The A.C.L.U. Says Discrimination Against Female Directors Is a Civil Rights Violation, Calls for Inquiry

You know it, I know it, and women in Hollywood definitely know it: Hollywood’s hiring practices are full of sexist, gendered, and illegal double standards—but the film industry’s imbalance just got the severe calling-out it deserves.

According to The New York Times, the American Civil Liberties Union will ask state and federal agencies to launch an investigation today into gender discrimination in “Hollywood’s major studios, networks and talent agencies.” Melissa Goodman of the A.C.L.U. of Southern California told The NYT,

Women directors aren’t working on an even playing field and aren’t getting a fair opportunity to succeed. Gender discrimination is illegal. And really Hollywood doesn’t get this free pass when it comes to civil rights and gender discrimination.

Although the A.C.L.U. didn’t name specific offenders, the organization did call for an investigation into “overt sex stereotyping and implicit bias” in a string of lengthy letters citing evidence of gender discrimination and sent to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In the letters, the A.C.L.U. states that “real change is needed to address this entrenched and long-running problem of discrimination against women directors. External investigations and oversight by government entities tasked with enforcing civil rights laws is necessary to effectuate this change.”

Finally. After all the hard work by countless industry people of all genders, the daily bias that female directors experience is being investigated for what it is: a civil rights issue.

Party now, tears later:

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Carolyn Cox