Today, women directors are a very low percentage of all directors due to discrimination and sexism. However, before this occurred, women used to dominate the directing field and were extremely talented. During the silent film era, women made up a large percentage of directors, were treated equal to men directors, and were successful in the film industry. First of all, a large percentage of directors were commonly women in the film industry during the silent film era between1912-1929. For example, previous to 1920, there were over thirty women directors, which was a lot at the time. Women directors were also treated with the same respect as men and were even valued more than men directors. Women directors were paid equal to men directors, and sometimes even higher than them depending on their success. For example, Lois Weber was the highest paid director in Hollywood. Finally, women directors made successful, ground-breaking film history. In 1896, the first woman director of a fiction film was named Alice Guy. She was successful because she created a film every week, made over 1,000 films, and pushed the boundaries of film with interracial casts. Finally, she was successful because she was the first woman to own her own film studio, which was the largest film studio before Hollywood called “Solax."
When the silent film era came to an end and the talking film era began, the salary of directors increased significantly because movies started to make millions of dollars. During the silent film era, movies were produced inexpensively and with a small crew. Because of the increase in pay, men forced women out of the industry because they wanted their jobs. Men used discrimination and sexism to keep them women of the film industry.The two theories as to why women directors have continued to decrease since 1927 until today includes the human capital theory and the discrimination theory. First of all, the human capital theory says that women directors have less ability, education, and experience than men do because women invest less time in their careers. Men are seen as more successful than women in directing movies because women are stereotyped as not dedicated and self-selecting out of the industry to focus on their children. According to this theory, women self-select out of directing for their children by not going to film school or sending their films to festivals. This stereotype prevents women directors from getting jobs over men directors, despite the fact that women can work and be mothers at the same time. Next, the discrimination theory states that women directors are less preferred than men directors because they are stereotyped as less talented than men. Therefore, women directors are not hired because companies do not want to risk their money on a woman director failing over a guaranteed success of a man director.
Discrimination against women has occurred in multiple examples throughout film history, to the point in which the law gets involved. The discrimination of female directors continued as the film industry excluded women directors from job opportunities and created double standards for them as well. These inequalities were so severe, that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held an investigation and a hearing about discrimination against women and people of color in the Hollywood film industry. The EEOC discovered in their investigation that the Directors Guild of America’s (DGA) would put a list of a limited amount of women or women of color directors on the hiring lists of potential directors for films. Therefore, women were unfairly being discriminated against by not being considered or given the opportunity to interview for a directing position. Also, the Directors Guild of America’s (DGA) created a mandatory shadowing program for women directors to help them, but it actually prevented them from job opportunities. This shadowing program created a double standard because men did not have to partake and only women did in order to be considered for a directing job. Women also stated this shadowing program had many disadvantages, including that it was too difficult to get into, it did not pay, and it did not provide any viable job opportunities for women after completion. Women directors essentially had to go through more work as men directors, and still did not receive equal job opportunities.
In the most recent decades, the number of women directors has steadily decreased, even with the heavy promotion for gender equality in society. In the last 12 years, out of 1,335 directors, only 4.3 percent were women. In 2008, only 9% of the directors of the top 250 grossing films were women. Next, in 2013, only 1.9% of directors were women who directed the top 100 grossing films. Also, in 2014, women directors decreased to 7% of directors of the top 250 grossing films, In 2018, the percentage of women directors within the top 100 grossing films decreased from 11 percent in 2017 to 8 percent. This percentage is lower than it was in 1998, when women directors made up 9 percent. Finally, in 2018, only four female directors worked on the 100 top-grossing movies in 2018, which is the lowest number in the last five years.
In the most recent years, the decline of women directors is at one of its lowest points. There needs to be an increase in women directors for the benefit of positive messages for young women. Increasing the number of women directors will possibly increase the amount of women actresses and women-centric narratives. Women actresses and narratives in movies will empower more young women with body positive messages instead of objectifying, degrading messages. Women directors will give women actresses the opportunity to inspire women viewers to have to have confidence in themselves to achieve high status jobs, such as directing, in order to continue empowering movies for women.
Sources:
Fuster, J. (2019, January 06). #TimesUp, Hollywood! 2 diversity studies show big drop for female film directors in 2018. The Wrap, Retrieved from https://www.thewrap.com/timesup-hollywood-2-diversity-studies-show-big-drop-for-female-film-directors-in-2018/
McKinley, R. (2016). Celluloid and silicon ceilings: Underinvestment in women directors and entrepreneurs. Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, 24(1), 89–106.
Lauzen, M. M. (2012). Where are the film directors (who happen to be women?). Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 29(4), 310–319.
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