...] Ive walked
on as an extra, Ive tended lights, she wrote the directors notes, and she spent
a good deal of time in the cutting room.19

A woman manning a camera during the silent era of film, circa 1915.
View Images

The budding industry seemed to be one of egalitarian promise for women

pulling away from the domestic sphere. However, as the business boomed,
women lost that opportunity. It is time to gain it back.

Womens Stories

18
Library of Congress. n.d. The Silent Era: Women Behind the Camera . Library of Congress. Accessed October 20,
2016. https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmi10/silent_camera.html.
19
Ibid.
7
Often inspired to tell compelling emotional stories about other women, female
directors battle a lack of understanding on the part of the men receiving their
wilight o
movie pitch. Even though film franchises with female leads such as T r
The Hunger Games have had huge success, the men signing on screen plays are
often left befuddled by womens stories.

Ive been there when a film with a female protagonist has been screened,
describes film professor Martha Lauzen of San Diego State University, and the
guys at the top go, Well, I dont get it. The majority of the people making the
decisions are male, and the stories they are going to relate to the most, and think
everyone else will relate to the most, are those starring males. When pitching an
idea to a male director, they might be very sympathetic, says Lauzen, but they
do look at the world from a different perspective.20

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Katniss Everdeen. Digital Image. Thumbtack, Inc. www.thumbtack.com.

Many filmmakers dismiss the lack of female-led films on financial grounds,

claiming that they dont make nearly the money male-led movies do or appeal to
a large enough audience. Not only is this claim terribly biased, it is also entirely
false. In 2013, female-led movies grossed an average of $116 million in the box

20
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/31/female-film-makers.
8
office, while male-led movies grossed an average of $97 million.21 This trend
continued throughout 2014 and 2015, with the biggest earners, The Hunger
Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Maleficent, bringing in nearly $600 million over
their budget.22 Other female-led commercial hits include Insurgent ($290m),
Cinderella ($538m), and The Fault in Our Stars ($307m).23

he Hunger Games
Woman-centric films appeal in fact to a very large audience. T
$152 million opening weekend comprised of a 39% male audience. Its sequel,
Catching Fire, earned $158 million its opening weekend, attended by a 51% male
audience.24 Not only to womens movies make bank, men actually enjoy
them--all the more reason to give women the screen time they deserve.

Since filmmakers are so concerned with a storys potential commercial success,

they should by no means dismiss womens films, but rather embrace their
selling power. Not only are women 50% of the population, but they outnumber
male moviegoers by nine million. In
the U.S., women make nearly 85% of
major consumer decisions and will
earn more than their husbands by
2018. They are now earning over 50%
of undergraduate and graduate
degrees, constitute almost half of the
labor force, and manage the majority of
household decisions.25

21
PGA Women's Impact Network; Women and Hollywood . 2015. The Ms. Factor: The Power of Female Driven
Content. Business, Los Angeles: PGA Women's Impact Network.
22
Ibid
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
9
However, one or two female leads is not the only key ingredient to commercial
success. The more balanced a movies cast, the more money it makes, as shown
to the above.26 Teenage girls are a sweeping audience to profit off of, and the
more female-empowering a movie is, the more likely they are to see it.

The Solution
Though women can and do rise to the top of the movie-making world, they are a
precious few, and they battle discrimination, sexism, and harassment every step
of the way. The rising female talent of today may become successful, but unless
we intervene, they will have to do so against all odds.

Something must be done to end this inequality. Since the industry has been
structured under a male hierarchy for decades, and violations of
27
anti-discrimination laws could be hard to claim, the best way to create a more
welcoming workplace for women is to have more women there welcoming
them. Women would have a more equal playing field in the film industry if there
were more women involved. The best way to do so is to promote awareness of
filmmaking as a career option for girls on the grassroots level.

Implementation of women in film clubs in high schools, for example, would

encourage girls to enter the film industry. The more women there are, the better
they can work their way to the top, making it easier for future women
filmmakers to do so. This would gradually strengthen their numbers and reduce
gender inequality.

For example, North Carolinas Wake Young Womens Leadership Academy

places large emphasis on the advisory period Girls Leadership Class. The
program focuses on training girls in communication and non-fiction literacy

26
Ibid.
27
Goodman and Migdal, 10
10
proficiency, empathy development, controversial issues, advocacy and activism,
social responsibility, and global awareness.28 They structure the week with
empowering sessions, from TED Talk Tuesday to Think Tank Thursday,
inspiring them to take on leadership roles in their school, community, and
eventually, the workforce.29

Girls Leadership is a national organization based in Oakland, California that

offers summer camps and several clubs and workshops for girls aged
kindergarten through twelfth grade and their mothers. Their mission is to work
not only with girls, but also with their primary influencers [...] to create
sustainable impact; to teach girls self-advocacy, negotiation, compromise,
personal responsibility, and conflict as an opportunity for change.30

In the past, St. Louis University has hosted a weeklong film and journalism
workshop among its summer camps for high schoolers. Over the week,
participants worked in groups to create a short video describing an area of
interest in St. Louis, such as the fashion or food truck scene.

They learned how to storyboard a narrative and operate filming equipment, then
went into the city to film original footage for their video. They learned basic
journalism skills, one group interviewing a local fashion blogger, while other
students filmed it. They skyped with a professional editor who offered them tips
as they navigated sophisticated editing software such as Final Cut Pro. By the
end of the week, they had worked together to complete informative and
interesting videos, while learning what it would be like to work as a
video-content journalist.

28
O'Brien, Anne. 2013. Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation . July 30. Accessed October 11, 2016.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/helping-girls-unlock-leadership-potential-anne-obrien.
29
Ibid.
30
Girls Leadership. 2016. Accessed November 4, 2016. http://girlsleadership.org/.

11
Leadership programs like these centered on exploring film will empower girls to
be assertive, creative, and believe they can accomplish their goals despite
obstacles. They are vital to introducing girls the film industry, often a
little-discussed career option, and to imbuing them with a passion for the art. As
institutions offering education to young women, schools in the St. Louis area can
make a huge difference by implementing a program to empower their students,
be it a club, camp, workshop, etc. The girls of this generation have the capacity to
be fiercely intelligent, boldly creative, and unabashedly courageous, if only we
will let them. It will take their voice to end the discrimination, and finding that
voice begins in their schools.

Conclusion
Brilliant filmmakers are assumed to be less-than-brilliant just because they are
women. They face overt discrimination, sexism and harassment, impeding them
from creating with freedom and instigating social change with their work.
Surrounded by a male-dominated industry, they desperately need more women
to fight beside them.

Many female filmmakers are breaking the glass ceiling and accomplishing
incredible things, but countless others are simply not given the chance. Women
deserve to be heard. Their stories deserve to be told. By empowering women
from the bottom up, they will find strength in numbers, until their voice can no
longer be ignored.

They are counting on young girls to boldly step into the film industry,
determined to change the status quo. As educators and empowerers, schools can
help them do this. Womens representation in film reaches every corner of

12
society; it tells girls who they are, and who they should be. Give women a chance
to use that incredible power for good.

13
 References

Cochrane, Kira. 2010 . Why Are There So Few Female Film-makers? . Guardian

News and Media. January 31. Accessed October 8, 2016.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/31/female-film-makers.

Girls Leadership. 2016. Accessed November 4, 2016. http://girlsleadership.org/.

Goodman, Melissa, and Ariela Migdal. 2015. Women's Rights Project. Letter , Los

Angeles : American Civil Liberties Union.

Gottlieb, Meryl. 2015 . February 23 .

Accessed October 12 , 2016.

https://www.ohio.edu/finearts/film/whats-happening/news-story.cfm?new
sItem=68F3F29E-5056-A81E-8D951B31AC3A26A1.

Lauzen, Martha M. 2016. Boxed In: Women on Screen and Behind the Scenes in

Television. Research, San Diego: Center for the Study of Women in

Television & Film, San Diego State University.
http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/2015-16-Boxed-In-Report.pdf.

Library of Congress. n.d. The Silent Era: Women Behind the Camera . Library of

Congress. Accessed October 20, 2016.

https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmi10/silent_camera.html.

O'Brien, Anne. 2013. Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation . July 30.

Accessed October 11, 2016.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/helping-girls-unlock-leadership-potential-a
nne-obrien.

Orwin, Anne. 2002. "Women's Stories, Women's Films: Integrating Women's

14
 Studies and Film Production." Women's Studies Quarterly (The Feminist
Press at the City University of New York ) 30 (1/2): 271-284. Accessed
October 2, 2016 . http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40004652.pdf.

PGA Women's Impact Network; Women and Hollywood . 2015. The Ms. Factor:

The Power of Female Driven Content. Business, Los Angeles: PGA

Women's Impact Network.

2016. Shit People Say to Women Directors . Accessed October 16, 2016.

http://shitpeoplesaytowomendirectors.tumblr.com/.
Zurko, Nicholas. 2013. Gender Inequality in Film. New York Film Academy Ltd. .

November 2013. Accessed October 4, 2016.

https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/.

15