Following the overwhelming success of director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film, Mattel has unveiled four new Barbie dolls featuring women in movie production careers.
The move highlights the persistent issue of gender inequity in movie-making professions as Mattel designed the dolls “to inspire the next generation of young girls to explore careers in film”.
The dolls include an array of film vocations including a film director, studio executive, cinematographer and a movie star. The toys’ representations are aimed at breaking gender stereotypes in these roles.
Gender inequity behind the scenes
Despite Gerwig’s incredible success directing the highest grossing film of 2023 and becoming the first female director in history to achieve a $1 billion record with Barbie, progress has generally been moving at a glacial pace for women in behind-the-scenes roles in film.
Women accounted for only 22 per cent of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers working on the top 250 grossing films in 2023, according to a new report from the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.
That already menial percentage is down from 2022 by 2 per cent and is an increase of only 5 per cent since 1998. The author of the report and executive director of the centre, Martha Lauzen says this data “makes one seriously question industry pledges to achieve greater gender diversity”.
Last year, 83 per cent of the 250 top grossing films had no women directors and 94 per cent had no women cinematographers, the report says. And while 75 per cent of the top grossing films employed 10 or more men as directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers, just 4 per cent employed 10 or more women.
In regards to the report’s findings, Lauzen said that movies directed or co-directed by a woman were more likely to employ women in other behind-the-scenes roles, noting that “generally speaking, when a woman directs a film, she brings a substantially different network of creatives with her than a male director would, intentionally or unintentionally.”
“It’s the ultimate illusion: Greta Gerwig’s well-deserved triumph belies the inequality that pervades the mainstream film industry,” Lauzen continued. “The numbers tell the story. Behind-the-scenes gender ratios in Hollywood remain dramatically skewed in favor of men.”
Gender wage gap
Even in front of the screen, gender inequity persists for actors. Women receive only 59 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.
This could be explained by the lack of on-screen roles available for women as a 2022 report from the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film found women accounted for only 37 per cent of all speaking characters, and 80 per cent of films featured more male than female characters.
Previous data has shown that despite Barbie’s diverse career set over the years– she’s been a surgeon, a construction worker, a flight attendant and a coffee shop worker– her gender pay gap compared to Ken sits at £4 million (approximately $7.7 million AUD) less, just for being a woman.
The potential for the dolls to motivate girls to explore film industry careers could be positive however, as past research has shown that toys have the ability to shape social behaviour in children.
“Feminine-stereotyped toys promote domesticity, nurturance, and a focus on appearance, and masculine stereotyped toys encourage riskiness, assertiveness, and a focus on action,” the study says, noting that “theory supports the idea that gendered toys perpetuate gendered roles and a gender unequal society.”
Mattel’s latest Career of the Year collection of film industry Barbie dolls is four out of the 250 professions it has showcased before in previous collections aimed at inspiring young girls.
The toy company also has an Inspiring Women Series, featuring real-life women like Dr Jane Goodall, Ida B Wells and Dr Maya Angelou. There’s been a push to diversify dolls as well, such as creating Barbie with hearing aids and Barbie with Down syndrome to ensure “all children see themselves in Barbie”.