Gender Inequality in Hollywood Research 2022

Running Head: GENDER INEQUALITY IN HOLLYWOOD 1
Title: Gender Inequality in Hollywood
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L06 Field Activity I Directions: Applying a Feminist Lens
Field Activity 1: Gender inequality at the workplace
Since the turn of the 20th century, women have made great strides as far as inequality at the
workplace is concerned. Women constitute a majority of the world’s population. Recent research
shows that women are more productive than men, and are significantly more qualified than men
from an educational perspective. Men are however dominant at the workplace. This dominance
is especially more pronounced in middle and senior management positions, where men far
outnumber women. In the United States alone, men outnumber women in middle and senior
management by more than a million. At the same time, women are paid less for similar positions,
not considering the fact that they are more qualified, productive, and simply, more than men. In
the first part of this essay, we examine why this is the case and the role that the entertainment
industry plays in fueling this continued bias against women.
In the entertainment industry, media work for less and face tougher paths to advancement than
their male counterparts. According to Milana (2019), there is a significantly big gap between
men and women in Hollywood. This gap can be traced to cultural issues, where men are seen as
deserving more, or being more capable than women. This persists even when women take on
more starring roles, or produce much more than men. According to Milano, men have
traditionally been associated with some forms of entertainment. It still seems odd that women
have come to take such prominent roles in almost every aspect of the entertainment industry,
especially with regard to Hollywood.
Biebly (2009), in her research on the Hollywood scene, came up with a somewhat different
assessment of why this is the case. According to her, the entertainment industry has more gender

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and age-specific roles. |Roles that are earmarked for women have historically been less
significant, popular, or well paying. This may in part be due to screenwriters’ bias, the need for
Hollywood commercial interests to find content that sells, and appeals more to its targeted
audience. Such an audience is more masculine, has a relatively high power distance (Annelise,
2013). It is interesting to note that early screenwriters, cinematographers and scenarists were
actually women. However, the commercial setup in the industry increasingly placed high
importance on these professionals, leading to the skyrocketing of their incomes. Gradually, and
as a result, women were displaced, and have not yet made a decisive comeback (Biebly, 2009).
The last five years have seen a marked improvement in the contributions and involvement of
women in the production of films. According to the Wall Street Journal, women and minorities
have been targeted for executive and leading roles in films. As a result, in the five years since
2015, the number of films with women in leading roles has increased from 42% to 61% (Watson
& Millman, 2019). This is a significant improvement. It is however clear that much more needs
to be done to actually guarantee a level playing field, devoid of any gender bias. This is
especially important when the role of Hollywood in shaping popular culture is considered.
Fieldwork Activity II ISSUE: Discussion
Introduction
As discussed in Fieldwork activity I, in virtually every sector and country in the world, women
earn less than men. This is despite some rather surprising factors which have long been held to
determine what a person should earn. These are the person’s actual contribution (quality of
services delivered), their aptitude (academic and professional qualifications, and general
suitability for the role), and the idea that societies, especially those in the West, increasingly

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favor meritocracy over other determinants such as race, nationality or gender. Few industries are
as liberal as the film industry. In movies, characters are seen to benefit from honesty, hard work,
and other desirable traits. It is therefore surprising that this industry has similar issues to what
bedevils other in6dustries – people do not get an equal chance, based on, among others, gender
bias.
For this activity, I have chosen the issue of gender bias in the movie industry, specifically in
Hollywood. How bias is shown on camera goes back to the roles that men and women occupy in
the industry. This bias is then projected on to the screen. Since Hollywood is such a powerful
shaper of culture in the US and beyond, the effects of such bias cannot be gainsaid. It is also
interesting to see that while the industry presents itself as the icon of equality, it is still bedeviled
by several other issues, which have, as recently as 2015, led to the growth of movements such as
#Metoo, which addressed issues of sexual assault, abuse, and manipulation by men with
influence in the industry, before attracting wider attention in mainstream politics and other
industries as well.
Causes of bias
There are several issues why this bias abounds. Among other issues, we cannot ignore the
masculine nature of Western culture, despite the gains that have been made in making society
more inclusive and free of bias and discrimination. Another issue would be that these films are in
the first place written by men, predominantly. This would make it hard for another party to
advance the cause for women, much as they would like to. Roles that were originally dominated
by women have since been taken over by men, due to the more money they attract, as well as the
influence they have over the final product – the film screened to audiences.

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Culture.
Western culture has been profoundly shaped by Christianity. In Christianity, as is the case with
other major world religions, female subservience has long been seen as a virtue. It is reinforced
by the family roles that women are trained to have, which have meant that, over time, society has
come to associate specific roles with women. Though in a slightly different context, research by
Bawa (2016) describes the impact of Christianity on what we see as gender roles. These roles,
closely revolving around homemaking, are taken as being divinely provisioned, making any
questioning intolerable. When this same mindset is then transferred to other cultural forums
devoid of religious overtones, they remain, with highly negative consequences for equality.
In the movie industry, some roles are viewed as being better` handled by men. The most
common of these are for directing movies, and other behind-the-scenes roles. Screenwriting and
other creative positions are also dominated by men, giving them a clear edge in dictating what
movies eventually display. A survey featured by ”The Atlantic” shows that only 20% of behind
the camera roles are handled by women (Thompson, 2018). Cinematographers are almost all
men (96%), as are directors (80%), and writers (88%). These statistics were from 2017, since
when little has changed. They accurately paint the picture of an industry where women are to be
seen (on-screen as actresses), not heard (as decision-makers and opinion-shapers.
The inequality does not end there. Actresses are much more likely to be underpaid when
compared to their male counterparts in similar roles. The pay gap in Hollywood is a replication
of the wider economy, where women are consistently underpaid. This is despite the many
benefits and important contributions they have made to the industry. The same is seen in the
award of awards. For instance, in 2017, Greta Gerwig wrote and directed “The Ladybird|, a
movie which went on to win the Best Motion Musical or Comedy. However, she did not win the

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best director award. In fact, no woman had won the award since 1984. In her category, all the
nominees were men. Such instances are replicated elsewhere, with women being overlooked, and
their contributions being downplayed when they do get the chance to excel.
When everything is taken in perspective, the exclusion of women from the movie industry does
not make sense. The success of women writers, directors and other crew is remarkable,
especially when one considers the obstacles that they have to surmount in order to get that first
role, or a breakthrough in acting. Mimi Leder, a graduate from the prestigious American Film
Institute Conservatory, discusses her experience after graduating. She never considered that her
gender would in any way inhibit her rise through the ranks. Instead, she was banking on her
talent, academic qualifications, and passion for the industry she had always to join. However, the
industry would block her at every turn. Meanwhile, her male counterparts were advancing first,
thanks to, in her opinion, their gender (Thompson, 2018).
Male dominance has another sinister outcome. It makes actresses vulnerable and exposed to
directors and other executives who may wish to take advantage. As explained above, the #Metoo
wave was launched by allegations from actresses, who insisted that they were sexually harassed
by prominent directors. It is debatable, but probably true, that this culture has gone on for
decades, whereby directors ask for sexual favors before they can grant roles to actresses.
Examples of movies with gender bias
Even in front of the screen, women are more likely to be cast in morally degrading or sexually-
suggestive ways. Women are more likely to be shown nude, as research done by Women and
Hollywood (2019) shows. The research found that only 9 movies in 2018 bothered to have
gender-balanced casts. In total, more than 67% of casts were made up of men and boys, with the

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female gender taking up the rest. To contextualize this, we need to acknowledge that almost
every society has slightly higher number of women than men. If movies are to represent how
society really is, then the number of women would be significantly higher. Such a pattern would
be represented in other areas as well. More directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, among
other professionals. Instead, women are massively underrepresented. As discussed in the first
fieldwork activity, this has not always been the case. There was a time when movie professionals
were actually employees in studios. As the legal environment and the entertainment industry
evolved, this arrangement became difficult to hold together, and a movie director would
normally assemble a team to work on a movie, and This change in arrangement led to the
creation of highly affluent crew members, who could afford to have several roles at a go, and
who were also able to make much higher amounts of money. The most obvious result of this
shift was that men became more interested in roles that were hitherto “reserved” for women. Due
to their already powerful position as the owners of capital (studios) that were used to make the
movies, it was easy for them to easily sweep aside the women. It is only in recent years that
women have started making a comeback that is as discussed elsewhere in this essay, extremely
slow and still at the baby-step stage.
At the same time, some groups of women are hyper-sexualized, in a way that cannot to be
anything less than derogatory for them. Despite this, there is no widespread condemnation, such
as would the case had any other demographic group been presented in such a manner. Even then,
it is important to consider a subtitle to discrimination that happens within gender discrimination.
Hispanics are predominantly the ones who take up sexually-charged roles. African American
women above 50 years’ age are rarely, if ever, seen taking up prominent roles in screenplay and
movie production. In the event that they are, they are likely to display mannerisms that are

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stereotypically associated with the African American community. This is likely to further embed
these attitudes in the audience.
With movie writers, directors and other behind-the-camera crew mostly being men, their bias is
clear to see in some movies and other screenplays. Cinderella is one such film. Its rating is 5 and
more years, meaning that it is suitable for most children of a school-going age, which is where
children get their cultural identities away from home. The movie portrays the star of the movie as
a meek and subservient lady, who is rescued from her distress by a strong man. While on the
surface, it may appear like a sweet story a woman being rescued, it only serves to fuel the
dominant role men are supposed to have over women in contemporary society. The impact that
this has on the children cannot be overemphasized. As research by Bibley (2009) shows, the
media plays a prominent role in shaping the mannerisms of children. The message
communicated by the movie is likely to be ingrained in the children’s minds, on how girls expect
to be treated, and how boys should treat girls, and later, women.
Another movie is Grease, rated +12.- the movie describes how a woman tries to change her
appearance to appeal to the tastes of a man. While it is a sweet love story, it also objectifies
women as little more than sexual tools of attraction for men. The movie’s rating is also sensitive
since it targets adolescent girls, who will be picking up their initial relationship lessons from
such sources. The same can be said of adolescent boys. They expect their relationships with girls
to be as was the case with Grease. They will objectify women, and consider them as nothing
more than objects of desire and pleasure. This is despite the many other themes in the movie, that
are mostly masked by this unfortunate objectification.
Peter Pan has several racial undertones that threaten to disrupt an otherwise good story. Less
apparent, however, but equally important, is the disdain with which women are constantly treated

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within the movie. The movie’s main actor at one point even dismisses girls as talking too much,
fitting into a wider narrative of women as being too emotional, or unable to control themselves
when they try to express their feelings. The movie also has other sexist themes running through
it, which show women as being aversive to physical confrontation, and requiring the protection
of men to survive. This, in turn, draws on another narrative, where women are regarded as the
weaker sex, unable to fend themselves, and therefore requiring the constant presence and
domination by men. As mentioned earlier, gender inequality and discrimination of other types is
rampant in them movie industry, and accompanies each other. This is best seen in the
movements that have come to the surface in the second half of this decade, including
#oscarssowhite (Watson & Millman, 2019). The campaign was meant to speak out against the
racial and gender bias that have characterized award ceremonies. In the movie described here,
various forms of discrimination are explained. They feed into each other, ultimately creating a
toxic mix of people who have hardened ideas about people they are different from.
“Sixteen Candles” is another movie that examines the relationship between boys and girls. In the
movie, girls are shown as nothing more than sex objects, who must constantly strive to win
men’s attention and affection. The boys in the film pay to see a girl’s underwear, which is
another way of implying stereotypical sexual undertones that the movie is known for. The movie
underscores the position the movie producers, Hollywood, and the wider society sees women.
While we want to show that women are treated equally and that we stand for equal opportunity
for all, such movies bring out the true picture, that women are still seen as objects, before they
are seen as people. This is especially ironic since the firm also portends to be about progressive
themes, and is therefore to be much more dangerous than others which are outright

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discriminatory. The movie seems to imply that eventually, despite any achievements and hard
work, women exist for the pleasure of men, nothing more, nothing less.
In Snow-white and the Seven Dwarfs, the wicked queen cares only about her beauty, above all
else. While others – especially men – are more interested in important things. Her biggest worry
is how beautiful she is, and whether Snow-white is fairer than her. This is an interesting narrative
since it implies that both the queen and Snow White only have their physical attraction to offer
the people. Their wickedness and good deeds are only secondary in the movie. In the end, Snow-
white is saved by her beauty. Her other virtues are mostly stereotypically female and are sparsely
featured in the movie. The women depicted in the movie are unusually beautiful, or cruel, or
both. Their firmness, decision-making, and other qualities are downplayed or absent altogether.
This is not to mean that the qualities were impossible to write into the characters. Rather, the
directors and other people involved in producing the film did not see the reason to do this. Most
probably, they were men as well. This can therefore be argued to be a direct effect of over
dominance of the field by men, and which, for the future, is harmful.
Results of gender bias in movies
The influence that movies have on culture is profound. Movies affect the way we see things, our
attitude, and even behavior. This relationship has been under study for several decades. Writing
as early as 1947, Franklin Fearing saw movies as helping individuals understand themselves,
their role in society, and the values of their social groups. Movies also helped people learn things
that would be difficult to present through other means. This is because motion picture appeals to
many more senses than other forms of entertainment or information. It engages the viewer at a
higher level than is common with other media (Fearing, 1947). Cinema is a powerful source of
information. It provides information to i8ts audience in a way that is highly interactive and

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realistic. This enables the audience to see the message come alive in a way that may be lost in
other forms of entertainment or information. It goes without saying that the information so
passed leaves a strong impression on the audience, and can, therefore, shape their attitudes on
different issues.
Considering this, and the gender bias that is present in films, it is easy to see the results. Movies
that systematically depict women as sex objects, weaker or lesser beings feed into a wider
narrative. This narrative is grounded in culture. However, it also feeds this culture, because it is
wrapped within other presumably progressive ideas. For instance, a film could be about political
participation or representation. Within it, there could be other themes that are sexist, or
sometimes, even racist. The net effect of such a movie would be diluted, and even fail to hit the
mark as was the writers’ intentions. The advent of faster means of sharing information through
the internet has only exacerbated this problem. Today, there is a lot of unmoderated content,
which is used to instill particular viewpoints in children.
Actors and actresses are important role models and icons of various causes, be it equality,
fashion, political consciousness, environmental conservation, among others. While their roles on
screen are different from their ordinary lives, their portrayal of various positions, and the
implication that this is okay, could have devastating effects on culture. This is because such
actions reinforce already held views, even though such views may be progress frowned upon. As
discussed in the first fieldwork activity above, the United States has a society which leans on
masculinity when compared to other western countries, and where the power distance is much
higher. This power is especially manifest in actors. As symbols of various traits, especially
masculinity, how they treat women is closely watched by members of both genders. Where the
star is abusive to women, overtly or not, their behavior is highly impressionable on the audience.

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The result is a society in which some values that are not really progressive or desirable are
permitted to take on even more dangerous forms. In extreme scenarios, this would see a
complete breakdown in some morals, where sexism is treated as a normal and even good thing.
One would argue that female directors and others involved in movies’ production should play a
more active role so as to reshape the conversation and move away from these negative
stereotypes strengthened by contemporary movies. The reality is however different. The women
who could actually make a difference are very few. Even when they are able to make their voices
heard, the platform is not as elevated as it would be where it for men. Their movies are likely to
attract less funding, and sell less, due to marketing constraints. Their voice will eventually be
heard, if the changes currently taking place is anything to go by. But it will take an awfully long
time for this to happen. Meanwhile, the values advanced in movies will continue shaping
conversations and interactions between people in different societies into the foreseeable future.
As seen in the examples outlined earlier in this essay, movies target different age-groups. More
than any other age group, children are very impressionable. They are likely to pick up the
language and actions in movies more than any other age group. They are more likely to pick out
issues such as gender inequality more clearly than others. So for instance, the statement that girls
talk too much will go unnoticed by older men, but will be ingrained in the minds of younger
boys, and give them pointers on how girls are really like.
Conclusion
Cinema is a powerful tool for driving social agendas. It has been used to fight racism, sexism,
and to promote progressive political ideas. At the same time however, it has also been used to
advance harmful ideals, including gender inequality. While it may not be apparent at first, closer

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examination unearths several instances where more needs to be done to ensure such media is not
a fuel for retrogressive ideas.
Other media and entertainment channels are also bedeviled by the problems discussed here. But
perhaps none is as powerful in shaping conversations and attitudes than movies. For instance,
they have a big audience, that goes beyond countries, continents or even civilizations. Movies
are a powerful source of cultural exchanges between people. Thanks to movies, people around
the world know about American values, which are held in the highest esteem, and which other
people of the world are keen to learn and adopt. It would therefore be sad if the values that
America exports through this culture exchange are laced with sexism, gender inequality and
discrimination, and racism. It not only harms the US’s image, but it also harms these societies as
well. This by itself makes the problem so complex, that anything else short of having women
play a greater role in the movie industry is unlikely to work.
Having more women in Hollywood is not as easy as it seems. It is a n operation that requires
people with privilege to reject it, and call for inclusivity in Hollywood. This means that men
need to actively work to make women more engaged in making movies. This is not simply
giving them lead actress, or cameraman jobs. It is more about giving them the opportunity to
shape stories, make mistakes, and generally go about it alone, without paternalistic supervision
or patronage that makes growth so difficult to achieve.

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References
Annelise, L. (2013). A critical discussion of Hofstede’s concept of Power Distance. A Journal of
Professional Communication, 28, 51-66.
Bawa. (2016). Christianity, tradition, and gender inequality in postcolonial Ghana. Africa
Geographical Review, 38(1).
Biebly, D. (2009). Gender inequality in culture industries: Women and men writers in film and
television. Sociologie du Travail, 5(2), 237-252.
Fearing, F. (1947). Influence of the Movies on Attitudes and Behavior. The Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, 254, 70-79.
Milana, T. (2019). Gender Inequality in Hollywood: The Magnitude, Determinants, and
Influence of the Gender Wage Gap in the Film Industry. Claremont College Repository,
1-40.
Thompson, D. (2018, 01 11). The Brutal Math of Gender Inequality in Hollywood. Retrieved
from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/01/the-brutal-
math-of-gender-inequality-in-hollywood/550232/
Watson, R., & Millman, E. (2019, 08 27). Hollywood Diversifies After Rebuke Over Racial and
Gender Inequality. Retrieved from Wall Street Journal:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-oscarssowhite-hollywood-makes-strides-in-
diversifying-ranks-of-actors-directors-11566923425