“…those who are not affected by the discrimination and often unconscious biases that are present in this industry, may not be aware of how often they come up and the repercussions they have on both the individuals and the industry.”
Gender Equality in the Film Industry and Beyond
Equal, diverse gender representation has been a heated topic of discussion in the film industry and beyond. When you consider that until just 50 years ago, women were demeaned regularly in media, and that even fairly recent media advertisements were demeaning women on a large scale without much challenge from society, it is understandable that there would be lingering, unconscious biases against all who were not born into the body of a man. These are long-held societal perceptions that unless you were a man, you were considered incapable, unintelligent, illogical, overly emotional, submissive, weak-willed, and other such things. This is a mindset that was passed down from generations, and while we are making some headway, the topic of gender equality is still an important one. A hard-fought battle that still has a long way to go, especially in the film industry.
Resentment On All Sides
Resentment has been building among *filmmakers on all sides regarding gender. *Non-male filmmakers are frustrated by the judgment and biases held, and often ignored by, men in the industry, while men are increasingly more upset by what they feel are unfair gender stipulations in crew calls and funding grant requirements. It is easy to see why each group feel the way they do as both are experiencing what they feel is limiting their opportunity. A male who encounters so many calls for excluding or limiting male involvement in certain schemes can see this as extremely unfair, especially if they don’t feel they have personally been discriminating based on gender at all. Why are they being excluded based on their gender in the name of “gender equality”? Surely, if we wanted things to be equal then being male shouldn’t matter either right? This feeling only creates even more of a barrier for non-male filmmakers who are trying to move forward because now they must defend the very structures that are being put in place to aid them, as well as manage the many other obstacles they face simply by not being male in a (yes still) male-dominated field.
Proving Competency Vs. Immediate Acceptance
Both experiences are valid and understandable; however, it is important to distinguish that those who are not affected by the discrimination and often unconscious biases that are present in this industry, may not be aware of how often they come up and the repercussions they have on both the individuals and the industry. The subtle ways these biases are expressed can go unnoticed by many but when you encounter them at every turn they can be debilitating and feel as though you are fighting an uphill battle that you will never win. For instance, I witnessed a conversation on an online platform where a thread evolved into a talk about film production. A few males had spoken up about being film producers and immediately they were respected in tone and asked for advice. A female also came into the conversation and stated they were a film producer. This time, the response was different. Instead of respect, they were met with doubt and asked qualifying questions about what kinds of things they had produced, asked if they were a primary producer or simply a production assistant, essentially the responders wanted the individual to prove they had and could handle a “proper” production before they were given the respect the males were given immediately.
This example may seem insignificant and the male producers, as well as the individuals who were questioning the female producer, may not have even noticed the subtle change of tone. However, it is exactly this kind of thing that non-male filmmakers must fight against day in and day out, at every turn. A male can come to the table and say, “I am a film producer” and those around him will immediately conclude “Right, this guy’s a film producer.” A non-male individual can come to a table and state, “I am a film producer” and no one will take their word for it. They must PROVE it first. In turn, non-male filmmakers must work two to three times as hard as their male counterparts to even be SEEN as a professional while all a man has to do is state it. The conversation was incredibly eye-opening and perfectly illustrated the privilege males have in this field.
Overlooking Non-Male Authority Figures
Competency judgements and unconscious biases are only some of the many discriminations non-male filmmakers face. What happens once an individual has started working in the position alongside other crew and cast? Crew tend to go to male figures when they feel a situation calls for authority. They will often pass up the appropriate non-male authority figure in a department because they are immediately seen as having less authority and will assume that a male, even if they are in a lower or irrelevant position, is the one in charge. This can sometimes occur even after the crew has been instructed on who to go to for specific queries and concerns. Workers outside of the industry who are collaborating on a project will also assume that a nearby, older male is the one in charge and immediately approach this person when a non-male is present and easily accessible. These kinds of assumptions and biases make non-male filmmakers feel invisible on set and force them to work much harder to be seen and heard than their male team members.
Differing Gender Experiences on Set
Recently, I surveyed filmmakers from all corners of the world and asked them about their experiences. Despite the survey clearly asking for non-male filmmakers, we had several responses from CIS males. All but one of the males felt they had been discriminated against by having opportunities taken from them due to the gender initiatives and quotas that are being put in place, the remaining one unfortunately had an actual negative onset experience where they felt they were passed up for a promotion; the role was given to a less qualified female applicant and they were told males were lazy and bad at multitasking from female co-workers.
Almost all of the non-male respondents felt they had been either discriminated against and/or harassed for their gender. They wrote about specific experiences they had encountered while applying for work or working on set, such as being told they were not suited to work in the camera department (despite extensive education/experience), that women were better off in admin roles, being passed up for HOD roles despite being highly more qualified than the males who were given the roles, having to prove their expertise while watching male counterparts be immediately accepted as professional just by stating so, being told they are not capable of managing a business, not being included in peer bonding outings with the rest of the team who were male, regularly not being listened to, being disrespected on set, insubordination, and being subject to micro-aggressive tactics on and off set by males.
Interest Vs. Representation
There is no doubt that some males are experiencing challenging and negative experiences in this battle to incorporate more diverse gender representation in the industry and these experiences are of course valid; it must feel very frustrating to those experiencing them. I do not wish to take away from what these people have encountered. However, it is important to note that despite these experiences and frustration in feeling that they cannot apply for certain opportunities, these opportunities are there to provide a doorway for genders who, as a whole, are under-represented in this industry and need these schemes to get through the active biases and discriminations that are keeping them from moving into the field of their choosing. These biases are long-held and prevalent throughout the industry and without these schemes to push individuals through, the level of diverse gender representation in the film industry would be even more appalling. According to film industry researcher, Stephen Follows, there were less than 10% of women working in the camera, sound, and transportation departments in feature film productions released in 2018 and the only departments in the productions that had a majority of female crew were costume, makeup, and casting. He also noted that women were more likely to be hired in these roles on lower-budget productions than on larger-scale productions. Most of our survey respondents were trying to make their career in the areas of camera and production, showing that there is not a lack of interest, but simply an absence of representation on set due to not being able to secure these roles as frequently or steadily as men can.
“Girls Only Club”
From personal experience, as well as from seeing and hearing about situations that have occurred on both sides, non-male filmmakers have to jump through many hoops to be treated in the same manner as males. A respondent who has been working in the film industry for over 30 years mentioned that she felt she would have been 12-15 years further along in her career if she had entered the industry as a male. Many have referred to the film industry as a “boys-only club” whereas the opposite statement would be laughable at present. Imagine someone saying “The film industry is a girls-only club”; that statement is completely unheard of, and it feels like a ridiculous statement because those of us who work in this industry, whether we choose to admit it or not, correctly intuit that the industry is indeed unbalanced. While the schemes that have been put in place in the last few years have helped a small bit, there is a lot more needed to create a proper balance.
Networking is Crucial
Networking is a very important part of the film industry and many non-male respondents mentioned they were often not invited to “after-work drinks” and other social events that their male peers were invited to, hindering their ability to get in with the right people and social circles. Being let into these social outings can be incredibly important as, if the Director of Photography’s right-hand person calls in sick, for instance, the DOP is much more likely to bring in Tom, with whom he had drinks the night before and is somewhat familiar with, instead of Susan who works in the department too and is just as qualified but is otherwise a total mystery. The high-stress environment of a film set requires working closely with people and the better you get along, the better the outcome of the team. HODs understand this and therefore are far more likely to promote someone who they already know they get along with.
How to Create Better Gender Balance within the Industry
When we asked our participants what they felt would help create a better gender balance, almost all of the non-male respondents chose to give their input regarding how it would be possible to help create a gender balance. They expressed that they were in favour of the quotas and initiatives to increase gender diversity. Other suggestions given to increase gender diversity were in-depth mentorship programs, team-building exercises, training programs for women and non-binary individuals, structural guidance on how long someone needs to be in a specific role before they should have enough experience to move up, hiring more women and nonbinary individuals in production management roles, mandatory training courses on unconscious bias and microaggression in the workplace, and commitment from production companies to open the playing field to non-male filmmakers and inviting them to pitch or otherwise join them at the table regarding creative roles.
Interestingly, the males who responded to our survey had little interest in fostering gender equality and when asked about making a suggestion on how to foster better gender equality, all but two simply chose “no”. Those who did have something to add stated that they wanted more funded opportunities for themselves and that there should be no more gender or ethnicity quotas; that jobs should be given based on merit alone. Of course, it would be unwise to hire someone unqualified for the job at hand, understandably. However, the issue is that when you have two people just as qualified as one another but no gender quota to fill, a male hiring manager who has worked mostly with males in his field and likely has an in-built bias assuming that bringing on a different gender would create some sort of problem for his team in one way or another, will generally just choose the male candidate. It is not that companies and HODs hire inexperienced candidates just because they are not male to fill quotas, it is only that when faced with equal competencies, they are given an incentive to hire a non-male so that the industry can become more diversified in the long run. So, while it makes sense to “hire based on merit”, this statement also is simply … missing the point.
So, What’s the Point?
So, what is the point? And is there a way to truly diversify the industry and have a true gender balance where in the end, we are hiring based on skill and not embedded gender biases? Absolutely, but it will take a long time to change long-held belief systems. In time, the gender-inclusive quotas, programs, and initiatives will allow for more diverse representation in management positions throughout the industry which will in turn show progress in hiring non-male filmmakers to positions traditionally occupied by males. Once this occurs, those quotas will have done their job and no longer be necessary. The best thing we can do right now for our industry is to support these programs and those in them.
#filmmaking #filmindustry #womeninfilm #diversityinclusioninfilm #filmculture #setlife #filmblog #genderinclusive
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*Note: By filmmaker, I am referring to any position in the film industry, such as cinematography, composing, editing, writing, gaffing, production, production design, etc. By Non-male, I am referring to all other genders such as female, nonbinary, gender-queer, etc.
Film. Life. Everything.
Echo Anna 