Another Hidden Figure
Women In Film Editing
A recent outstanding case with the female winner (Jennifer Lame) of Oscar’s ‘Best Film Editing’ 2024 showed that women play a significant role in the history of the development of cinematography. In one of my articles I talked about the position of females in top-ranking films (check it out via link). Despite the growth of involvement in industry, the ratio in 2021 equals to 6.3 male directors to every 1 female.
I always stand behind one important thought:
The more we point out a particular problem, the more solutions we find.
So, let’s talk about women in film editing and why this profession is actually female-led.
A very interesting story
In fact, the logic of bringing women into the editing activities was that their ‘ability to cut out the needed and remove what is unnecessary, as in sewing’. Therefore, the term ‘cutters’ was brought to indicate those hidden figures that, through painstaking labor, joined the frames in a dark room.
Such activities required special perseverance and patience, long hours of monotonous work, so that we could watch films in cinema halls. Since women were not hired for prestigious positions as directors or filmmakers in the early years of cinema, this opportunity to become part of a large production was immediately taken up.
Everything would be fine, but gender inequality and the laws of economics changed the paradigm. As soon as the industry realized that this was not just outsourcing, but a chance for creative self-expression, men flocked to the editing rooms. For example, one of the reasons to exclude women from editing was the emergence of sound films. As the result, convincing women that cutting sound is more difficult than pictures and that this activity should be left to men.
Current time
I found a great study on the topic of gender inequality in the work of a film editor. Let’s take a 10-year period, say, from 2010 to 2021.
As of 2021, the percentage of women in the above-mentioned field was 26.5%. Now take a look at the changes over time. Are they visible?
Just looking at the statistics, it becomes clear that one of the most important cogs in the film production system, originally occupied by female, has become dominated by men. Another key fact to remember is that according to Data USA, the gap between male/female wages is almost 10,000, where men receive around 65,000 and women around 55,000.
So, when we speak about inequality, it is not just an emotional response, but a cold numeric data, showing the cruel truth.
Changes?
Sooner or later, the situation will change. If every girl is told from childhood that she is capable of much, that she can choose for herself what to do and how to act, there will be more women in many industries.
‘Be a voice not an echo.’ — Albert Einstein
By the way, in order to capture women’s contribution to the niche of film editing, a special website was created that talks about the pioneers in this field, perpetuating the memory of those women whose names were behind the credits. Definitely worth checking out.
