Deeds not Words event discusses how to achieve gender equity in the screen industries
Published: 1 May 2024
Around 90 screen industry professionals, policy makers and academics recently gathered in London to discuss what works (and what doesn’t) to improve gender equity in the screen industries.
Around 90 screen industry professionals, policy makers and academics recently gathered in London to discuss what works (and what doesn’t) to improve gender equity in the screen industries.
Broadcaster Jane Hill and broadcaster and inclusion advisor Shani Dhanda hosted the Deeds not Words event which comprised networking, spotlight interviews, panels and workshops and was feature in the Media Industries 2024 conference held at Kings College London.
Discussion centred around the new Re-Framing the Picture report, launched earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival by academics including UofG’s Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof.
Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof, University of Glasgow and lead UK academic on the GEP Analysis Project, said: “Deeds Not Words asked what does – and doesn’t – work to improve gender equity in the screen industries. The GEP Analysis Project used innovative methods to research the design and impact of gender equity policies. Deeds Not Words brought leading research, industry and policy experts together to discuss how to take these findings forward. Policy leads, campaigners, Oscar-winning producers discussed how to not just “get more women in” but to build fairer industry structures.”
Deeds not Words participants shared insights on what policies/interventions currently work or could work to achieve gender equity, what the barriers are, and what can be learnt from existing interventions such as the BFI Diversity Standards to increase the number of women in key creative roles in film.
Re-Framing the Picture presented findings from research on 500 equity policies in the UK, Germany and Canada and 12,000 films made between 2005 and 2020 in 34 different countries and unveiled groundbreaking insights into gender equity policy in the film industries. It is the result of the three-year Gender Equity Policy (GEP) Analysis Project undertaken by an international team of academics from Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF (Germany), University of Glasgow (UK), University of Rostock (Germany), University of Alberta (Canada), and Deakin University (Australia).
Crucially, it found that gains for women and gender minorities have not come at the expense of men: indicating gender equity benefits have arisen as the result of an expansion of the industry rather than a displacement of men.
The research shows that policies are proliferating but progress is slow. The event therefore also considered the best ways of turning words into deeds, including building alliances across the sector.
The event’s panellists included:
- Sara Putt, Chair, BAFTA & MD, Sara Putt Associates
- Katie Bailiff, CEO, Women in Film & TV
- Mia Bays, Director of the Filmmaking Fund, BFI
- Inga Becker, Coordinator, Diversity & Inclusion, MOIN
- Julia Brown, Diversity Standards Manager, BFI
- Philippa Childs, Head of Bectu
- Gareth Ellis-Unwin, CEO, Bedlam Film Productions
- Alison Grade, CEO, Mission Accomplished & Author, The Freelance Bible
- Laura Mansfield, CEO, ScreenSkills
- Birgit Moldaschl, Deputy Lead, Gender & Diversity, Austrian Film Institute
- Tolu Stedford, Founder and CEO, Story Compound
- Lalita Taylor, Exec Producer, BBC & Chair, WiSTEM
- Su-Mei Thompson, CEO, Media Trust
Academic contributors from the GEP Analysis Project included:
- Skadi Loist, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
- Elizabeth Prommer, University of Rostock
- Doris Ruth Eikhof, University of Glasgow
- Deb Verhoeven, University of Alberta
First published: 1 May 2024