Gender Inequality In Film Industry

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Recommended: Depiction of women in movies

Evans Ohene-Djan
Prof. Johnson
ENGL 102
21 October 2015
It’s 2015 and gender inequality both in front and behind the camera still exists. A meaningful conversation with an eye towards ameliorating the problem is long overdue. Gender inequality remains a major problem in the movie industry. Women have made major impacts in the industry, yet they have not gained gender equality. Hollywood is not a stranger to the disadvantages facing women. Besides a handful of notable standouts, women are struggling when it comes female driven films receiving wide release. The dismal reality is, women still face multiple difficulties in Hollywood.
In the article “Violent Femmes”, by Stephanie Mencimer, (Mencimer) writer for the Washington Monthly, explains …show more content…

It is not surprising, that a number of female movie directors, filmmakers, characters and emerging talents are challenging this status quo. 28.8% women wore sexually revealing clothes compared to the 7.0% men. 26.2% women get partially naked compared to 9.4% male, while only 30.8% of women are offered speaking roles. The average ratio of male actor to female actress is 2.25:1, meaning the majority of men are always cast in lead roles. The last decade has seen little change in the numbers of female leading and speaking characters. Few actresses have chances for identifying goals or to be portrayed as leaders of any kind. The report also shows that the majority of movie goers are women, asserting that, though disparities exist in the industry, more women as well as men are fine with the status quo. In the history of the Academy Awards, only four female filmmakers have been nominated since 1976 to 2010 for best director out of which only Kathryn Bigelow won in 2010, becoming the first woman ever to win this …show more content…

Whiles Mencimer held out hopes that things would change in Hollywood, more recent articles and visual text makes it clear that women still have a long way to go to achieve parity with men. After Kathryn Bigelow’s directorial success, there was the optimism of opportunities for other women in the industry, but nothing changed. Hatful even painted disturbing pictures about women misrepresentation and exploitation in the industry. Thus Big-budget film financiers and producers appear to be frightened to change unless they could feel their audience’s desire is evolving. In order to rectify this situation, consumers and producers of contents must recognize the need for a leveled playing field. Women should be given the chance to bring out the talents they possess. They should also be given the same opportunities like their male

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