By Heather Roy

In an age where feminism and gender equality often lie in prominence in the political sphere, and have become buzzwords, it is often assumed that society has achieved a parity between genders. Far past are the days of the oppressed, disenfranchised housewife, and yet an obvious and discernible inequality remains in the film and television industry. 

The 2016 “Cut Out of the Picture” report commissioned by Directors UK and conducted by Stephen Follows and Alexis Kreager examined the directors of 2,591 films released over a 10-year period from 2005 to 2014, inclusive. The study found that just 13.6% of film directors over the period were female, and only 11.3% of those films were directed exclusively by a woman. In this 10-year time span, the number of female directors increased by a minimal 0.6% to a total of 11.9%. In the age of so-called “postfeminism” that assumes gender equality has been achieved, this progress seems underwhelming, disappointing and largely un-progressive. Furthermore, the study revealed that of the big budget films (over 30 million) considered over the period, only 3.3% were directed by women. 

The underrepresentation of female directors is none the more obvious than when it comes to award season. As one of the leading film and television award shows globally, BAFTA have been criticised in recent years for their lack of diversity in nominations. Over the last 10 years BAFTA has seen 2 women nominated in the Best Director category out of a total 50 nominations (Kathryn Biggelow in 2013 and Lynne Ramsey in 2012).

Despite contenders such as Gerwig’s Little Women in 2020, female directors continue to be overlooked when it comes to award season - and this disregard is not specific to the UK; Hollywood too is guilty of female underrepresentation. American award season seems to mirror that of the UK’s in its evident lack of female nominations. The 2020 Golden Globe nominations for best director were exclusively male - so, what’s going wrong? 

There is a clear link between gender and those directing films, and the obvious discrepancy between male and female directors calls into question just how and why the image of the film director has become so intrinsically intertwined with gender. Directors UK found that film graduates are generally equal in male/female split, meaning that the imbalance is arising somewhere further down the line. 

Director of Suffragette, Brick Lane and This Little Life, Sarah Gavron suggested that part of the issue perhaps comes from the distinct lack of female role models for aspiring directors to look up to and a 2016 research report “The Celluloid Ceiling” found evidence to support this claim. 

The Celluloid Ceiling Report tracks the behind the scenes employment figures of women in the top films of every year and noted that men within the industry were significantly more likely to hire other men - perhaps this is one of the most significant reasons that females struggle to break into the directing industry.  

The most recent report published in 2019 did highlight progress in the numbers of female directors, but slow and incremental progress at that. Of the top 250 films of 2019, the number of female directors stood at 13%, a minimal 4 percentage points higher than the statistics from 1998. 

Despite a feminist movement that has swept the globe since that date, female directors seem to have been somewhat left behind in movement towards gender equality. Incremental progress is, granted, more positive than none at all, yet there remains much to be done for film directing to reach a place of gender equality that allows film to portray a true range of voices and stories.