The lack of female professionals in European film production

The report Female Professionals in European Film Production, published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, reveals that women are most present as producers, accounting for 35% of them, followed by screenwriters at 29%. In contrast, significantly fewer women are found in the roles of cinematographers (11%) and composers (10%).

The growth of the share of female professionals in the film industry is slow and varies across Europe. On average, female professionals in film teams worked on slightly fewer films than their male counterparts, with the exception of editors. Interestingly, women in key roles in film productions more often worked in teams and more frequently in mixed teams with men. This indicates a growing collaboration between genders.

Notably, the documentary genre has the highest representation of female professionals in all crew functions. This suggests that documentaries provide fertile ground for female talents. Another interesting finding is a positive correlation between the presence of at least one female co-director and an increase in the proportion of women in film crews. This emphasizes the importance of greater diversity in leadership positions in the film industry.

These data underscore the ongoing challenges that women face in the European film industry and highlight the need for continued efforts to promote gender equality in this sector.

In the Netherlands, the figures are also not promising, as revealed in research last year. Esther Schmidt of the Vrouwen in Beeld Foundation, and co-initiator and advisor of the Creative Europe MEDIA desk, Andrea Posthuma, commissioned the University of Utrecht to investigate how the representation of women in leading roles (head of department) developed in the Dutch film and television sector over the past ten years (2011-2020).

In that report, Beter is nog niet goed (Better isn’t good enough), the conclusions are clear. On average, the percentage of women working in the aforementioned roles is 30.4%, while the percentage of men is 69.6%. "The larger and more expensive the production, the more men are involved, even in leadership roles," said Schmidt in an interview we conducted with them last year.