European Commission: Creative Europe MEDIA publishes an overview of good gender practices

IRIS 2019-7:1/4

Léa Chochon

European Audiovisual Observatory

During the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, the European Commission, represented by Creative Europe MEDIA, launched the first edition of “Women on the Move” day, unveiling a brochure summarising gender-equality good practices followed by the EU’s audiovisual industry and policymakers.

The brochure is the result of previous discussions during the Berlinale film festival between Creative Europea MEDIA and representatives from the industry and the public sector on the current situation regarding the support given to women within the European audiovisual sector. This was followed by a public consultation to take stock of the existing gender initiatives and measures in order to help to create a framework and a solid basis for future policymaking.

The brochure proposes seven courses of action aimed at addressing existing gender imbalance issues, presenting potential solutions through various relevant and ongoing initiatives already implemented in Europe, as well as ideas for the future, as follows:

1. Combatting stereotypes and sexism. This mainly includes training, financial incentives and seminars designed to challenge the way women and men are portrayed in films and to raise awareness of prejudices and stereotypes. For example, each script submitted for financial support from Eurimages is subjected to the Bechdel test by external script readers.

2. Equal pay. The gender pay gap can be addressed in a number of ways, including collective bargaining, information and awareness-raising through reports and studies (e.g. the Swedish Film Institute’s "The Money Issue", published in 2019), job structures, remuneration schemes and career development policies.

3. Equality in decision making. This concerns mentoring actions targeting women at entry level and beyond, as well as obligations to ensure gender parity among decision-makers in many organisations. In this regard, gender parity on the selection committees of public funding bodies is legally required in several countries, such as Denmark, Spain and Austria.

4. A balance between working life and personal life. This concerns initiatives aimed at balancing the professional career and personal life of female professionals, such as co-parenting policies, awareness-raising campaigns and flexible work arrangements.  

5. Access to financing. This mainly covers positive discrimination by film funds in terms of the level of grants awarded or bonuses to projects incorporating women in key positions.

6. Preventing violence and harassment. Measures against sexual violence and harassment in the workplace include hotlines, confidential contact persons, information and training on legislation and responsibilities, surveys and anonymous online platforms for collecting testimony.

7. Data collection and policy making. This is a cornerstone of the gender equality agenda. Beyond the collection of gender statistics, this approach also aims to define indicators, raise awareness by analysing and publishing the results, and find a common European methodology of analysis at European level.