Women in Hollywood see some gains after equality plea on Oscar stage , Latest Movies News - The New Paper
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Women in Hollywood see some gains after equality plea on Oscar stage

A year after Best Actress winner Frances McDormand used the Oscar stage to advocate for more women in front of and behind the camera, Hollywood is celebrating some progress - but remains far from reaching parity with men.

The 61-year-old US actress urged powerful celebrities to insist on inclusion riders: Contractual provisions that require producers to interview female candidates for jobs ranging from gaffer to director.

In the aftermath of McDormand's speech, one major Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., adopted policies based on the idea, and A-list stars such as Matt Damon and Michael B. Jordan, who also work as producers, committed to pushing for inclusion riders.

"It's been remarkable," said Ms Kalpana Kotagal, a civil rights attorney who co-developed the inclusion rider concept, which is also being used to encourage hiring of people of colour, as well as gay, disabled and older people.

"We are actually seeing it being implemented."

A study released this month showed some gains.

Forty of the top 100 films last year featured a female as a lead character, the highest number since tracking began 12 years earlier, according to University of Southern California's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

Those movies included Best Picture Oscar nominees A Star Is Born, The Favourite and Roma. And 28 per cent of this year's Oscar nominees are women, the highest percentage in history.

The industry is taking other steps to promote gender diversity.

The FourPercent Challenge asks for a commitment to announcing at least one feature film with a female director in the next 18 months. Four per cent refers to the pool of women-directed films among the top 1,200 movies of the past 10 years. - REUTERS

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