23 Gender Equity in Hollywood – Karen Garay
Karen Garay is a senior majoring in General Studies . She grew up in Bluffton and Fort Wayne, Indiana and recently relocated to Yorktown. This paper was written as part of her gender studies course in Spring 2022, addressing gender inclusivity in Hollywood.Professor Edwina Helton would like to celebrate this piece and said, “I am so excited to nominate you for Celebration of Student Writing! Thank you for working hard with exploring theoretical concepts and applying them to a range of research sites. Fantastic thinking and writing on challenging issues! Your work in our course stood out for your growth in theoretical thinking and research application. Your writing consistently reflected strong motivation and engagement. Your support of classmates was also commendable. Your achievement of personal as well as writing growth will certainly serve you well in future classes and beyond into everyday life!”
Gender Equity in Hollywood
I found the timing of the opportunity to write on gender equity to be perfect. My company most recently received Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index recognition for our commitment to gender equality, career advancement and creating an inclusive workplace. According to one Senior Vice President, potential employees and investors are interested in companies that support and advance women (N. Rogers, personal communication, April 14, 2022). Although our industry is Financial, I would expect it to be similar for any industry including Hollywood.
I based my research for this essay on these articles: “2014 Hollywood Diversity Report: Making Sense of the Disconnect”, which utilized data from 2011-2012, and “Gender Inequality in Culture Industries.” Both articles highlight the lagging of Hollywood in building gender equality in all roles, in front of and behind the camera.
Highlighted are key findings I noted from these articles.
- Among film leads, women were underrepresented by a factor of 2 to 1. (Hunt/Ramon/Price, 2014)
- Among film directors, women were underrepresented by a factor greater than 12 to 1. (Hunt/Ramon/Price, 2014)
- Among film writers, women were underrepresented by a factor of 3 to 1. (Hunt/Ramon/Price, 2014)
- There is an apparent disconnect between the industry’s professed focus on the bottom line and actual staffing practices in film, broadcast television, and cable. (Hunt/Ramon/Price, 2014)
- Employment practices concerning writers of film and television contribute to gender inequality and the glass ceiling in Hollywood. (Bielby, 2009)
- While enduring patterns of gender inequality apply to male and female workers throughout the paid labor force, the culture industries of film and television represent a particularly complex and challenging source of inequality in employment and pay. (Bielby, 2009)
- Subjectivity, immunity from review, stereotypes, and cliques are part of the context in which Hollywood executives make decisions about whom to hire. (Bielby, 2009)
- The dynamics associated with the participation of women writers contribute to forms of gender inequality in the sectors of film and television. (Bielby, 2009)
Where does the responsibility for bringing gender equality to Hollywood lie? Is it the studio bosses and their personnel departments? In any other industry, the arrow would certainly point to the CEO and HR. But things must run differently in Hollywood.
In researching inclusivity of Hollywood for our previous assignment, it seemed that writing often influences how a movie is cast. If the writer is male, then the lead will more likely be male (a man’s movie written by men for men to enjoy). If male writers outnumber female writers three to one, there is less likelihood to drive the ratio of female leads higher. Interestingly, early writers and authors were in large part women; they were only displaced in number by men by the 1930’s (post-Depression era). It wasn’t until the late 20th century that women writers began to make inroads again.
Both articles indicate that talent agencies can play a large role in gender equality, particularly with the role of writer. The representation in the talent agency is what brings jobs to the writers. Talent agencies tend to represent more male writers and so, if there is more representation of men, obviously those are the writers who will receive more opportunities. In any other industry, this would be the equivalent of job headhunters only working to find male engineers a job with top companies.
But what about the director role on a film or television show? Who is responsible for bringing more women into those roles, to improve the gender equality figures? If I go back to the statement made by a senior vice president at my company, investors are interested in companies that are working to establish gender equity. Wouldn’t the studio CEOs want to attract these investors?
The answer probably lies in one of the key points highlighted above, “Subjectivity, immunity from review, stereotypes, and cliques are part of the context in which Hollywood executives make decisions about whom to hire” (Bielby, 2009). It seems that the CEO of a studio should be held to the same standards as the CEOs of all other industries. While it may not be corrupt, hiring practices should certainly have to abide by Equal Employment Opportunity laws.
To implement change in Hollywood will be difficult. Consumers continue to buy the products being produced, with little outcry about inequality. Awards are still sadly under-represented. Starring roles are still going to men. It will require reform in talent agencies, competition practices, stricter hiring oversight, and demand from consumers before we finally see the scales tip favorably.
References
Bielby, D. D. (2009). “Gender inequality in culture industries: Women and men writers in film and television”. Sociologie du Travail, 51(2), 237-252. https://doi.org/10.4000/sdt.16462
Hunt, D.; Ramon, A.-C.; and Price, Z. (2014). “2014 Hollywood Diversity Report: Making Sense of the Disconnect”, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA