Screen Australia has released two new infographics detailing the latest statistics on the relatively low participation rates of women working in film in Australia.

Deputy Chair of Screen Australia, Deanne Weir said decision makers in the Australian screen sector needed to change to improve the depth, quality and diversity of content, and truly represent the richness of Australian life and culture.

“Stories that ignore the breadth and depth of human characters aren’t that interesting,” Ms Weir said.

“Women make up over 51 per cent of the Australian population and occupy incredibly diverse roles in our society, but this wouldn’t necessarily be apparent from watching our key cultural products.”

She said in Australian feature films, Screen Australia’s figures showed that women’s participation as producers, writers and directors was nowhere near equal, at 32, 23 and 16 per cent respectively.

Women do better in the documentary sphere, at 46 per cent of producers, 33 per cent of writers and 38 per cent of directors, Ms Weir said.

She said Screen Australia had been exploring ways to work with the industry both domestically, via, for example, professional development workshops on writing strong female characters, and internationally, by hosting networking events for women in the screen industry as part of our presence at international markets.

http://www.psnews.com.au/aps/457/news/women-out-of-focus-in-film-industry