According to a study led by the Women in Film & TV organisation, in the top 250 highest grossing films of 2021, women made up only 25% of the people working in key behind-the-scenes roles. However, some of these women stand out because of the impact their work has had on the TV industry.
In the UK, women have slowly been added to the industry, creating significant works in the past decade. Among those, Derry Girls (2018-2022) created by Lisa McGee, and Fleabag (2016-2019) created and starred-in by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Who is better to talk about women than women themselves? Their portrayal of women as complex, funny and smart is desperately needed to counter-balance men’s vision of women as innocent and dependent beings. Both TV series have been critically acclaimed, receiving the Rotten Tomatoes score of 99 and 100 percent, showing them immediately as some of the best works of the last few years.
Who is better to talk about women then women themselves?
Laurie Nunn created the TV series Sex Education, engaging with topics of sex positivity, female pleasure, sexualities and sexual assault. The writing team for this being mainly female is of major importance as it created a truthful portrayal of the issues. As women themselves, they are the best suited to talk about matters which concern them. The characters are perfectly complex and interesting, written and portrayed beautifully. Sex Education stands out because if these topics had not been voiced by women, they would never have been talked about. If men were the only ones in writer or director jobs, many issues would not be raised. Representation is crucial.
When we say female representation matters, we also mean POC and queer female representation matters. In the past few years, many women have stood out for their work and their portrayal of different types of women. The sisters Lilly and Lana Wachowski, both trans women, have made a significant impact on the portrayal of trans women in their TV series Sense8 which ran from 2015 to 2018. By having a trans character (Nomi) played by a trans woman herself (Jamie Clayton), it can help people identify with someone in their search of identity.
On the other hand, people such as Shonda Rhimes – director, producer and writer on shows such as How to Get Away With Murder or Bridgerton – and Channing Dungey – chairman of Warner Bros Television Group (HBO) – show young black girls examples of what they could do. Dungey was the first woman to be president of a major broadcast network which opened this part of the film for other women of colour. These women are so important in the TV industry because representation matters to the audience to understand and accept themselves a bit better.
Representation matters to the audience to understand and accept themselves a bit better
Nonetheless, some women in the TV or film industry are still treated differently than men. Questions about their partners, marriage, settling down, or dieting figure amongst interviewers’ favourites. Having to deal with comments like these while men in the industry generally do not show how much of a long way there is still to go for women to be as equal as men in TV.
The past few years have shown great progress in the TV and film industry in female representation. Although there is still much to go to achieve perfect equality, many female directors, writers, producers and actors have been put in the spotlight to highlight women’s experiences in film and prove how significant their impact on the industry is.
