Kidman calls for level-playing field

Joins chorus of actors who have condemned gender inequality in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES: Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman has called for more opportunities to be created for women in film, describing the industry as “not an even-playing field” and joining a chorus of actors who have condemned gender inequality in Hollywood. “Obviously, we need to create more opportunities, it’s not an even-playing field,” Kidman said on the red carpet at the organisation Women in Film’s Crystal + Lucy Awards in Los Angeles this week.

“We’re all working and banding together and trying to change that and that’s what’s needed. We also need to put cameras in little girls’ hands and get them to tell stories and increase their confidence so that they can feel powerful,” she added. The Australian actor received the ‘Crystal Award for Excellence In Film’ at the event, which honours achievement in film and television and hosts a fundraising dinner for the organisation’s programme.

Selma director Ava DuVernay, who received the Dorothy Arzner Director’s Award, said there was often oversight when it came to women filmmakers. “Hollywood is like the boyfriend who doesn’t call you as often, that’s kind of like what Hollywood is to women filmmakers,” she said.

“There’s a little a bit of neglect in terms of recognising the imagination and talent women filmmakers have ... of older actors who might be past the window of when the industry says they’re valuable. There’s so much of that going on, so it’s certainly something we all have to work to correct.” Stars such as Meryl Streep and Kristen Stewart have been vocal about sexism as well as age biases in the movie industry, with Stewart saying in a recent interview that women had “to work a little bit harder to be heard.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th,  2015.

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