Film industry is making (slow) progress on gender equality – The Hollywood Reporter, study finds

Films like “Women Talking,” directed by Canadian director Sarah Polley, are the exception rather than the rule. Men still talk more than women in movies.

Telluride Film Festival

A new study into the impact of gender equality policies on the international film industry has shown some improvement in women’s representation in British, German and Canadian industries, but progress is slow.

The results of the “Reframing the Image” study were presented at the Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday. An international and multidisciplinary research team studied the impact of gender
Equity policies (GEP) across film industries in the three countries between 2005 and 2020. The study also examined 12,000 films from 34 countries for evidence of the impact of various policies, such as diversity standards being a condition of receiving state funding.

While the report found some slight numerical improvement in women and sexual minorities working in the countries’ film sectors, progress that the report attributed in part to new Gender Equality Program (GEP) policies, the results were not encouraging. The ranks of key creative positions, the “network elite,” are still dominated by men. In Germany, on average, 74% of all key creative positions and 86% of elite networks were men. The figures in the United Kingdom were 78 percent and 81 percent respectively. In Canada, the percentage was 77 percent and 82 percent.

“At the current rate of progress, gender equality, with women holding 50 percent of key creative positions, will only be achieved in 2215 in Canada (in nearly 200 years), and in 2085 in the United Kingdom (in more than 60 years).” ), and 2041 in Germany (in more than 15 years).”

One of the report’s authors, network analysis expert Professor Deb Verhoeven from the University of Alberta, said the research underscored the need for GEP policies to address systemic issues, not just target numerical representation. “The film industry not only needs more women, it needs women in the right positions,” Verhoeven said.

Verhoeven noted that “the modest gains made by women and sexual minorities did not come at the expense of men (but rather) arose as a result of the expansion of industry, not the displacement of men.”

The report called for more and improved GEP policies with “strong accountability mechanisms, financial incentives, and the ability to effectively drive change in the industry.”

“The task now is to mainstream policies that reach into industry practice and create accountability,” said policy analyst Professor Doris Ruth Eckhoff from the University of Glasgow. “It is also clear that viewing women as ‘wrong’, lacking experience or confidence, will not lead to the systemic change we need. Women need access to influential positions in the film industry, not just in the industry in general.”

You can download the full Reframe the Image report here.