Production Sound & Video

Summer 2018

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12 of our three Trustees are women. Our Local has just sworn in its first female Vice President since its charter in 1930. Furthermore, of the one hundred and forty- eight active women in Local 695, forty-two of them are classified as Y-1 Production Mixers. Three of them are classified as Y-3 Supervising Engineers. Ten of them are classified as Y-4 Operative Supervisors/Video Engineers/Maintenance Engineers/24-Frame Video Recording/EVS Technicians. Altogether, thirty-seven percent of the women in our Local hold leadership classifications. This raises the question: Why do we still have a perception issue with regards to women holding leadership roles in technical fields? If we, as a local and then as an industry, could combat this misconception, we could combat multiple societal issues. To start, a woman who receives equal pay for equal work is less likely to be the victim of gender discrimination or sexual harassment. A woman with a strong financial base is more likely to stand up to a perpetrator and can prioritize her own safety and well- being over the fear of losing her means of income. And this is only the beginning. The benefits of financial solvency extend beyond any one woman and create opportunities for the pursuit of higher education, more stable retirement planning, family planning, and a more confident self-image. As Chair of the Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Advisory Committee, I invite you to explore the future with me and to help me tackle these issues both on the local level and on a global front. What are some of the issues our members are facing in their work environment that the local can become more involved in? How can your local's leadership best help with concerning or unsafe work environments? Are there issues specific to Local 695 that we need to address? If you would like to be a part of the discussion and join this committee, please reach out to me at jillian.h.arnold@gmail.com. I encourage and invite both men and women to be a part of this effort. Every comment and concern is of importance in this pursuit. For more information on Local 871's #ReelEquity analysis, please visit www.reelequity.org and sign the open letter in support of pay equity. Jillian Arnold Vice President inequality the way that other locals do but, in talking to the women within our Local, the perception is that we are all still susceptible to this systemic issue. Many feel that the letter of the California Equal Pay Act may be intact but the spirit of it remains to be found. Our Local does not traditionally have classifications thought of as female-based positions. Discrimination still simmers within the perception that women in technical fields are unqualified to hold leadership positions within their departments. Women are still undervalued, undermined, and "mansplained" to on a daily basis. Oftentimes, they are regarded with disbelief and skepticism. To borrow a quote from Peggy Names, an early woman pioneer in the production sound arena, "We look forward to the day when people stop saying, 'I've never seen a woman sound person before.'" We need to improve. But we should also be commended. Although the ratio of female to male members may be low, women do occupy strong leadership roles within our ranks. Four of our fifteen (or just over twenty-six percent) elected members of our Board of Directors are women. Two D������, I��. 25209 Avenue Tibbitts Valencia, CA 91355 Phone (661) 607‐0206 Fax (661) 257‐2236 www.denecke.com Email: info@denecke.com D������, I��. Makers of the original SyncBox ® Introduces the SB‐4! More features and higher stability than before.

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