France has launched a five-point gender equality charter for its film industry, put together by Le Deuxième Regard, a Paris-based ‘lobby’ (read ‘activist’) group founded by Bérénice Vincent, Delphyne Besse and Julie Billy, who will circulate it for signature, to all segments of the industry.
As you can see in the photo, all the first signatories of the charter were women, powerful women: Veronique Cayla, the head of Arte France the public television channel and Le Deuxième Regard's marraine, or 'godmother'; Najat Vallaud Belkacem, the Women’s Rights Minister; Aurélie Filippetti, the Culture and Communications Minister; Frédérique Bredin, president of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée (CNC) – the state film funding body. It remains to be seen who else will sign the charter. The Cannes Film Festival, perhaps? Its full name is Charte Pour l’Égalité Entre Les Femmes et Les Hommes Dans Le Secteur Du Cinéma and it's there in all its glory at the bottom of the page. Impressive.
Why is this charter necessary, when in France women directors' participation in feature filmmaking is among the strongest in the world? Well, there are problems there that are similar to those everywhere else. According to the Screen Daily article, the CNC reports that in 2012 women directed just 25% of the 77 first features approved, even though French film school annual intake has a gender split of 50:50.
This charter is, I think, unique. Feminists often work behind the scenes for change. But has a feminist group ever initiated and helped to write a charter that key government ministers and industry figures signed in support, in the arts or any other context? And then circulated it for signature, to an entire industry? Anywhere? The charter and its evolving signature process are very different, for instance, from the framework that the Swedish Film Institute uses to advance women directors’ participation in filmmaking, perhaps because the Swedish Film Institute – unlike the CNC – works within an established regulatory context that explicitly promotes gender equity and has monitored gender statistics in film for some time.
Deanna Dahlsad's insight:
Click for more info - and an interview with president Bérénice Vincent.
Birthdays are a time of reflection — but don’t worry, this isn’t one of those sentimental personal pieces full of beauty and gratitude, a wistful and wise piece about aging,...
[PS I'm OK; I'm not being morbid, but hoping to work up a rant. The state of affairs is terrible!]
As I write this, it is 1:17 am on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012. I am lying awake in bed, trying to decide whether or not to have an abortion. Of course, we don’t call it an abortion. We call it “a procedure” or a D&C.
I don’t suppose it matters, really, if I am a “nerd” or a “geek.” But this “Geeks vs Nerds” infographic got me thinking… First it was just the statements in...
When I was going through my divorce, my daughter and I went to LA for my mother's 70th birthday celebration. While we were gone, my husband closed our business. The office had been emptied of everything. He also took whatever money was in the business account, which was the only account we had. I had nothing, except a place to live until the bills came due. I also had one 6 year old daughter who was inclined to eat periodically. My parents were living exclusively on Social Security, so they could offer little financial help. With few choices and much trepidation [MORE]
Thank you for sharing this article. I think it is so important to share experiences of real people, and not the oft touted fiction that passes for fair and balanced news in other parts.
Why do extremists—in every country—want to control women? The Secretary of State said that even the U.S. ought to live its own values because "America needs ...
When Gallup came out with a new poll showing the president opening up an 18-point lead with women, pundits blamed the war on women. But according to a new study, Republicans might have someone entirely different to blame: Ann Romney.
In fact, the academic study that helps explain the country's gender gap has nothing specifically to do with Ann Romney, but rather the fact that she doesn't work outside the home. A recent study by Sreedhari Desai, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that men in traditional marriages with stay-at-home wives had negative attitudes about working women and organizations led by women, and they were more likely to deny opportunities to women. [MORE]
The United States is unusual among developed countries in guaranteeing exactly zero weeks of paid time-off from work upon the birth or adoption of a child. Japan offers 14 weeks of paid job-protected leave, the U.K. offers 18, Denmark 28, Norway 52, and Sweden offers 68 (yes, that’s over a year of paid time-off to take care of a new child).
'I was once ashamed of my mother's power'HaaretzBy Ibtisam Mara'ana "My mother, Hatam Mara'ana, is the most feminist a woman can be, but she isn't entirely aware of this," says film director Ibtisam Mara'ana.
Sydney Morning HeraldInternational Women's Day: why I "came out" as a feministThe Vancouver ObserverToday marks one of the most important days of a feminist's calendar. March 8 is International Women's Day.
In celebration of International Women's Day, hundreds of people—mostly women, but men and children too along with a police escort—came out to Republic Square in Belgrade to show support for women's rights and gender equality.
Strong reactions to discussing the functionality and fun of maternity bras. And by "strong reaction" I mean people jumped to all sorts of conclusions about bras and women -- pregnant &/or nursing women, that is.
Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and advocate for planned parenting & birth control before women even had the right to vote, is often misquoted or quoted out of context. And one thing is generally missing from any conversation about Sanger and her times: The subject of eugenics itself.
Why do celebrities and victims of domestic violence like Rihanna continue to glamorize abuse?
Why is the media making domestic violence sexy? Because we are letting them.
They’re using the pictures of a leather-clad Rihanna bumping and grinding on stage, not the pictures where her face is torn up and bruised. If we continue to let these celebrities parade their choices in front of us, then we become immune to the truth about domestic violence.
A popular exercise among High School creative writing teachers in America is to ask students to imagine they have been transformed, for a day, into someone of the opposite sex, and describe what that day might be like. The results, apparently, are uncannily uniform. The girls all write long and detailed essays that clearly show they have spent a great deal of time thinking about the subject. Half of the boys usually refuse to write the essay entirely. Those who do make it clear they have not the slightest conception what being a teenage girl might be like, and deeply resent having to think about it. [MORE]
"When we see this kind of gendered posing in drawings that are ostensibly neutral, we are being told that our particular historically- and culturally-contingent version of masculinity and femininity is natural."
Hollaback! is an international movement to end street harassment. We believe that everyone has the right to feel safe and confident when they walk down the street.
An opinionated woman obsessed with objects, entertained by ephemera, intrigued by researching, fascinated by culture & addicted to writing. The wind says my name; doesn't put an @ in front of it, so maybe you don't notice. http://www.kitsch-slapped.com
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Click for more info - and an interview with president Bérénice Vincent.