We are calling for entertainment employers to achieve gender and racial equality as they move toward returning to film and television production.
There is a disproportionate impact of crises like COVID-19 on women and people of color. That’s why we’re launching the Hire Her Back initiative, to shine a light on and support the extraordinarily talented women in the screen industries. Along with our partners at New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) and Women in Film and Television Atlanta (WIFTA), we are raising the Hire Her Back Fund to provide grants to women in the screen industries whose livelihoods have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
“With the convergence of a pandemic and the national uprising in defense of Black lives, it must be made clear that current market structures have to be transformed if we are serious about creating equity. We call on leaders to join us in building a new normal that prioritizes equity and career sustainability for women, especially Women of Color, in the screen industries.”
—Kirsten Schaffer, WIF Executive Director
Current COVID-19 unemployment statistics are perilous. According to the Labor Department figures for May, women’s unemployment was at 13.9%, two-and-a-third percentage points higher than that of men in the same time period.¹ Roughly half a million jobs have been lost in recent months.² Following the economic crisis in 2008, women regained employment at a much lower rate than men, and took longer to rebound.³ Women will likely face the same hurdles rebounding from the COVID-19 crisis, in particular Latinas and Black women who have faced some of the highest rates of unemployment of any group.⁴
WIF thanks ShivHans Pictures and Netflix for their support of the Hire Her Back Fund.
