Gender & Film

Gender in film has been apparent since film has existed. When film first began it was more common to find men staring in all the different roles. When the industry began to expand and grow it began picking up more and more female cast members. In all other industries this was uncommon to have so many different women working. “This is ironic since film acting was one of the first high-income, high-status occupations in the United States to achieve high levels of gender integration, due largely to the narrative demands for heterosexual romantic relation-ships in most films” (Bordwell et al., 1985) (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004).

Women began getting paid just as often and as much as some men seeing that there characters were in so high demand. This was unheard of at the time due to many women still not getting paid nearly enough as what the men were. “Indeed, film acting was one of the few elite occupations in which women were often paid as much as men. For example, 5 of the 10 highest paid film stars in 1938 were women” (Rosten, 1941:342) (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004). 

The typical role for women in film during this time were for roles that fit their part. Meaning that women played in many roles that were they could act in parts people were use to seeing women in. “While women starred in all film genres in the 1930s and 1940s, they were typically cast in serious dramas and even more prominently in musicals and romantic melodramas” (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004).

The studio giant that started the careers of some major starts took a major hit after some legal proceedings in the late 1940s. “The careers of both male and female stars were adversely affected by the decline of the studio system after the paramount decision by the Supreme Court in 1948, which forced the major studios to divest themselves of their theaters” (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004). This split up would affect the careers of many in the film industry. 

Because of the outcome studios were no longer looking for contract starts and especially contract women. This is when we began to see a decrease in the amount of women in film. “Studios no longer developed films for specific female stars” (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004). Women began to make less and men started appearing more and making more. “These claims are bolstered by re-cent research conducted by the Screen Actors Guild (1999) which found that, at all levels of acting, women appear as lead characters in fewer films than men and earn half as much as their male counterparts” (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004)

Overall gender in film will always be apparent. Some will say that females will always be affected depending on the film market its popularity and where it is going in the future. “The careers of female stars may have been adversely affected by changes in the audience and consequent changes in the popularity of different film genres” (Lincoln, & Allen, 2004).

Lincoln, A. E., & Allen, M. P. (2004). Double jeopardy in hollywood: age and gender in the careers of film actors. Sociological Forum,, 19(4), Retrieved from   http://www.jstor.org/stable/4148831.