Gender Bias without Borders

Geena Davis Institute/on Gender in Media USC THE University of Southem Califomia ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION WOMEN E GENDER BIAS WITH OUT BORDERS AN INVESTIGATION OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN POPULAR FILMS ACROSS 11 COUNTRIES U.S. CHINA JAPAN U.K AUSTRALIA INDIA FRANCE GERMANY S. KOREA RUSSIA BRAZIL GLOBAL ALERT: GIRLS ARE N OWHERE TO BE "SCENE" 31% of speaking roles are occupied by females 10% of all films have a gender balanced cast 23% of films feature a female protagonist Females are missing in acti on in ACTION/ADVENTURE fiIms. Only 23 % of speakingcharacters in this genre are female. 1 FEMALE VISIBLE FOR EVERY 2.24 MALES (South Korea sets itself apart with female occupying half of the leading roles, while China featured the highest number of gender balanced c asts.) A RAY OF HOPE : MORE FEMALE FILMMAKERS, MORE FEMALE CHARACTERS ON SCREEN FILMMAKERS BY GENDER INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN 7% 20% 23% of directors of writerS of producers 79% 21% Where are the female filmmakers? When a woman directs a film, t here is a 6.8% increase in the number of femal es onscre en. France & Japan fall behind when it comes to the number of female filmmakers. NO MATTER THE TERRITORY, FEMALE CHARACTERS CANNOT ESCAPE AN EMPHASIS ON APPEARANCE SEXUALIZATION BY AGE FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY to receive appearance based comments than 36% 32% 15% men. TEENS ADULTS MIDDLE AGED fictional females aged TWICE AS OFTEN SHOWN 13 to 39 are equally in sexually revealing clothing, or with so me nudity. sexualized FEMALE EXECUTIVES ARE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES IN INTERNATIONAL FILMS WOMEN'S VISIBILITY BY CAREER (14% 11% 10% C-SUITE INVESTORS POLITICS & DEVELOPERS (15% 7% 4% MEDICINE LAWYERS SPORTS FIGURES & HEALTH & JUDGES The US, Russia, Germany, France & Australia show the highest discrepancy between employed women on-screen and in the real world. NO SEEDS BEING PLANTED FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN STEM Men outpace women in on-screen STEM careers roles 7 to 1 ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY LIFE & PHYSICAL SCIENCES 9% 17% 12% of roles of roles of roles went to women went t o women went to women и THE FACT IS - WOMEN ARE SERIOUSLY UNDER-REPRESENTED ACROSS NEARLY ALL SECTORS OF THE GLOBE, NOT JUST ON-SCREEN, BUT FOR THE M OST PARI WE'RE SIMPLY NOT AWARE OF THE EXTENT. AND MEDIA IMAGES EXERT A POWERFUL INFLUENCE IN CREATING AND PERPETUATING OUR UNCONSCIOUS BIASES. H OWEVER, MEDIA IMAGES CAN ALSO HAVE A VERY POSITIVE IMPACT ON OUR PERCEPTIONS. IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO MAKE A MOVIE, WE CAN CHANGE WHAT THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE. THERE ARE WOEFULLY FEW WOMEN CEOS IN THE WORLD, BUT THERE CAN BE LOTS OF THEM IN FILMS. HOW DO WE ENCOURAGE A LOT MORE GIRLS TO PURSUE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND ENGINEERING CAREERS? BY CASTING DROVES OF WOMEN IN STEM, POLITICS, LAW, AND OTHER PROFESSIONS TODAY IN MOVIES. GEENA DAVIS IF SHE CAN SEE IT, SHE CAN BE IT. To read the full report and learn more, visit www.SEEJANE.ORG Research conducted b y Dr. Stacy L. Smith and her research team at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. O+ O+