DOES GENDER MATTER? WOMEN AND AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION NOW

Continuum, 2014

In the Australian audiovisual industries, women are a minority of the personnel in a large number of key creative roles and have considerably lower representation than in the Australian workforce generally. Despite the decline in their participation across several fields, the under-representation of women is not being addressed by these industries. Using findings from current research that includes a major survey of Victorian activity, this article engages with the urgent need for new approaches to thinking about the contribution and innovation of women: culturally, creatively and economically. Benchmarked against the last major study in 1992 (Cox and Laura), pivotal issues examined include barriers to progression, representation by job type and workplace/organizational cultures, along with a consideration of the current successes (relative to other areas) of women in television. Business, cultural and social arguments are made for the importance of gender equity, and an understanding of the contribution and value of women to these industries. French, L. 2014. ‘Gender then, gender now: surveying women's participation in Australian film and television industries’. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, pp. 188-200. DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2014.888040 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2014.888040

Women in the International Film Industry

In the Australian film, television and audio-visual industries, as in other Western countries, women have not achieved equality to participate and express themselves as key creatives or in key decision-making positions. This matters not just because equity and social inclusion are essential for ethical civil society but because the implications of a lack of diversity are that the industry potentially misses out on innovation by only including half the population (thus providing a business case for inclusion). It also matters because of the broader range of experiences and perspectives women offer to society and culture. As a response to this problem, in 2015, the federal government agency Screen Australia established the Gender Matters Taskforce, a five-million-dollar strategy to address gender imbalance in the Australian screen industry. This policy intervention had a focus on project development and career progress for women. • French, L., ‘Gender Still Matters: Towards Sustainable Progress for Women in Australian Film and Television Industries’ in Susan Liddy (ed.) Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power, Palgrave Macmillian, UK, 2020, pp. 271-291.

2015

Women in Film Productions A closer look at women in film, as directors or as characters, provides a basic understanding of the situation of a society. Within this topic one is able to develop a much greater comprehension of if and how gender equality is represented and understood, through simple application of common sense. Gender role models are constructions, made common and perpetuated by media productions. Movies are reflecting cultural and social relationships in a society, and subsequently have an influence on society as well. Audience, the often-stressed unknown being, also includes women. In cinemas within some particular age groups, women are even the majority. We, the women, are an integral part of society; without us there would be neither society nor civilization. This is truism, but astonishingly enough it nevertheless has to be mention from time to time again. Contemporary movies and TV productions are mostly dominated by male producers, directors, commissioning editors and heads of program, yet tell not only stories from that of a male perspective. Even character design is coined by a male view of the world; among the women represented, female characters are frequently designed in a way that gives an overall impression that women would be unable to act as independent human beings. They could be neither able to act as a director nor as female characters embedded in a story that do more than acting as a secretary, nurse, housewife, shop keeper or sex worker. Those characters often lack a name or intelligent dialogue lines, and can be exploited or tortured and murdered more easily than male characters. Productions like FORBYDELSEN (Dk 2007-2012) or BORGEN (Dk 2010-2013), ARNE DAHL (1 st season, S 2011) still are the exception, not a standard. Having analyzed many movies and TV productions produced during the last decades, one can say about female characters depicted in (especially but not limited to) German productions, that if they are part of the action, they are designed as either bad mothers or cold 'career women'. In other words, female characters can be characterized as that of the 'Weak Woman' or 'Strong Woman'. 'Strong woman' is a term representing the male glance towards women and inheriting dominant conditions of power and the structure of society. This term is corresponding to 'a man from the boys' and is directing towards a peculiarity, which throughout that ironic approach is pointing at a nearly unattainable exception. This is expressing that with either a "Man From the Boys" or a "Strong Woman' a traditional married life will be impossible. Instead, the term is expressing that those kinds of characters are demanding a specific hierarchy and personal freedom. 'Strong Women' in film and TV productions-with the exception of the aforementioned productions-usually have to fail miserably. In terms of dramatic action those women are infringing upon the implicit engraved rules of the society, which in the case of the western German tradition, means women should act firstly as 'good' wives and mothers. Here one can see the long shadow of the gender role models developed and set with that propaganda machinery during 'Third Reich'

Challenging Images of Women in the Media: Reinventing Women’s Lives, 2012

This chapter examines the current (2012) status of Western women in film, beginning with a perspective on the participation of women in film industries in a selection of Western industrialized countries (the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, and New Zealand). Following this is a particular case study, proffering an outline of the current participation of women in the Australian film industry. The chapter concludes with observations of what women filmmakers bring and offers strategies for improving the participation and status of women. Throughout there is reflection on the effects of the decline of women’s representation in major creative areas of film, including what it means for Australian and global film industries, and the textures and sensibilities women bring to filmmaking.

2012

This research project investigates the quality of the working lives of Victorian women in the film, television and related industries (including digital media and games). Through a survey of 135 people working in the Victorian audiovisual industries (conducted in November 2010 and collated finally in the report released in 2012), this research examined the participation of women in these industries and has gathered data on areas such as: issues effecting women, the progress of women in various sectors, training, career pathways, employment security and mobility.

Media, Culture & Society, 2021

This article uses Acker’s concept of inequality regimes to analyze qualitative research findings on work-life balance and gender equality for women in British television production. Female survey respondents, focus group participants, and interviewees spoke of their subjective experience of gendered work practices which disadvantage women as women. These findings build on existing research showing gender disadvantage in the industry, leading to loss of human capital and a narrowing of the range of creative experience. They also show that growing numbers of women are seeking alternative modes of production, at a time of increased awareness of inequality. Such alternatives suggest that change is possible, although it is strongly constrained by organizational logics and subject to continued resistance, in line with Acker’s framework of analysis. Visibility of inequalities is the key to supporting change.

Gender inequality is clearly at work in all sectors of the cinema industry, as well as being reproduced, and sometimes challenged, on the screen in all movies that deal with the relationship between the sexes (i.e. practically, in most movies ever produced). This Dossier will provide "hard data" to evaluate the extent of gender inequality in the film sector, while later Dossiers will deal with female and male representations in the movies, i.e. how films have portrayed women and men, and their relationships, through the history of cinema.

Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

After a period of unprecedented change, this article provides a snapshot of the Irish screen production sector in 2021 from the perspective of female practitioners, defined here as those who work in production roles, above and below the line, in the screen industries. Between 2016 and 2021 there has been a shift from an industry that was gender blind and unquestioningly male dominated to one in which industry discourse is imbued with the importance of achieving gender equality, diversity and inclusion. A range of targeted initiatives have been implemented to achieve that goal. The key question in this article is whether and to what extent, in 2021, practitioners are now experiencing concrete change on the ground, in their day-to-day working lives. This was explored by means of a series of interviews and questionnaires in which three themes emerged: “continuity and change”, “resistance and lip service”, and “the road ahead”. Ultimately, practitioners do not identify any seismic shift...

Feminist Discourse in Animated Films, 2020

Animation in cinema, which appeals not only to children but also adults, is one of the most important film genres that has existed since the birth of cinema. As in the other genres of cinema, feminist discourse formed through female characters is remarkable in animated cinema. This study aimed to present the feminist narratives in animated films, one of the most popular film genres today. In this context, computer-animated fantasy film Brave, regarded as one of the feminist films in animation cinema, was included in the scope of the study and was investigated in line with feminist film theory. The study revealed, as opposed to the powerless and passive woman image imposed by the patriarchal structure in society, the female characters in this film were represented as strong, brave, and free as designed by feminist ideology.