It’s no secret that women are underrepresented and underpaid in Hollywood, and have been since the early days of the film industry. But in the wake of the #MeToo movement and calls for widespread gender equality, one may assume that Hollywood is shedding its legacy of misogyny. Unfortunately, females are still few and far between within leadership roles in the entertainment industry.
In fact, the number of female directors at the helm of top-grossing movies actually fell in 2018, according to a San Diego State University study. For two decades, the institution’s Study of Women in Television and Film has released its annual “Celluloid Ceiling” report, which details the number of women working on films in behind-the-scenes roles. Among the 250 highest-grossing films of 2017, women made up only 18% of workers behind the scenes. Further, only 11% of those films were directed by a woman. In 2018, that number fell to a negligible 8%.
The biggest question, especially in our current diversity-centric political climate, is “why?” Over the years, trailblazing female directors including Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow have proven to be great storytellers who can command high box office numbers. Yet we still see a huge disparity when it comes to female directors, producers, and Hollywood executives. Let’s explore the factors involved in the entertainment industry’s low male-to-female ratio, and ways to bring about change.
Kathryn Bigelow directing The Hurt Locker (2008)
Women in the Workforce
Unfortunately, Hollywood’s gender disparity issue isn’t confined to the entertainment industry. Women are generally underrepresented within America’s overall workforce, especially high-level positions. The numbers are jarring: According to Bradley University, women make up 46.8% of the total labor force in the U.S. Yet only 22.6% of executive positions at Fortune 500 companies in 2017 were held by women.
Interestingly, despite the lack of females in high-level positions, women-led organizations are often more profitable than those with men at the helm. And within the entertainment industry, female directors have proven to be more than capable of bringing in hefty box office revenue. The highest-grossing film solely directed by a woman, in fact, is 2017’s Wonder Woman. Directed by Patty Jenkins, the smash hit brought in $412.6 million in the U.S. alone.
Breaking the glass ceiling is integral to the future of Hollywood, but it’s also a problem prevalent in many other industries. Maryville University reports that women are accounted for in “only 11 percent of the cyber security workforce despite having higher levels of education than men overall.”
Hollywood’s Sexual Harassment Problem
The unfortunate truth is that gender-based harassment is pervasive in the entertainment industry, and has been for a long time. Female cast and crew members experience the brunt of sexual harassment within Hollywood, and they often must deal with a hostile work environment. This type of environment can cause plenty of mental distress, often impacting work performance and on-set relationships. And when female performers speak out against alleged abuse or misconduct, they may face negative repercussions in their career and/or personal life.
A glaring example of this phenomenon occurred in October 2017, when dozens of actresses including Gwenyth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne, and Ashley Judd came forward to accuse producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and misconduct. Some reported rape or unwanted sexual advances, and several actresses reported that they were blacklisted by Weinstein after turning him down. The scandal rocked Hollywood, and his alleged victims eventually found plenty of support within the industry.
Weinstein adamantly denies the allegations, but isn’t likely to get off that easily. The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and a tentative $44 million deal was reached in May 2019 to help resolve lawsuits and compensate Weinstein’s alleged victims. How the legal actions against Weinstein will affect the actresses involved remains to be seen, but we can only hope that it ushers in a new age of female-centered representation in Hollywood.
Trailblazing Female Directors
Female directors may also face discrimination due to their sex, and their successes are often glossed over in favor of films directed by men. The first Academy Awards were held in 1929, and since that time, only five female directors have been nominated for best director. The only woman to receive the coveted award was Kathryn Bigelow in 2009, for The Hurt Locker. Interestingly, that film was dominated by male characters and doesn’t even come close to passing the Bechdel test.
In recent years, film festivals have begun to take on-screen female representation more seriously, with the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival standing out as a tour de force for female directors. More than 44% of films featured in its Gala program were directed by women. Those films include the Harriet Tubman biography, Harriet, directed by former actress Kasi Lemons, and Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Gender disparity within the entertainment industry involves both sides of the camera. Fortunately, women may be getting more screen time even as their behind-the-scenes numbers are dwindling: A slew of female-centric films were released in 2018, although many of them were produced by smaller, indie companies. Time will tell if more females will work behind the camera in 2019 and beyond, but it’s time for Hollywood to let women take charge in greater numbers.
Comments
One response to “Why Are There Still So Few Female Filmmakers in Hollywood?”
Dearth of female filmmakers is a global, not just Hollywood, problem. I’m from France and while we have comparatively more visible female directors none of them can be said to be a household name or a huge moneymaker. Part of it certainly has to do with sexism, but I can see another explanation for that phenomenon.
Hollywood filmmaking ever since its inception has always been plot-driven. It all started after all with the story of a train being robbed. Since then movies that pulse, shock, thrill have always been the ones that make most money. Dramas, not so much – and interestingly the audience for those has always been overwhelmingly feminine. The problem is, most female filmmakers when given the choice tend to do movies that are character-driven and by Hollywood standards, minimalistic and slow moving. Such movies are already not very popular with executives and mass audiences when made by men, so you can imagine their reaction when it’s a woman helming.
The only female directors to make it big in Hollywood are the ones that play by Hollywood rules, from Dorothy Arzner to Ida Lupino to Kathryn Bigelow to Patty Jenkins. Bigelow, as you pointed out, won her Oscar for a movie that is anything but “feminine” in approach and outlook. Jenkins earned her place in the sun doing a superhero(in) movie.
So I think the answer to your question is half social (sexism) and half cultural (the kind of movies that audiences are supposed to like best is not the kind that most female directors do) but it’s only my opinion.