Women In Animation (WIA) president Margaret Dean is excited about the steps Hollywood has taken against sexual harassment in recent months — but wants to see more action. In particular, she wants those with the most power, the major studios, to take a hard stance on sexual misconduct. As Deadline reports, Dean recently penned a letter to WIA members and outlined the organization’s goal of persuading major studios to follow in independent animation houses’ league and pledge to end sexual harassment.
“WIA has also been instrumental in bringing together the heads of the independent studios in LA to talk about what can be done on their end,” Dean wrote, referencing the talks the organization began scheduling last fall to discuss combating harassment. “The result is a pledge that documents the position of the studio heads and the expectations for a code of behavior for their employees. Each new employee will need to agree to and sign the pledge. And when employees move to another indie studio, the same document will be waiting for them.”
“We are creating a safety net that covers the indie studio community,” she stated. “We will be sharing the pledge with the larger studios as well in the hope that they will adopt it or some form of it; expanding the web of safety even further.”
According to Dean, WIA has already met with some major studios. “Most are sincerely appalled to find out about the bad behavior happening under their watch,” she revealed. “WIA has been presented with an opportunity to act as a conduit of information to these folks, helping them understand what and how harassment is happening while protecting the targets. These studios are realizing that the safety precautions they set up were not actually protecting their employees well enough. Their intention is to bolster these protections.”
However, intentions aren’t enough. In order to effect real change, Dean wrote, people must speaking out and those in power must step up their support. “We need to continue to encourage those around us to speak up for themselves and we must hold ourselves to the same requirement. As soon as we get lax or scared, the backlash has an opening to barge in,” she stated. “Every person who speaks up about safety and equality in the workplace puts another nail in the coffin of the archaic practice of bullying, harassment, and discrimination.”
Dean also urged WIA members to stay focused on the bigger picture, on the system instead of the individual. “The shock of yet another trusted person turning out to be untrustworthy is not going to make the structural changes that we need permanent,” she observed. “Looking at and changing how we do business, hire people, and protect our employees is the way to alter our work culture.”
WIA, which helps advance women’s careers in the field of animation, has been vocal in the fight against sexual harassment. Shortly after the Harvey Weinstein revelations WIA began sharing resources for harassment victims online and setting up meetings with legal experts. The organization also introduced the Roar Art Project, which allows individuals to express their experiences of gender discrimination via art or animation.
