Small Factory of Fair Haven Attends the Geena Davis Institute's Global Symposium on Gender in Media

Small Factory Productions was honored to attend the 2nd Global Symposium on Gender in Media, presented by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media on September 23 in NYC. This was the only global entertainment industry symposium focusing on gender in media. Those who attended included thought leaders, entertainment executives, business decision makers, scholars, non-governmental organizations and journalists.

The symposium was centered around high-level panel discussions focusing on the impact of global film on women and girls as well as best practices to drive change. Presented were the findings from the first-ever Global Gender in Film Study, Gender Bias without Borders, which was created by USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and funded by The Rockefeller Foundation. The report analyzed female character representation and portrayals in the top 11 theatrical box office grossing countries: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States.

Small Factory looks forward to partnering with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in the months ahead to set a course for change. Equal representation of male and female characters in children’s media must happen in order for our children to create and think freely. We can all do our small part to affect big change and we look forward to assisting. More details on the project to come.

At the Symposium we learned many surprising facts about women in media and here are just a few that may shock you as well:

1. Very few speaking characters are female.
A total of 5,799 speaking or named characters on screen were evaluated, with 30.9% female and 69.1% male.

2. There are significantly more male filmmakers than female.
Out of a total of 1,452 filmmakers, 20.5% were female and 79.5% were male (3.9 to 1). Females comprised 7% of directors, 19.7% of writers, and 22.7% of producers.

3. When a female is directing or writing, there are more females featured on screen.
Films with a female director or female writer attached had significantly more girls and women on screen than did those without a female director or writer attached.

4. Females are missing in action/adventure films.
Just 23% of speaking characters in the action/adventure genre are female.

5. Women are underrepresented in the film workforce.
Female characters only comprise 22.5% of the global film workforce, whereas male characters form 77.5%.

6. Female executives are an endangered species in international films.
In research for representation of current and/or former female political powerbrokers worldwide, it was found that films featured few female politicians.

7. Women are rarely seen in powerful professional positions across law, academia, and medicine.
Across prestigious professions, male characters outnumbered their female counterparts as attorneys and judges (13 to 1), professors (16 to 1), medical.

8. Women are nearly shut out of sports and spiritual professions.
Although the Olympics prominently feature female athletes and the Church of England recently allowed female bishops, you will hardly ever see this portrayal in feature films. Only 5 women were portrayed as athletes, coaches, or sports announcers in comparison to 117 men.

About Small Factory Productions

Small Factory Productions, located at 560 River Road, Suite C in Fair Haven, NJ, helps to build innovative young minds through its children’s arts and technology programs. Small Factory’s instructors have created exciting art programs that meet NJ and NY Core Content Standards for Language Arts, Literacy and Visual and Performing Arts. Students in classes at Small Factory’s production studio and at more than 30 public and private schools across New York and New Jersey have improved, both academically and socially, thanks to Small Factory’s unique curriculum.http://www.smallfactory.com