Women in Film

Over the course of several years, women have drastically enhanced

their rights and the opinions of those who believed they should not have any.
However, equality for both men and women has still not yet been achieved.
Film for example can be very subjective in terms of women equality,
specifically behind the camera. How has the film industry discriminated
against women and their work behind the camera? Use examples from
several different resources, including personal resources, to define
discrimination against women in the film industry.

Jasmine Solorzano-Maya
Garcia, Carmen & Stoll, Russell
17 October 2014

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Film has been around for centuries and yet progress has actually gone
backwards in favor of women. Women first started very strong in film
because no one took film as a career or an activity too serious. As it became
more popular men began taking over the industry in all aspects. Over a
course of years, including modern days, the film industry has slowly
progressed to giving women less job opportunities and have resorted to
lowering the pay and representation of those that make it through. Men and
women share talent in creativity. In its early years, women started off very
popular in the film industry and through growth, men slowly started to
dominate it. This resulted in the vast issue of women being underrepresented
in festivals, awards, and general public. The few lucky women who make it
through with a fairly successful career are also underpaid in comparison to
men of success in the same position.
In its early years, the film industry received most of its attention from
stay at home wives and mothers. It started off as a small paying job they
could do on their free time. Women were overflowing in the different
positions required to make just a single film.
Prior to the 1930s, Hollywood provided many opportunities for women
to work on films behind-the-scenes. Many studios had prominent
female directors, and female screenwriters created some of the most
popular movies of the period, while female film editors exercised
creative control over the visual appearance of film. A few women even
headed their own studios. (Women in Film no. 1)

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Women were expressing opinions and creative stories through this new
media. They demonstrated leadership in many of their roles, which was very
uncommon at the time. Of course, this profession was seen rather feminine.
Women lead whole projects in their own space. Their stories ranged and their
cast was open to all. Modern times changed the role of women to fit what
men and the rest of society as a whole felt they should be. Slowly, the
audience for these short films grew and men particularly became interested
in the creation of them off-screen. It became more noticeable that there were
women creating fewer films. In the years to come, women were increasingly
crowded out of directing positionswhen the professionalization of
filmsegregated the geography of Hollywood by sex (Women in Film no.
2). Men began to dominate the entire industry and all the glory that came
with it. Women were seen as too weak to be the lead of such big projects,
despite their experience with such work. Men were thought to be more
intelligent with any form of business. Seeing as films budgeted a lot of
money, people believed they were wiser and more professional, therefore
making them a better choice to trust handling such value. Films created by
men grew very popular, even among the female audience. Those who are
involved with the money exchanged, chose to advertise the films they
thought would be more successful, ultimately, made by men. When people
think of great leaders, their minds automatically associate the word with
men. That is why women in the industry has decreased over time:

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(Zurko)
The figure above shows statistics on women employment behind the camera
for film and television. The left side shows how women who are employed in
the industry have smaller task jobs that require more direction and less
directing in comparison to leading positions on projects. This only further
exemplifies how women have slowly decreased in numbers through the
color-coding for different years. The left side of the graph displays men
employed in comparison to women. Here the numbers are dramatically
drastic in difference. Men make up well over half of the film industry. Men
have overtaken this industry and left women of the same amount of talent
and qualifications out of the business. The decision in hiring for roles should
be blind as to allow the same chance for a woman to be employed as a man.
The decreased amount of women in both lower and leading positions
has lead to giving them little to no spotlight. In the film industry, being

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known is what makes you successful both personally and financially. The
most common way to get both your films and yourself known to the general
public is through awards.

(Zurko)
Unfortunately for women, statistics for awards in both the past and present
are not in their favor. From the beginning of film up until today, there has
only been one female director that won an award for her talents, and only
three others have had the privilege of being nominated. Even so, hardly
anyone remembers who all four were and how they became nominated. The
graph also gives us the statistics of women nominated in any department of
film compared to the men nominated. Almost every film director starts at
small film festivals in hopes of being recognized and supported through
funds of any form on their next project. One well known film festival called
the Cannes Film Festival is famous for its wonderful selection of young rising
film directors. However, it has been brought to the publics attention that it is

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unsuccessful at, recognizing the achievements of women directors, and this
year the festival came under fire when not a single one of the 18 films
selected for the main competition were directed by women (Dietz). The
representation of women in these working fields has been overlooked and
nowhere nearly as popular as the representation for men. The decision to not
give a single woman the chance to prove she can be successful says a lot
about the film industry. Companies bypass the opportunity to employ very
talented young film directors, producers, etc. on purpose out of fear and
beliefs that people will not give any money to watch a film made by a
women. Popularity in the films themselves can differ a lot solely based on the
sex of the director and not on the story and production of the film itself. For
example, Christopher Nolan's Inceptionmay be getting all the buzz, two of
this summer's most acclaimed American filmswere directed by women:
Debra Granik's Winter's Boneand Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right
(Dietz). Many people found the two films directed by women to be
phenomenal and yet the only film being publicly advertised with
compliments was Inception, a film directed by a male. Its obvious that even
when the general public is fascinated by something, which puts women in a
lead role, such as these two films, they are taken back and brainwashed into
believing that the film directed by the male, is actually better than their
original opinions. The media is somehow afraid to publicize independent
women portrayed in strong leading roles. The choice to put certain films in
the spotlight through public media should satisfy the taste of the general

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public with equal representation and advertisement to allow for an honest
opinion, unbiased of ones sex.
There are many roadblocks for women looking for a successful career
in the film industry. Yet, so many continue to attempt in being the exception
and make a change in the modern industry. Every once in a while, a bundle
of women will get lucky and find paying jobs that feel they qualify to be a
part of the project team. However, the women who make it past all the
barriers are still not treated equal to the men of the same position and
experience. The film industry experiences a large payment gap between
their men and women employees. In Europe, 611 workers of the films
industry, both men and women, were asked about their salary. It was
discovered that, the average salary of men responding is 56,000 a year,
while for women it is 49,000 (Brown). This is a 7,000 different in
payment for men and women who hold the same job position. This has
always been the case throughout history and there have been little to no
changes to correct this gap. Men and women should be paid based on equal
terms such as experience, education, talent, ect. and not on something they
cannot control such as their sex or gender. For the most part, such gaps can
be found in any career choice, but film is one of the most noticeable cases.
Many women are unhappy with this inequality. One woman, who worked for a
television station, stated that, female salaries in my place of work are
shockingly much lower than my male counterparts (Brown). Individual
cases have different effects. This was just another woman apart of the very

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sexist film industry. They all have a common problem, however, they are not
being paid in full for what they do. Men and women are put in the same job
positions to help move the process faster. When the boss does this, it is
proving that they are capable of doing the exact same thing. This is why
someone cannot tell which part of a movie a man or woman edits. Therefore,
it is logical for them to receive the exact same payment for the exact same
job. Not only are salaries decreased for woman leaders, but their fundings
are lower in comparison to men as well. One vital category, in which film
budgets are decided by, is based on strong female leads or independency.
Films that highlight more men than women or use women simply as
accessories are funded with much more consideration than those who
encourage women to be strong individuals. In a study, we found that the
median budget of movies that passed the test those that featured a
conversation between two women about something other than a man was
substantially lower than the median budget of all films (Hickey). This
technique of funding ensures that women will never take lead roles in the
industry. Women film directors often cast more women with lead roles in their
stories, which reduces their budget a huge amount. As a women director
they already receive a low budget, but once they start empowering women
in their films, that budget is decreased even more. Films should funded in
measures of potential based on the story instead of the sex of the director or
the women within the story.

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Many people believe that this problem is being acknowledged and
improved upon in many famous film festivals. Statistics also show that at
least for producers the number of women employed has increased. At least
one women director has won an Academy Award. And a lawsuit in 1980 won
to improve the hiring of both women and people of color in the film industry,
however not much has been done to enforce it. Thus, the inequality women
receive in the industry has not yet been improved enough to be normal in
society.
Women were pushed out of the film industry and are both under paid
and under represented in the film industry. Women have been discriminated
and taken advantage of behind the camera and little has changed since the
moment men dominated their business. The discrimination women
experience is unjustified and should be stopped. A woman should have equal
opportunities as a man in the industry of film to gain and maintain a
successful career and not be discriminated for their nature in sex. There is no
point in lowering the status of women in this world, as they portray no threat
to it. Society must make the equality of a man and a woman a normal quality
found throughout the world.

Work Cited
Brown, Maggie. "TV Production: 'clear Evidence' of Gender Pay Gap." The
Guardian.

Theguardian.com, 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.

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Dietz, Jason. "Ranked: The Best Women Film Directors (and Their Films)."
Best Women Film

Directors and Movies Directed by Women. Metacritic

Features Editor, 17 July 2010.

Web. 21 Sept. 2014

"Women in Film No1." Women in Film. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.
"Women in Film No3." Women in Film. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.
Zurko. Nicholas. Gender Inequality in Film. nyfa.edu. New York Film
Academy. 25 Nov.

2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.

Hickey, Walt. "The Dollar-And-Cents Case Against Hollywood's Exclusion of

Women."
2014.

FiveThirtyEight. Bechdel Test, 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Oct.