Sara Putt, chair of BAFTA, has called on the UK’s TV and film industry to renew its focus on women’s equity in the face of current economic and political turbulence.
Speaking at an event to mark the publication of the Deeds Not Words Guide, Putt said: “With others I am calling for a renewed focus on women’s equality in the film and TV industries. Even with some significant gains and enormous effort, overall progress is slow.
“Now, the global economic and political environment is putting fragile progress in jeopardy. Concerted action on women’s equity is needed now as much as it ever was.”
The Guide, which was published yesterday, is based on three years of international research co-led by Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof of the University of Glasgow, and CEO/creative director of the not-for-profit company Design Otherwise. It provides advice on designing and reviewing policies, interventions and action plans to support women in film and television.
As part of the research, the Guide authors analysed 90 gender equity policies published 2003-2021 for film and TV in the UK, Canada and Germany. To contextualise findings, the team interviewed 34 film and TV industry experts who create and/or implement policies.
“Although there has been a surge of gender equity policies in the countries analysed (UK, Germany and Canada) and some good advances made, progress is patchy and slow,” said the report’s authors.
“For example, the overall research found that if the rate of change in the UK remains the same, women won’t hold 50 per cent of the key creative jobs in film until 2085. That was why a key recommendation of our research report was for more co-ordination and greater emphasis on scale change at scale.”
The Deeds Not Words Guide is available to download here.
