Gender Inequality in the Film Industry needs to be talked about
If you can’t name 5 female directors that have directed more than 3 films, gender inequality exists in the film world. There is a huge pay, equality, opportunity, and bais gap between men and women in the film industry. For every 5 men working, there is 1 woman (Zurko). As a women pursuing film, it’s discouraging how i will have less opportunity and wage than someone else just because of my gender. By highlighting the social and financial gender inequalities present amongst those working in the film industry, we can begin working towards amending this inequality so women have equal power and equal pay to men in big-budget films.
We all know Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, Steven …show more content…
The inequality in the film industry specifically doesn’t get enough exposure. Specifically for actors, out of “the 16 biggest paychecks earned by actors per film, not a single one was earned by a female actor” (Zurko). Angelina Jolie, renowned and highest paid actress, still made the same amount as the two lowest paid men in Forbes 2013 list of the top 20 paid actors. How is this possible? Compared to Robert Downey Jr. $75 million paycheck. Something doesn’t add up. Recently, Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about her issues with the pay gap. She announced that her and her co star Amy Adams received less money than their male co star Jeremy Renner for the movie “American Hustle”. She received endorsements from actors Jessica Chastain and Bradley Cooper, which gave the essay more recognition and shone light upon this discrimination (Lang). Switching back to the ladies behind the scenes, to put it frank, their representation sucks. In the top 250 films of 2012, on 9% of directors were women, 15% writers, 17% executive producers, 25% producers, 20% editors, and 2% cinematographers (Zurko). We never even hit 50%. In the next year, 2013, across 19 categories, there was not a single women nominated for directing, cinematography, film editing, writing, or music (Zurko). How does the academy let this happen? It might be because 77% of the oscar voters are male. Statistics don’t lie. Something needs to be done, more women need to speak out. What’s also sad is to see women directors not making it a point to help out fellow women in the film industry. The 3 highest representation of women in the film industry was in Mean Girls, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Honey. These movies had 42% women production team ( Ellis-Petersen). No film has ever
If you can’t name 5 female directors that have directed more than 3 films, gender inequality exists in the film world. There is a huge pay, equality, opportunity, and bais gap between men and women in the film industry. For every 5 men working, there is 1 woman (Zurko). As a women pursuing film, it’s discouraging how i will have less opportunity and wage than someone else just because of my gender. By highlighting the social and financial gender inequalities present amongst those working in the film industry, we can begin working towards amending this inequality so women have equal power and equal pay to men in big-budget films.
We all know Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, Steven …show more content…
The inequality in the film industry specifically doesn’t get enough exposure. Specifically for actors, out of “the 16 biggest paychecks earned by actors per film, not a single one was earned by a female actor” (Zurko). Angelina Jolie, renowned and highest paid actress, still made the same amount as the two lowest paid men in Forbes 2013 list of the top 20 paid actors. How is this possible? Compared to Robert Downey Jr. $75 million paycheck. Something doesn’t add up. Recently, Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about her issues with the pay gap. She announced that her and her co star Amy Adams received less money than their male co star Jeremy Renner for the movie “American Hustle”. She received endorsements from actors Jessica Chastain and Bradley Cooper, which gave the essay more recognition and shone light upon this discrimination (Lang). Switching back to the ladies behind the scenes, to put it frank, their representation sucks. In the top 250 films of 2012, on 9% of directors were women, 15% writers, 17% executive producers, 25% producers, 20% editors, and 2% cinematographers (Zurko). We never even hit 50%. In the next year, 2013, across 19 categories, there was not a single women nominated for directing, cinematography, film editing, writing, or music (Zurko). How does the academy let this happen? It might be because 77% of the oscar voters are male. Statistics don’t lie. Something needs to be done, more women need to speak out. What’s also sad is to see women directors not making it a point to help out fellow women in the film industry. The 3 highest representation of women in the film industry was in Mean Girls, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Honey. These movies had 42% women production team ( Ellis-Petersen). No film has ever