On the basis of risk: How screen executives’ risk perceptions and practices drive gender inequality in directing

Abstract

This paper explores how gendered perceptions of risk drive gender inequality. It does so by applying an Intersectional Risk Theory (IRT) framework to new empirical data on gender equality initiatives in the Canadian screen industries. The paper shows (1) that gendered risk perceptions constrain women directors’ work opportunities; (2) that the construction of gendered risk perceptions (“doing risk”) is shaped by the screen industry context and social inequalities generally; and (3) that practices of constructing risk perceptions can be disrupted and changed, which creates opportunities for a “re‐doing” or “un‐doing” of gendered perceptions of risk and offers new analytical perspectives onto the efficacy of gender equality initiatives. By interrogating how perceptions of risk inform decision‐making, the paper contributes new understandings of the drivers of systemic and intersectional inequality as a defining characteristic of work and labor markets in the screen industries and in the creative industries more broadly.

Inclusivity of Persons With Disabilities in the Work Sector During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

“…This condition applies universally on an international scope until the World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated this. Disabled people experience entrenched structural disadvantages, including barriers to accessing health care, increased poverty, lower employment, and lower education levels compared to the general population ( 54 – 57 ).…”

Far from “Fauda”: creators with disabilities in an established-outsider figuration in the Israeli film and television industries

“…The first approach has been to focus on a particular worker characteristic and explore the barriers that workers with that characteristic face in the CCI. Gender inequality in the creative workforce has been the focus of ample studies (Berridge, 2022;Coles and Eikhof, 2021;Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012;Lauzen, 2014;O'Brien, 2019;Wing-Fai et al, 2015). Coles and Eikhof (2021) attributed gender inequality in the CCI to women's lack of access to key networks, stereotypes regarding what work women are suited for, precarious employment conditions and a misogynistic industry.…”

“…Gender inequality in the creative workforce has been the focus of ample studies (Berridge, 2022;Coles and Eikhof, 2021;Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012;Lauzen, 2014;O'Brien, 2019;Wing-Fai et al, 2015). Coles and Eikhof (2021) attributed gender inequality in the CCI to women's lack of access to key networks, stereotypes regarding what work women are suited for, precarious employment conditions and a misogynistic industry. Scholars have often cited caring responsibilities as a key reason for continuing gendered inequalities in the CCI, referring to the mismatch between caring duties and the prominent work norms in the CCI, which demand 24-7 performativity.…”

“…The first approach has been to focus on a particular worker characteristic and explore the barriers that workers with that characteristic face in the CCI. Gender inequality in the creative workforce has been the focus of ample studies (Berridge, 2022; Coles and Eikhof, 2021; Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012; Lauzen, 2014; O'Brien, 2019; Wing-Fai et al. , 2015).…”

How state influence on project work organization both drives and mitigates gendered precarity in cultural and creative industries

“…We address this relative gap by constructing a fuller explanatory account of the conditions producing the shifting of risk from employer to worker, generating outcomes that are disproportionately disadvantageous. Our framework explains how 'risk logics' (Coles & Eikhof, 2021), circulating through project-based hiring CCI networks, are facilitated, if not impelled, by the antecedent pressures of industry-based TOs, and shaped through funding and state policy formation and choices. Our framework contributes to broadening extant employment literature on risk and on the disadvantaging effect of networks within project-based CCI labour markets, by clarifying how state-led capacity to organize project work both drives and mitigates the transfer of risk in project work as gendered, racialized and classed.…”