Variety Roundtable Featuring Tracee Ellis Ross and More Influential Women on Changing Hollywood’s Perception
One point I feel is important from the Variety roundtable in the video is when one woman said, “You have to make an effort to hire women crew workers. It doesn’t just happen overnight. You have to give the opportunity for a first job, a second job.” This specific quote helped me realize how rare it is to see a lady working in a film crew. Another person said that she was used to seeing guys work on their film crew. She didn’t realize that she should be the one to hire women in the crew to provide more job opportunities to women. This act of solidarity expands the thought process behind each strategic step in hiring a woman to work on film sets. Supporting others to achieve a learning experience or job on set is necessary to create diversity across Hollywood. A woman repeated a man’s saying, “We hired a woman once, and it didn’t work.” This shows gender bias in hiring and within the workforce.
One important point from the Women In Film website is that the organization motivates a knit community of women storytellers, artists, and executives by connecting them to resources, information, and celebrating their achievements. This is a wonderful way to build women’s confidence and unite them to promote women working in male-dominated fields. Women feel empowered when their voices are heard and when hardships in the industry are recognized.
I found it surprising to learn of how famous American actresses continue to face gender bias in the workforce, regardless of their success, and some are underpaid compared to their male counterparts. I made a presumption that celebrity actresses would automatically be paid the same as celebrity male actors. It is refreshing to see women fighting for equality and representation. In 2025, we as a society should have already achieved equal representation, but women continue to face more difficulties getting into Hollywood than their male co-workers.
The Women In Film organization leads the way to resolve the gender wage gap by campaigning for women’s voices to be heard and represented in responsible curation.
References
