Women Film Critics: An Endangered Species?

Mainstream media paid scant attention to Martha Lauzen's "Thumbs Down: Representation of Women Film Critics in the Top 100 U.S. Daily Newspapers" when the report was published on July 28 by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ), although the posting was supported by simultaneous distribution to 500 entertainment media and movie industry A-listers.

This latest study from the guru of women-in-Hollywood statistics and analysis indicates that 70 percent of movie reviews published in America's top 100 daily newspapers are written by men, and that 47 percent of those publications -- almost half -- ran no reviews written by female critics.

Lauzen's impeccably researched report shows that women are still marginalized in the national discussion about film, arguably our country's most influential cultural commodity -- a medium of sweeping social, political and economic significance.

AWFJ, an organization of which I am president, wasn't surprised by the report's findings, nor that they were so conspicuously underreported. Disappointed, perhaps, but not surprised. Why would newspapers -- or media in general -- call attention to or even acknowledge a situation that might inspire their readers and viewers to ask disturbing questions?

The deeply entrenched disparity between the number of women who go to movies and the number of women who write about them rankles female film critics. But the issues extend far beyond a relatively small group of media professionals to directly affect moviegoers -- especially women. Many, if not most, women look to mainstream media outlets for information, and it stands to reason that they'd find the perspective of perceptive, well-informed professional female critics useful. The relative paucity of female voices in film criticism is a manifestation of an industry that favors male-made, male-oriented movies despite the fact that women are avid moviegoers.

We escape into movies to laugh, cry and kick ass, alone or with friends. We learn from cinema how to solve problems in our relationships and careers, we let films baby sit for and educate our children. Sometimes we just marvel at the exquisite artistry of the movies.

Lauzen's report and her unimpeachable statistics have opened the door for a much-needed assessment of what's lost through gender disparity in film criticism.

That debate is taking place on the Internet, where mainstream media reporters -- notably Sean Means at Salt Lake City Tribune, Brandy McDonnell at The Oklahoman, Annie Wagner at the Seattle-based The Stranger, Rania Richardson at Indiewire.com and Anne Thompson at Variety.com -- used their well-read blogs to report on Lauzen's findings, although they were apparently given neither space nor leeway to do so in print. Collectively, they have a huge and diverse following on the web. Hopefully the awareness they sparked and discussions they initiated will be ongoing.

Indicating the report's web reach, UK-based ObsessedWithFilm.com's Michael Kaminski was inspired to present his own observations on gender bias: Amazon.com's list of 50 best-selling movie history and criticism books includes only seven women authors; and women inductees into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences averaged only 27 percent of new members over the last five years.

Closer to home, comments by Salon.com's Stephanie Zacharek raise another concern: "The big news isn't that daily newspapers aren't hiring women as critics; it's that many of them have ceased caring whether they have a full-time movie critic at all," she writes. Lauzen's numbers, she continues, "don't trouble me as much as the pervasiveness of the idea that critics -- the last line of defense between moviegoers and studio-generated hype -- no longer matter."

That said, Zacharek gets anecdotal about gender bias: She turned down a job as a major daily's film critic because the salary "was so laughably low. The editor who interviewed me ... made no secret that the paper wanted to hire a female critic, but clearly, what the joint really wanted was a cheap date."