Written by Destiny Rogers
When there’s a WiL, there’s efficiency. In media productions, you have to always be ready for something to change or not go as planned from start to finish. It requires a lot of efficiency, patience, and the ability to overcome any given obstacle at any given time. In the field of media productions, as a woman, you have to be ten times as creative, open-minded, and inventive as your male counterparts. It is sometimes really hard to know that as a woman, you have to create something extraordinary just to compete with something that is basic or typical. In research, it has been shown that women in media productions have to constantly prove their worth, especially in film.
Within the film industry, there are a lot of underrepresented women, especially women of color, in active leadership roles. In the article, “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair: Analysis of Director Gender & Race/Ethnicity” by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, Kevin Yao, Hannah Clark, and Dr. Katherine Pieper, they talk about the 1,300 top movies made over a 13 year period and the role that women have played in directing these movies from tons of different companies. From 2007 to 2019, there were only 13 women who have directed any of the 1,300 films that were made. Only 13 women. Of these 13 women, less than one percent of these directors were from racial/ethnic groups that were underrepresented. The rest consisted of white women, holding 3.9% of directing jobs from the top 1,300 movies made in that 13-year span. This data can be very intimidating for a woman in digital media productions because it proves how much more that needs to be done to get more women, especially women of color, in the industry.
The most obvious solution to solve the problem of including women in these leadership positions such as being directors, producers, etc., is to allow women to take risks and provide the environment where they feel comfortable doing so. The best solution would be for there to be collaborative work in the industry that includes women and they can freely share their creative thoughts and opinions. The norm that society has placed for careers in media productions has to change because women are qualified for these positions and can do amazing work in them. It is time to fix this problem and let the creativity of women in the film and media productions environment be shown and appreciated. The solution starts with both women and men and how they advocate for women in the media productions industry. It can be as simple as not labeling women as the people who only have managerial or caretaking jobs but labeling them as ambitious people who have a vision and can illustrate their creativity through the television screen.
Overall, it is really important for there to be women in media productions because it allows for there to be more creative thoughts into what is put into media and it will open the room for more women to apply and strive to be directors and producers. Along with the number of underrepresented women in these leadership roles, it will help to showcase the abilities that a diverse group of women can make. Both men and women in the industry have to come together to change the societal norm and make a difference in the numbers that women and women of color represent in the industry. Because when there is a Women in Leadership in media productions, there is efficiency, creativity, inspiration, and innovation.
Sources
file:///Users/destinyrogers/Downloads/Smith_et_al_Inclusion%20in%20the%20Director%E2%80%99s%20Chair.pdf
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