Entertainment

Hollywood Accused of Gender Bias in Hiring Female Directors

Published

11 years ago

May 12, 2015

This photo released by Universal Pictures shows director/producer Elizabeth Banks on the set of “Pitch Perfect 2.” (Richard Cartwright/Universal Pictures/AP)

SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The ACLU is asking federal and California civil rights agencies to investigate what it calls “the systemic failure” to hire female directors in the entertainment industry.

The ACLU of Southern California and the national ACLU Women’s Rights Project said Tuesday they were moved to act after compiling statistical evidence of “dramatic disparities” in the hiring of women as film and television directors. This was bolstered, they said, by anecdotal accounts from more than 50 female directors.

“Hearing such an outcry about it, and when it’s backed up with statistics, it’s a pretty solid sign there’s discrimination going on,” Ariela Migdal, a senior attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, said in an interview Tuesday.

Fewer women are working as directors today than two decades ago, according to the ACLU. It cites research that shows women represented only 7 percent of directors on the 250 top-grossing movies last year. That is 2 percentage points lower than in 1998.

“Women directors simply aren’t getting a fair opportunity to succeed,” Migdal said. “Our hope is that the involvement of the civil rights agencies and calling it what it is — a civil rights issue — will lead to concrete solutions.”

Recent research by the University of Southern California’s Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative found a general perception in Hollywood that stories by or about women are more niche than mainstream, and therefore less profitable. A recent study commissioned by the Sundance Institute and the advocacy group Women in Film shows women have comprised fewer than 5 percent of directors of top films during the past two decades.

The executive director of Women in Film said in a statement Tuesday that the organization is proud its study “provided a statistical foundation to the ACLU in addressing systemic failure to hire women directors in the film and television industry.”

The statistics reflect the reports the ACLU gathered on its website from female directors “who were incredibly frustrated by the barriers they face in TV and film,” Migdal said.

Filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, whose 2011 Sundance documentary explores how media portrayals of women have led to fewer women in positions of power, said in a statement Tuesday that she’s personally witnessed discrimination against women in the entertainment industry. She said this was particularly true “against female directors, who are repeatedly told they’re not as qualified to direct as men and who are blacklisted for speaking out.”

The gender of the director matters because it influences what’s seen on screen, said Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, which advocates for gender parity in the entertainment industry. Movies directed or written by women are 10 times more likely to show a female protagonist than those written and directed by men, she said.

“When we don’t see women reflected behind the scenes and on the screen, it basically tells us that we don’t count,” she said. “I want to live in a world where a little girl can dream of being a hero just as much as a little boy can because she sees multiple examples of heroic women. … We need examples of heroic women making changes in our lives so boys and girls can see that it’s not just a boy thing.”

The Directors Guild of America’s own research confirms the gender disparity. A study released in January shows men have made up 82 percent of first-time directors in episodic television over the past five years. Another DGA report found that only nine percent of guild-covered releases in 2013 were directed by women. That’s 18 female directors (including co-directors) out of 191 films.

Calls and emails seeking comment from the directors’ guild were not immediately returned.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

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2 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.