ARE THINGS REALLY EQUAL?

                                 

A  Gender  Study  at  Columbia  College  Chicago      

   

 The    Fashion    Industry              

                     

     

When  most  people  think  of  Fashion,  they  think  of  women  and  female  models.    While  women’s  clothing  seems  to  get  more  attention  than  men’s,  it  seems  that  this  is  not  the  case  when  it  comes  to  careers  in  fashion.    Typically  when  looking  at  successful  fashion  designers,  it  is  the  men  who  receive  more  acknowledgements  for  their  work  rather  than  women.    For  example,  a  directory  published  by  Fairchild  Publications,  “Who’s  Who  in  Fashion”  is  split  60-­‐40  in  favor  of  men  and  the  Encyclopedia  of  Clothing  and  Fashion  included  entries  about  36  female  and  69  male  designers.    However  when  looking  at  fashion  schools,  women  show  more  of  an  interest  in  pursuing  a  fashion  career  than  men.    Less  than  7%  of  fashion  students  at  Parson’s  he  New  School  for  Design  in  New  York  are  men  and  at  the  Fashion  Institute  of  Technology,  85%  of  the  students  are  women.    

         

&  FASHION  

     

       

                       

The  Female  Perspective    How  does  it  feel  to  be  a  woman  in  your  major/  are  there  any  challenges  you  face?    And  do  you  feel  that  there  is  any  gender  bias  in  fashion?    “Being  a  woman  in  the  fashion  industry  is  something  I  never  really  thought  about.    I  was  always  taught  that  I  could  do  whatever  I  set  my  mind  to.    Diving  into  the  fashion  program  at  Columbia,  I  was  definitely  aware  that  the  majority  of  students  would  be  girls.    However  there  were  always  a  few  guys  in  my  classes.    I  do  notice  that  because  there  are  fewer  guys,  they  tend  to  get  more  recognition  for  their  work  than  most  of  the  girls  in  my  classes.    However,  I  don’t  really  feel  that  this  in  any  way  get  hold  me  back”    What’s  it  like  being  a  feminist  in  the  fashion  industry?    “It  can  sometimes  be  challenging  being  a  feminist  in  the  fashion  industry  because  there  is  a  lot  of  pressure  to  full  fill  a  certain  image.    The  fashion  industry  is  known  for  its  strict  representations  of  women.    Most  of  the  time  you  will  only  see  stereotypical  images  of  women  and  often  times  they  are  heavily  photo  shopped.    I  hope  that  by  being  in  the  fashion  industry,  I  can  help  to  make  sure  there  is  a  wider  representation  of  women  in  the  media”    

The  Male  Perspective    How  does  it  feel  to  be  a  man  in  your  major/are  there  any  challenges  you  face?    And  do  you  feel  that  there  is  any  gender  bias  in  fashion?    “Being  a  man  in  the  fashion  industry  is  good.    I  am  one  of  the  few  guys  in  the  fashion  program  but  it  doesn’t  bother  me.    I  don’t  really  feel  like  anyone  gets  any  better  or  worse  treatment  than  I  do  so  that  is  good.    I  do  think  that  overall  in  the  fashion  industry  there  is  some  gender  bias.    Many  men  seem  to  get  a  lot  of  recognition  for  their  work  but  I  still  feel  that  there  are  a  large  number  of  both  men  and  women  in  fashion.    I  do  think  it  would  be  better  if  men  and  women  got  more  equal  recognition.    What’s  it  like  being  a  feminist  in  the  fashion  industry?    “I  do  identify  as  a  feminist  because  I  believe  that  men  and  women  should  have  equal  rights  and  opportunities.    I  see  a  lot  of  misrepresentations  of  both  men  and  women  in  the  media,  especially  in  fashion  and  fashion  magazines  and  the  fashion  industry  really  needs  to  work  on  its  representation  of  people”.    

THE  FILM  INDUSTRY    

                                       

Most  people  are  aware  that  the  film  industry  is  comprised  mostly  of  men.    In  2012,  women  made  up  on  18%  of  people  working  on  the  top  250  domestic  grossing.  Other  statistics  show  that  there  are  15.24  male  directors  for  every  1  female  director.    According  to  IndieWire  who  surveyed  women  in  the  film  industry,  they  found  that  one  of  the  main  reasons  women  have  a  difficult  time  getting  jobs  is  because  men  have  a  difficult  time  taking  women  seriously  and  their  visions  seriously.    Almost  half  of  the  women  interviewed  said  that  because  the  film  industry  is  so  male  dominated,  it  is  difficult  to  network  in  an  industry  where  networking  is  the  main  way  to  get  ahead.    The  film  industry  and  media  play  a  huge  role  in  how  society  works.    It  helps  to  spread  important  messages  and  viewpoints.  Women  make  up  over  50%  of  the  population  of  the  U.S  and  it  is  crucial  that  women  have  more  of  a  role  in  the  film  industry  so  50%  of  the  population’s  viewpoints  are  not  ignored.    

            &           FILM        

                             

The  Male  Perspective    How  does  it  feel  to  be  a  man  in  your  major/  are  there  any  challenges  you  face?    And  do  you  feel  that  there  is  any  gender  bias  in  film?    The  film  industry  is  a  wide  population  so  it  is  often  easy  to  feel  lost  in  it.    It  is  a  challenging  field  to  get  into.    When  it  comes  to  gender  bias  I  do  feel  that  often  times  women  get  less  respect  than  men.  For  example,  if  a  woman  were  to  be  a  director,  it  would  be  difficult  for  her  to  gain  the  respect  of  her  male  colleagues  because  they  would  view  her  as  being  less  powerful  because  she  is  a  woman.    The  field  is  definitely  male  dominated.        What  do  you  think  could  be  done  to  improve  women’s  role  in  the  film  industry?    “I  think  that  men  need  to  start  taking  women  more  seriously,  I  don’t  particularly  know  how  this  could  be  done  but  I  think  it  is  important  for  people  to  have  an  open  mind  and  treat  everyone  as  equals,  regardless  of  sex  and  gender.”    

The  Female  Perspective    How  does  it  feel  to  be  a  woman  in  your  major/  are  there  any  challenges  you  face?    “It  is  definitely  challenging  to  be  a  women  in  the  film  department  because  it  is  so  male  dominated.    Especially  when  looking  at  the  film  industry  and  the  film  department  at  Columbia,  there  are  very  few  female  directors  and  often  times  because  of  this,  the  female  directors  see  each  other  as  competition.”        Do  you  feel  that  as  a  woman,  you  are  treated  differently  than  the  men  are?    “When  I  am  working  on  a  film  set,  I  always  have  to  watch  my  actions  so  I  don’t  get  perceived  in  the  wrong  way  because  I  am  a  woman.    I  have  to  think  about  my  actions  very  carefully  because  I  am  a  woman  and  I  am  trying  to  gain  the  respect  of  a  group  of  men.  On  set,  men  don’t  always  take  me  seriously.    The  guys  don’t  let  me  do  certain  things  such  as  set  up  the  equipment.    I’m  normally  in  charge  of  setting  up  the  food  for  the  crew  and  that  can  be  really  frustrating  because  I  am  capable  of  more  than  that.    When  I  am  on  set,  I  am  definitely  made  aware  of  the  fact  that  I  am  a  girl  when  I’d  prefer  to  just  be  treated  like  a  person  and  an  equal.”    

OTHER  PERSPECTIVES                                          

   

             

   

                               

             

       

JOURNALISM    Men  make  up  60%  of  newspaper  employees,  write  80%  of  newspaper  op-­‐eds  and  author  most  articles  in  “thought  leader”  such  as  the  New  Yorker.    In  2012,  the  New  Yorker  had  242  female  bylines  and  613  male.    

   Data  from  The  Op-­‐Ed  Project  show  that  there  are  the  number  of  men  writing  op-­‐eds  are  far  more  than  the  number  of  women:    

Demographics  out  of  41,600  full-­‐time  journalists  from  847  daily  newspapers    

AT  COLUMBIA?  Female  Perspective:    “Being  a  woman  in  Journalism  is  like  being  a  man  in  journalism.    In  sports  journalism,  the  tide  of  the  industry  is  male  dominated  but  as  of  right,  the  tide  is  changing  and  is  becoming  more  equal  now  more  than  ever.  At  Columbia  the  majority  of  students  in  the  sports  journalism  classes  are  female  which  was  surprising  to  me.    When  I  was  in  the  sports  journalism  class,  I  encountered  an  issue  where  one  of  the  guys  in  my  class  questioned  my  knowledge  of  sports.”  

VOICES  AT  COLUMBIA  

Female Poetry Major “Poetry seems to be fairly mixed in terms of gender demographics are concerned. In my experience, students, even professors, are concerned with the lack of representation of women in Poetry both historically and contemporarily and are enthusiastic about the idea of change coming about and making the field less male-dominated and more balanced. I don’t really feel as though my gender necessarily has created any real difference within my major so far.”

Female Architecture Major “I was surprised to see that there were mainly females in my class due to the fact that architecture is so often conveyed on a professional level as a masculine profession.”

Female Music Composition Major “I am the only girl in some of my classes concerning my major. It sort of affects me in the sense that I am the only girl. For a project in my composition class, I had to write a song from the male perspective, which was challenging because I was writing for my peers and not for myself. It wasn’t really a positive or an overly negative experience; just sort of strange.”  

Female Marketing Major “Being a woman in marketing makes me feel empowered and strong. The power to control media and control the image of women makes me feel like I am in a position of power. Often times the industry, men act like I can’t handle the business side of things and often times belittle me.”

LETS MAKE A CHANGE…