Women in the documentary industry: Continuing inequality in the streaming age

Abstract

Assessing women’s role in the audiovisual industry provides us with negative data regarding the number of women in the industry, which are also confirmed when factors such as their prominence or leadership in these audiovisual projects are considered. A quantitative and qualitative analysis was thus undertaken based on the need to examine this problem in depth to determine what is happening in the documentary or nonfiction genre, which has exhibited significant growth thanks to the demand for content from subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) streaming platforms. This research analyzes data on the number, prominence, and leadership of women through a review of the 35 Spanish productions in this genre that were produced and/or distributed exclusively on the three leading platforms in Spain between 2016 and 2021. Accordingly, the 2,099 jobs created by these productions have been evaluated, providing data on the occupations and level of responsibility that women had. The research findings confirm the overall data. In addition, they allow us to determine why, although the documentary genre has been associated with greater opportunities for women, this has not held true within the streaming market, where this genre has achieved a greater impact. This underrepresentation of women is especially prominent in the area of leadership.

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