France is setting up a sex equality charter for improving the numbers of women working within the film industry.
The five point charter was signed last week by Culture and Communications Minister Aurelie Filippetti, Womens’ Rights Minister and government spokesman Najat
Vallaud-Belkacem, Arte France chief Veronique Cayla and National Cinema Centre (CNC) president Frederique Bredin.
Le Deuxieme Regard, a lobbying group made up of female film producers and sales agents to promote women in the film industry, was integral to the charter.
The group’s president, Berenice Vincent, commented about some of the aims of the charter.
The CNC selection commissions are already split pretty equally in terms of gender but this is not the case elsewhere in the industry. There’s very little
precise data breaking down how many women work in the industry and to what level but without this we cannot really gauge the scale of the issue.
As Vincent mentions, the charter will ensure more gender based data and statistics for the film industry. It will also provide an equal ratio of women to men on funding selection committees, support projects that “subverted traditional representations of men and women” and work towards equal pay rights across the industry.
The CNC will publish its first gender based report about the industry in November. Le Deuxieme Regard is reaching out to many other organizations to see if they will sign the charter as well, including the Cannes Film Festival.
