Higher prevelance of sexualisation of women in Indian films: UN report
As much as 35% of female characters are shown with some nudity in Indian films
The first-ever United Nations-sponsored global study on female characters in popular films across the world, published on Wednesday, ranked India on top in showing attractive women in its movies.
The study, commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media with support from UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation, revealed deep-seated discrimination and pervasive stereotyping of women and girls by the international film industry.
Indian films, according to the study, have a significantly higher prevalence of sexualisation of female characters as compared to films in other countries and the movies score low in depicting women in significant speaking roles.
As much as 35% of female characters are shown with some nudity in Indian films, the study found, while 24.9% of Indian films show female characters in less than one-quarter of all speaking roles.
The study analysed popular films in countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, as well as UK-US collaborations.
Further, Indian films rank third in showing females in ‘sexy attire,’ with Germany taking the top slot followed by Australian movies.
The study also revealed that the number of female directors, writers and producers is not very high either, though the per cent of female directors (9.1% in India) is slightly higher than the global average of 7%.
[infogram url="https://infogr.am/sundarw_1411572911" height="450"]
However, at 12.1%, India fares lower than the global average of 19.7% in prevalence of female writers.
[infogram url="https://infogr.am/infographic-17054" height="450"]
Female producers in India were only 15.2%, significantly below the 22.7% global average.
[infogram url="https://infogr.am/infographic-93492" height="450"]
This data of gender prevalence behind the camera translated into a gender ratio of 6.2 males to every one female in India’s film industry.
While women represent nearly half of the world’s population, only about 30.9% of all speaking characters are women, with India and UK-US collaborations at the bottom of the chart.
Only 22.5 per cent% of the fictional on-screen workforce is comprised of women and they are largely absent from powerful positions.
“The fact is – women are seriously under-represented across nearly all sectors of society around the globe, not just on-screen, but for the most part we’re simply not aware of the extent. And media images exert a powerful influence in creating and perpetuating our unconscious biases,” said Geena Davis, founder and chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Further, the study also showed that girls and women are over twice as likely as boys and men to be shown in sexualised attire, with some nudity.
“Females bring more to society than just their appearance,” said Stacy L Smith, the principal investigator. “These results illuminate that globally, we have more than a film problem when it comes to valuing girls and women. We have a human problem.”
The study, commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media with support from UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation, revealed deep-seated discrimination and pervasive stereotyping of women and girls by the international film industry.
Indian films, according to the study, have a significantly higher prevalence of sexualisation of female characters as compared to films in other countries and the movies score low in depicting women in significant speaking roles.
As much as 35% of female characters are shown with some nudity in Indian films, the study found, while 24.9% of Indian films show female characters in less than one-quarter of all speaking roles.
The study analysed popular films in countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, as well as UK-US collaborations.
Further, Indian films rank third in showing females in ‘sexy attire,’ with Germany taking the top slot followed by Australian movies.
The study also revealed that the number of female directors, writers and producers is not very high either, though the per cent of female directors (9.1% in India) is slightly higher than the global average of 7%.
[infogram url="https://infogr.am/sundarw_1411572911" height="450"]
However, at 12.1%, India fares lower than the global average of 19.7% in prevalence of female writers.
[infogram url="https://infogr.am/infographic-17054" height="450"]
Female producers in India were only 15.2%, significantly below the 22.7% global average.
[infogram url="https://infogr.am/infographic-93492" height="450"]
This data of gender prevalence behind the camera translated into a gender ratio of 6.2 males to every one female in India’s film industry.
While women represent nearly half of the world’s population, only about 30.9% of all speaking characters are women, with India and UK-US collaborations at the bottom of the chart.
Only 22.5 per cent% of the fictional on-screen workforce is comprised of women and they are largely absent from powerful positions.
“The fact is – women are seriously under-represented across nearly all sectors of society around the globe, not just on-screen, but for the most part we’re simply not aware of the extent. And media images exert a powerful influence in creating and perpetuating our unconscious biases,” said Geena Davis, founder and chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Further, the study also showed that girls and women are over twice as likely as boys and men to be shown in sexualised attire, with some nudity.
“Females bring more to society than just their appearance,” said Stacy L Smith, the principal investigator. “These results illuminate that globally, we have more than a film problem when it comes to valuing girls and women. We have a human problem.”