Women making gains but more work needed at the top

Creative Industries

Tim Payne

Senior Partner & Head of Asia, Brunswick

Tim Payne speaks at the 2017 Women Leadership Forum on June 26 in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Despite a growing broad recognition of the need to provide more opportunities for women in creative industries, such as film and media, the actual statistics haven't improved in recent years," Payne says.

Women made up just 7 percent of all directors working on the top 250 US films in 2016, according to a report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University earlier this year. That figure represents a decline of two percentage points from 2015's 9 percent.

"Discrimination against women in media has resulted in a high turnover and a vacuum of coverage for women-related stories. Among Hong Kong's entertainment magazines, nearly one third of coverage is linked to females', particular negative ones," Payne said.

"Joint efforts must be done to dismiss this traditional challenge."