It’s been a year since 5050×2020 introduced the Gender Parity Pledge at Cannes, but the equality collective’s work is far from over. Since Cannes 2018, 5050×2020 has successfully encouraged dozens of other film festivals around the world to commit to better representation and transparency. Now it has set its sights on gender disparity in film criticism. In partnership with MEDIA, 5050×2020 released a study on gender representation among France’s film critics yesterday at Cannes’ inaugural “Women on the Move” event.
Of the 611 critics who wrote at least one review between May 2018 and April 2019, 37 percent were women. That’s quite a dip from France’s industry average: 47 percent of the country’s registered journalists are women. The study also found that one-third of women critics wrote just one review during that time period, as compared to one-quarter of male critics. Overall, women wrote an average of 14.3 reviews during the year, while men wrote 16.4.
“Just as the festivals are important gatekeepers, so are the critics,” 5050×2020 co-founder Delphyne Besse said at “Women on the Move,” per Screen Daily. “They remain the first port of call for advice on films. There’s a lot of unconscious bias and it’s always the same, old white males who voice an opinion that ends up being the most followed.”
According to the report, “reviews emanate mostly from general interest magazines and from publications specialized in cinema and culture, where female critics are largely under-represented.” Forty-seven percent of reviews were published in general interest magazines, 26 percent in cinema magazines, and 18 percent in culture-focused mags. Most of the reviews printed in these outlets were from male critics. Women critics’ work tended to run in TV magazines or women’s interest publications.
While the report concluded that a filmmaker’s gender had no bearing on the critic’s rating, it found that women’s reviews were more positive than men’s. Women reviewers gave an average rating of 3.5/5 versus men’s 3.2/5.
Last year, USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative and the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film released studies examining gender in U.S. film criticism. Among their findings: film reviewers are “overwhelmingly white and male” and male critics outnumber females 2 to 1.
Next, 5050×2020 is turning its attention to film criticism across Europe. The collective will team up with local organizations in major European countries to collect and examine gender stats in film journalism. An overview is expected to be published by 2020.
Head over to the 5050×2020 website to read the “Parity Among Film Critics in France” report in full.
