Weekend Studying on Girls’s Illustration is a compilation of tales about girls’s illustration in politics, on boards, in sports activities and leisure, in judicial places of work and within the non-public sector within the U.S. and all over the world—with slightly gardening and goodwill blended in for refreshment!
Two of essentially the most extremely anticipated movies of 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer, had their field workplace debuts final weekend. The web debate about what film to see (or what to see first) has been happening for months.
As a feminist group, RepresentWomen was keen on Barbie this week. The film featured many ladies political leaders, starting from cupboard members to Supreme Court docket justices and even the president.
However there was one chief that was surprisingly lacking: governor. Governor Gretchen Whitmer and EMILY’s Record sought to repair this by introducing Governor Barbie in a social media marketing campaign.
A few of our RepresentWomen workers went to the films and returned with thought-provoking messages on each movies.
Our digital engagement affiliate, Ria Deshmukh:
“This film put all the sentiments I felt about being a girl to phrases. Barbie is a wonderful depiction of the transition from girlhood to womanhood inside a system that’s not constructed with girls in thoughts.”
Alissa Bombardier Shaw, our outreach supervisor:
“From the start of Barbie, you possibly can undoubtedly inform a girl created this movie. America Ferrera’s monologue completely encapsulated the sensation of by no means being sufficient within the eyes of our society- a sense far too many people have internalized. The all-women Supreme Court docket featured within the movie couldn’t assist however remind me of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s phrases, ‘Folks ask me typically, when — when do you assume it will likely be sufficient? When will there be sufficient girls on the courtroom? And my reply is when there are 9.’ “
Our communications intern, Nora Weiss:
“The Barbie film did a very unimaginable job of portraying the expertise of being a girl in a male-dominated, patriarchal society. Utilizing humor and irony, the Barbie film emphasizes all the hidden obstacles and unseen struggles that girls endure. The Barbie film not solely sparked numerous conversations about sexism but additionally elevated the idea of feminism to a way more accessible stage.”
Jewelene Meneses, our communications intern:
“Oppenheimer” notably underrepresents girls and folks of colour, regardless of the historic significance of their contributions and impacts. The movie affords glimpses into the distinctive alternative girls discover outdoors conventional tutorial establishments, as exemplified by Lilli Hornig. Nonetheless, girls’s roles are sometimes decreased to familial identities, overshadowing their skilled prowess. Although the movie showcases distinctive appearing, a gripping rating, and explosive cinematography typical of Nolan’s work, its portrayal of the cataclysmic penalties of Oppenheimer’s actions is a chilling reminder of the harmful potential of humanity. The narrative stays charming and horrifying, offering a stark view of a man-made catastrophe and the person who gave us a glimpse of mutually assured destruction.”
After all, motion pictures like Barbie and Oppenheimer are unimaginable with out actors and writers. The creatives behind movie and tv are being overworked and underpaid. Girls, particularly, are nonetheless being paid lower than male professionals within the trade.
The Display Actors Guild (SAG) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are collectively on strike for the primary time since 1960. Please take into account donating to the Leisure Group Fund to assist these preventing for a dwelling wage.
Union President Fran Drescher on the Actors’ Strike
TV and film manufacturing has nearly stopped, with actors and writers on strike concurrently. The Display Actors Guild has been led by The Nanny star Fran Drescher since 2021 after she defeated incumbent Matthew Modine. When interviewed for PBS, Fran Drescher cites streaming as the principle purpose for the strike.
The saturation of streaming and the way it’s impacted our trade is exponential. And it’s actually disemboweled the previous enterprise mannequin, which is the one which, let’s say, for instance, “The Nanny” flourished in.
And all people up and down the ladder benefited by it and made cash off of it. To at the present time, they proceed to get cash from it. However that’s not the case anymore with streaming. And all of the packages which might be made for the streaming channel, you exist in a field, in a vacuum, and there’s no tail of income.
And our income sharing that was established in 1963, or 1960, after we had the massive strike with the WGA, and Ronald Reagan was president of SAG, that enterprise mannequin was predicated off of tv that ran so long as there have been eyeballs and advert {dollars}. So, longevity was the secret. And that made sense.
Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, and Extra on Pay Inequality within the Leisure Business
In a roundtable dialogue for Girls and Hollywood, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence make clear how pay inequality and discrimination seem within the movie trade. Although dated 5 years in the past, these girls actors’ experiences of inequity and discrimination emphasize how prevalent gender inequality is, even whenever you’re within the highlight.
Whereas there was progress within the final 5 years, equality continues to be a battle for girls on this trade, whether or not actors, producers, administrators or writers. The normalization of receiving much less pay, the shortage of recognition of ladies’s contribution, and ladies’s voices and energy going constantly unnoticed are themes which might be certainly current within the movie trade in the present day. The ladies actors acknowledge that the expertise of gender inequality is common—girls in each trade face the identical points.
However [with actors], I don’t perceive — if you happen to’re a really profitable company and so they know what everyone seems to be making on the movie — how an agent is OK with you making a 3rd of your co-star’s wage. After ‘Zero Darkish Thirty,’ I used to be despatched plenty of scripts the place it was a feminine protagonist, and so they wouldn’t do my deal till they knew who the male actor was as a result of they wanted to do his deal first after which see what was left over.
The explanation I spoke out about it [after the Sony hack revealed she was paid less than her male ‘American Hustle’ co-stars] was actually — we’re within the trade, all people is taking a look at us, if we’re going by way of this, each girl on the earth goes by way of this. However the true downside is the normalization of it. It’s the rationale why your brokers don’t assume twice about paying you a 3rd of your [co-star’s paycheck] — as a result of it’s been so normalized for thus lengthy.
Each time you’ve one demographic that’s in command of the livelihood of one other, you’re going to have abuses of energy.
It’s an enormous dialog for our trade, however I’d hope that that is solely the tipping level for us to debate equal pay for equal work for girls throughout each trade.
… Talking of Jessica Chastain:
Just a few months in the past, I chatted briefly with Jessica Chastain about gender inequality and ranked-choice voting! I sit up for an extended dialog along with her in regards to the methods essential to advance girls in politics and the leisure trade.
What Barbie Can Train Us Concerning the Gender Wage Hole
Regardless of many years of efforts to spice up girls’s illustration all through the U.S. financial system, girls nonetheless face a pay hole in practically each occupation.
Solely 22 p.c of astronomers and 39 p.c of legal professionals are girls, highlighting that few girls have entry to high-paying jobs.
The typical girl working full time, year-round earns 84 cents for each greenback earned by their male counterparts; and for all girls staff, no matter hours or weeks labored, that determine dips to 77 cents. One of many core drivers behind this gender wage hole is occupational segregation, by which girls—most acutely, Black girls and Latinas—are overrepresented in low-paid work, whereas males are overrepresented in high-paid work. That is the results of cultural norms and biases in regards to the function of various teams of staff and coverage decisions.
In truth, lots of the identical jobs represented by Barbies over the previous few many years, comparable to legal professionals, stay male dominated. (see Determine 1) Notably, when wanting on the 10 highest-paying occupations—outlined by greenback phrases—in the US, white males account for not less than half of all staff. Against this, among the many 10 lowest-paying occupation, ladies and men of colour account for, at a minimal, greater than half of staff.Even when women and men are equally represented in an occupation, comparable to actors, or when girls are overrepresented, comparable to writers and authors, they possible expertise a pay hole. …
However policymakers have a essential function to play on this by creating pathways for extra girls to enter and keep in male-dominated occupations, together with by way of investing in youngster care, creating pathways into STEM training, and guaranteeing these jobs are secure and free from harassment. Moreover, lawmakers should put money into work the place girls are overrepresented by elevating the minimal wage and offering common entry to household and medical go away. Solely then can we take a significant step towards closing the gender wage hole.
Splitting the Atom within the Lab and on the Field Workplace: Girls Nonetheless Battle for Their Recognition
Carl Kurlander, a movie specialist, and Chandralekha Singh, a feminine physics professor, wrote this insightful piece on how gender imbalance proven in media impacts the world of physics and sciences.
Christopher Nolan’s movie had the chance to say essential girls of the atomic age however failed.
Pioneering physicist and discoverer of nuclear fission, Lise Meitner, kick-started the US’ atomic analysis program. She ought to have been talked about however wasn’t. Regrettably, Meitner’s contributions, like many feminine scientists, have been overshadowed.
Girls’s illustration in STEM continues to be an ongoing subject. The shortage of feminine illustration in widespread media and tradition, like in “Oppenheimer,” reinforces stereotypes and discourages gifted college students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds from pursuing careers in STEM.
Solely round 20% of the undergraduate majors and Ph.D. college students in physics are girls. The societal stereotypes and biases, expectation of brilliance, lack of function fashions and chilly tradition of physics discourage many gifted college students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds, like girls, from pursuing physics and associated disciplines.
Societal stereotypes and biases affect college students even earlier than they enter the classroom. One frequent stereotype is the concept genius and brilliance are necessary components to achieve physics. Nonetheless, genius is typically related to boys, and women from a younger age are inclined to draw back from fields related to innate brilliance.
Research have discovered that by the age of 6, women are much less possible than boys to consider they’re “actually, actually good.” As these college students become older, typically the norms in science lessons and curricula have a tendency to not symbolize the pursuits and values of women. All of those stereotypes and components can affect girls’s notion of their means to do physics.
Analysis reveals that on the finish of a yearlong faculty physics course sequence, girls with an “A” have the identical physics self-efficacy as males with a “C”. …
Extra frequent media recognition of feminine scientists, comparable to Meitner, might vicariously affect younger girls, who may even see them as function fashions. This recognition alone can enhance younger girls’s physics self-efficacy and identification.
The Emotional and Bodily Toll of SAG-AFTRA Strike
Jaden Thompson pulls again the curtain of their most up-to-date Selection article to share how Girls in Movie (WIF) is stepping as much as tackle the emotional and bodily implications of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Girls have championed truthful and equitable safeguards and staff’ rights by standing up towards the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers (AMPTP) and studio executives like Disney CEO Bob Iger. Nonetheless, few have stopped to think about the emotional and bodily repercussions of the continued strike. Girls in Movie (WIF) is providing their help to strike-affected staff.
Girls in Movie (WIF) has created a useful resource information and included a devoted day on their assist line to supply help to these impacted each bodily and emotionally by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. On Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., advocates might be accessible on the assistance line to supply emotional assist to these affected by the work stoppage.
“As leisure staff struggle for job sustainability and security, our assist line advocates is usually a listening ear that can assist you navigate the stress of this essential second,” WIF’s web site states.
WIF’s useful resource information consists of a number of organizations and companies that provide assist to these affected by the continued labor strikes, pointing to grants, loans, emotional assist sources, grocery help and reductions supplied by native companies.
View the useful resource information for strike-affected staff on WIF’s web site.
EMILY’s Record Unveils Madam Mayor Initiative
New: @emilyslist is launching a brand new initiative, Madam Mayor, to spice up, champion and set up extra sources for girl mayors, in the present day. The group can be endorsing 6 girl mayors w/ the launch of this system. Learn extra @19thnews: https://t.co/V32SDaGUIO
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) July 24, 2023
Earlier this week, Grace Panetta, political reporter for The nineteenth, shared the most recent useful resource from our terrific allies at EMILY’s Record referred to as the Madam Mayor initiative. Panetta highlighted in her article what drove the creation of this system and what they hope to attain with it:
The group stated it launched the Madam Mayor initiative partly due to the rise in misinformation (incorrect info shared unintentionally) and disinformation (incorrect info shared deliberately) that’s focusing on political candidates and shaping the political setting.
Misinformation and disinformation, the group stated, are significantly dangerous to girls candidates and candidates of colour and might have a “chilling impact on recruitment.” Girls candidates have contended with an increase in harassment and threats, fueled by on-line vitriol, in recent times. …
Emily’s Record stated it hopes the Madam Mayor program will “function a essential touchpoint” for girl mayors to obtain assist and sources in combating the myriad challenges at the moment going through native officers.
Rank Your Favourite Snacks
With all of the summer season blockbusters popping out, watching your favourite motion pictures with out a snack is unfathomable! Rank your favorites right here.
My pink water lilies are beautiful this summer season.
That’s all for this week. Have a improbable weekend!
Up subsequent:
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