American collective Women’s Media Summit, which comprises more than 100 industry leaders, has resolved to boycott films that score poorly on gender equality, Deadline reported. A white paper released by the collective on Wednesday revealed that women hold only 17% of influential positions behind the scenes in the US entertainment media, implying that “four out of five influential positions creating Hollywood blockbusters are held by men”.
The Women’s Media Summit also plans develop a fund titled FundHer, which will specially promote films made by women.
The under-representation of women in cinema is also garnering attention in the United Kingdom. A study released on Wednesday revealed that gender inequality in British films is worse in 2017 than it was in 1913, Guardian reported. Conducted by the British Film Institute, the study finds that while 31% of actors cast in films produced in 1913 were women, the proportion has dropped to 30% in 2017.
Released as a part of BFI’s Filmography of British Film, which examines more than 10,000 films and 250,000 cast and crew members, the study also revealed that less than 1% of British films made between 1913 and 2017 had a majority female crew, and only 4.5% of the films have been directed by a woman.