What’s Happening With Hollywood’s Gender Gap?

Published by 20th Century Fox hidden figure Set in the 1950s, the film follows three female African-American NASA mathematicians who played a key role in keeping astronaut John Glenn on track during an era of racism and sexism in the workplace. It was an ode to the people. Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer did their respective roles perfectly. How much a woman’s heart has brought to the table.

Of course, we no longer live in that world. Gender Her inclusion movement has come a long way as women occupy strategic positions of power in various industries. But I realize there is still a lot to do. This issue continues in Hollywood, especially with roles and responsibilities behind the camera, and on the business side of the industry in general.

“Women aren’t just about beautiful faces and nice bodies. They’re just as amazing as we can be on screen, we can be further behind the scenesSayo, a Japanese A-list model who works on various initiatives to promote women’s inclusion in technology and other fields, says, “The world population is about 49% female. , stereotyping women as only visually beneficial and denying them business and managerial opportunities means literally losing 50% of the world’s brain power.”

Sayo has been modeling for over 10 years and is known internationally in the swimwear industry, appearing on the covers of magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Lofficiel. Sayo’s insistence on a woman’s ability to break the mold has led to her broadening her horizons over the years. She has invested in and been involved in various businesses and venture capital firms across industries ranging from technology to fashion to cryptocurrencies. In her words, “I think it will quickly become a challenge for women to show that they are leaders in technology and finance because, for the most part, this space has been dominated by men. So showing and proving my credibility is challenging, important to show my perspective and ultimately my competence as a woman in these areas.”

Gender Bias in Opportunities and Earnings

Bias against women in media and entertainment may not seem so obvious when it comes to on-screen opportunities. . Simply put, women in the entertainment industry are short of jobs as actors, flight attendants, and even office roles and pay.

Forbes announced the top 10 highest-paid actresses in 2018. 30 cents per dollar raked by a male counterpart. This equates to the highest paid actress totaling $186 million and the highest paid actor to her $748.5 million. A particularly egregious example of this gender pay gap was seen in 2017’s film awards. all the money in the world. Both Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams had about the same amount of screen time, Wahlberg reportedly received $5 million Williams reportedly won $625,000. After 22 scenes were reshot due to Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault scandal, Wahlberg won $1.5 million again and Williams only pocketed $1000..

Even more alarming is the fact that by 2018 there was an increasing trend of female representation in entertainment and media.

Women’s representation behind the scenes is on the rise, but it’s also not great: between 2008 and 2022, there were 325 nominations for director nominations at major awards ceremonies. 8.9% of these nominations were given to female directors.. and Research Sponsored by San Diego State University Looking at the top 250 highest-grossing movies of 2021 in the US, only 25% of behind-the-scenes roles were filled by women. She makes up 22% of editors who are women, and even fewer directors and writers at 17% each. The number of female cinematographers was a terrible 6 out of 100 for her. Only 27% owned by women.

Amy Baer, ​​former head of CBS Films, who left the company in 2011, said: my best friend’s wedding When money ball struggled to raise millions of dollars At the time, she had to launch her own boutique company, Gidden Media.

In an interview with Variety, she said: “It wasn’t because I didn’t want to raise money. We ended up raising funds from. But we can’t rely on that.”

Sayo isn’t surprised by all the data showing the underrepresentation and underrepresentation of women in the entertainment and wider media industries. Even in my primary industry, women make up over 70% of the fashion industry workforce, but hold 25% of executive positions in top fashion companies. ”says Sayo. “Installing a glass ceiling over our heads is a different kind of alienation.”

The tide is turning, but we need more speed

As mentioned earlier, the representation of women on-camera and off-camera is getting better every year. not growing fast enough.

That’s why celebrities in the entertainment world set the needle themselves. This is evidenced by the fact that in 2021 it is the only region with a significant increase in the proportion of women. It was the role of executive producerPowerful women who have made significant strides as executive producers, producers and directors include Viola Davis, Ava DuVernay, Tina Fey, Shonda Rhimes, Margot Robbie and Octavia Spencer. Even in one of Hollywood’s brightest lights, dark When looks like a mix The series belongs to this category of industry juggernauts.She’s still relatively young in the industry and she’s already She started her own production company, Genius Productions..

According to a study, “Indie Women: The Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2021-22,” conducted by Dr. Martha M. Rosen, Executive Director of the Center for Women’s Studies in Television and Film in San Diego, Women’s representation is increasing in low-budget productions at state universities.

“Documentaries continue to have a higher proportion of female filmmakers than feature films, and independent films offer more opportunities for women than big-budget feature films,” said Dr Lausen in a press release. said in

In production companies and studios, women are starting to fill senior positions. Names such as Victoria Alonso (Executive VP Productions, Marvel Studios), Sarah Aubrey (Head of Original Content, HBO Max), Bela Bajaria (Head of Global TV, Netflix, Netflix)
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) remind. The women of Hollywood banded together to join the conversation, trigger a policy change Protect women and enable wider opportunities at all levels of the entertainment hierarchy.

As women take on more and more top-tier roles in the entertainment industry, there are more roles available to them, which will only lead to a richer and more rewarding experience as an entertainment industry worker. Having more women in positions such as screens, backstage and corner offices in Hollywood is good for entertainment and the wider world.