tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289856713823310142.post3194905535025407876..comments2024-03-27T04:34:59.958-07:00Comments on Wellywood Woman: Women Directors. Globally.wellywood womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13224383638978594862noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289856713823310142.post-61721641626948590142012-11-26T16:13:39.438-08:002012-11-26T16:13:39.438-08:00Wow, that's a huge scope! I'm especially i...Wow, that's a huge scope! I'm especially interested in the behaviour of state organisations when they disburse public money. State funders exist in all the countries whose statistics I've listed – except I think the US, though maybe there are some states who still have film funds? – and they're required to act legally when disbursing taxpayer funds to film projects. As far as I know only the Swedish Film Institute is explicitly required to consider gender, but I think that the others may have an implicit duty to do so, partly because of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. And I'd love the existence of this duty to be tested in court. <br /><br />Maybe the European Women Audiovisual Network (http://wellywoodwoman.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/spanish-women-directors-provide.html, http://www.ewanetwork.eu/en/whoarewe) would know more about testing European Community law as part of their concerns about equality of opportunity there? (http://www.cimamujerescineastas.es/htm/proyectos/encuentros/ver.php?id=29) wellywood womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06530111753893711768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289856713823310142.post-46206056593382155852012-11-26T11:15:56.517-08:002012-11-26T11:15:56.517-08:00We are very excited to start a web page to create ...We are very excited to start a web page to create global unity among women directors fighting for equality. Here is our opening statement. Let me know your thoughts, and I'll attach a link in the coming days or weeks. Best, Maria<br /><br />“International Parity for Women Directors: The Legal Center” represents the world’s first effort to unify and galvanize women around the world in an attempt to create parity for women directors of all forms of media content including feature films, television, and news.<br /><br />Each nation around the world has its own set of laws protecting the civil rights of its citizens. Most nations have laws designed to assure employment equality for all people, regardless of their sex. Employment statistics, however, continue to emerge from studies around the world that indicate a profound under-representation of women directors in international film and television industries.<br /><br />In the United States, for example, while women in nearly every other industry have made tremendous strides toward equality in recent decades, the entertainment industry remains a bastion of sexual discrimination. The ratios are staggering: according to recent Directors Guild of America statistics, 95% of feature films are directed by men, and just 5% by women. Episodic TV is nearly as bad, with the male-to-female ratio of working directors at 86% to 14%.<br /><br />If women are not directing film and television content, it means nearly half of the voices of the population are silenced and half the visions are suppressed. Ending discrimination against women directors is vital to establishing a societies of equality and diversity of perspective.<br /><br />It is not just the validity of the female point of view and basic fairness that gives this issue such immediacy, but if we as a civilization are to encourage freedom, equality and peace in all geopolitical affairs, we must be sure that each nation is abiding by existing laws protecting employment equality in our most influential industries: media.<br /><br />“International Parity for Women Directors: The Legal Center” is intended as a cyber meeting place for women (and men) around the world who are concerned about equality of gender perspective in all forms of media. This site will collect statistics, reproduce international civil rights laws, assess and compare affirmative actions policies worldwide, and provide resources to encourage the advancement of parity for women directors in all nations of the world.<br /><br />We believe that a unified global effort to create gender equality in media will make global change possible, broaden our visibility and increase our strength and resolve.Mariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01255272362126469211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289856713823310142.post-18123137758327495322012-11-25T13:59:56.596-08:002012-11-25T13:59:56.596-08:00Hi Maria
Thanks for a great suggestion.
I'...Hi Maria<br /><br />Thanks for a great suggestion. <br /><br />I'm thrilled that there's now a group of countries where the ratios are established, so it's possible to move to the next stage, of identifying human/civil rights laws that may help. One may be the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The United States has never ratified the convention, but many other countries have, so for women in those countries it could be a starting point. And I think that your suggested webpage would be a fine place to share information and to seek and offer support.<br /><br />I'd love to hear what others think, too!wellywood womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13224383638978594862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3289856713823310142.post-41124395432649348222012-11-24T15:49:44.948-08:002012-11-24T15:49:44.948-08:00This is a really interesting contemplation on the ...This is a really interesting contemplation on the whole subject of the global under-representation of women directors.<br /><br />We at "Women Directors: Navigating The Boys' Club" in Los Angeles have been studying the viabilty of legal action because we believe that numerically the ratios of male-to-female directors, particularly in the arena of feature films, demonstrate the inference of violations of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII.<br /><br />We are currently making an in-depth study of the 1983 class-action lawsuit filed by the DGA and examining the relationship between the statistics and U.S. Civil Rights acts to understand where women stand in terms of legality. However, we do approach this from a U.S.-centric perspective. Since media is America's most influential export, and since America has the world's most prolific film & TV industry, and since we are Americans, that seemed like the best place to start.<br /><br />However,as Marian Evans rightly points out, discrimination against women directors is a global issue and we should fight this together. Unity would bring us all increased strength and greater visibility. I think if we could find representatives from numerous other countries around the world, we could combine our forces through a web page dedicated to the effort.<br /><br />We co-founders of "WDNBC" (Women Directors: Navigating the Boys' Club) would be happy to spearhead the project. A group of women from each participating nation would have to do what we have done, which is to analyze the ratios of male-to-female directors in their country and then see if, according their nation's civil rights laws, violations appear to be present.<br /><br />Please comment with your thoughts.<br /><br />Best regards, Maria Giese<br />aegisfilms@earthlink.net<br />www.womendirectorsinhollywood.comMariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01255272362126469211noreply@blogger.com