Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

“I think people find a female producer shouting at people less
palatable than if it’s a man doing it. A woman doing it is a bitch.”
(IES 2006:57).
Some women in this study spoke about wanting to work more with
other women. One described going to meet a production company
where “You could smell the testosterone” and how this put her off
working with them. Women were seen as less threatening as work
partners. However gender relationships may or may not be an issue
between writer and producer, and this made one respondent say these
relationships were tricky for women. Another woman felt women were
too nurturing, and the authors point out that the polarisation of
women as nurturers and men as creators is still held out in the film
sector today (IES 2006). The insecurity in the industry made women
feel they could not do the job if they had children.
In another study on minority ethnic workers in London, 50% of
respondents reported they had equal opportunity policies in the
workplace, but 76% of them still reported feeling discriminated against
compared to 54% of white workers. 40% of respondents felt
discriminated against regarding access to jobs because of their
ethnicity, compared to 16% of white workers. Respondents reported
that indirect discrimination was not uncommon, and they felt culturally
misrepresented overall. Minority ethnic workers felt they were
C:\Documents and Settings\mcorless\Desktop\Intranet\Barriers to Diversity in Film_DS_RB 20 Aug
07.doc
72