Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1359892
34 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E Th e wo m e n a l s o c re d i t t h e G u i l d for helping to even the playing field, particularly where historic obstacles like comparable wages, childcare, and healthcare are concerned. "It's expensive to live in California," said Whittle. "We want to give young women enough work and training to keep them inspired as they learn the industry, but they need a living wage to do that. The union has been important in that regard." For young women entering the indus- try, getting into the union is both a great motivational factor and a practical layer of protection that makes learning the industry a feasible endeavor. All of which is probably why women have historically been quite active in Guild service at Skywalker. For instance, re-recording mixer Elizabeth Marston is the latest of several women to serve there as shop steward. During negotiations a couple years ago, Marston was key in helping to create a new rate and rank for the po- sition she held at the time at Skywalker, assistant re-recording mixer. Today, she said, "I find great value in my role as shop steward." "Basically, we need to make sure these young women are successful economi- cally, that they can afford to come in and learn how to do this," added Hirschberg. "That's one key benefit of a labor union— giving workers the financial stability to build their careers and take care of their families." Breaking the Glass Ceiling All of this is not to say that Skywalker, or anyone else, has achieved true gender parity. That's why the Skywalker women have suggestions for how the industry at large could push this transition into the next phase and beyond. Among those suggestions is the notion of working to eliminate "unconscious bias," as Mate puts it. "Skywalker makes a conscious effort to pull more women into roles that will break the glass ceiling of the supervi- sory and top creative positions," Mate says. "But [around the industry], I don't know that 'boy's club' is the right term anymore. I find it is now a far subtler and possibly unconscious bias, but it can nevertheless have detrimental effects on women's careers. In a freelance, creative business like this one, you are often at the whim of whether someone 'feels' you are a good fit or not. If that person is a male who has not worked with a lot of women, it is likely he will pretty much always pick another male. My solution is to put a lot more qualified women in front of them— widen the field of candidates." Dupre, meanwhile, argues that good intentions are not sufficient—"compa- nies need to have plans of action." "We have to move from thinking we have checked off the 'diversity box' to thinking about how diversity will make the content more valuable and be the best way forward for the company," Dupre said. "Companies should put diversity at the forefront of hiring practices, and you need to make sure that those people can learn, be mentored, and be given the tools to succeed." Hirschberg urges the industry to do a better job actively reaching out to inspire young women. "It's incredibly important for young women to see us and be able to imagine themselves in these jobs," she said. "Women must not self-select out of applying for positions or careers because they don't think they would 'belong.' Em- ployers must work harder to [encourage women to apply and assure them] that they will be seen, included, and con- sidered. That means changing how we search for candidates and how we have them apply for jobs." I f c o m p a n i e s w a n t a b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f h o w t o a c h i e v e such goals, Marston suggests the obvi- ous: ask women. "If you want to make positive changes that benef it women, you should ask women what those should be," she said. "There are changes that can better suit women in this industry, like better ma- ternity leave policies that increase job retention and placing more women in administration and decision-making po- sitions to make policy changes possible. The women representation gap is one thing that has to improve." Leslie Ann Jones points out that wom- en need to have confidence in the fact that they have every right to any industry opportunities their talent and hard work can bring them, and they should be eager to bring their own unique perspectives to the table. "I learned long ago that gender is important," said Jones. "As much as we'd all like to be treated the same (and we should), as women, we have our own perspectives on things. It's important to bring that to the table. Our gender is im- portant, as is the diversity we bring." And besides, she adds, from a creative and business point of view, "better choices are made when there are more voices and perspectives in the room." In a sense, that is the ultimate argu- ment when discussing why it matters if crews and projects are gender-balanced or not. "There are only two things a person brings to a work team," said Yang. "Their professional skills and their personal ex- periences. The skills are the foundation, but the personal experiences are what can elevate movies, a form of storytelling, to a different level. Our product will be received by global audiences in today's age, so a creative team that better re- flects the components of our audiences will naturally make for a better received product." ■ Michael Goldman, a frequent CineMontage contributor, is a freelance writer specializing in film. He is the author of books about John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.