29/01/2026 - In December, a group of organisations and research bodies organised an online session to continue monitoring gender-equality trends in the sector

On Tuesday 9 December, for the sixth year running, a group of the sector’s organisations and research bodies organised an online session to continue monitoring gender-equality trends in the European audiovisual sector. The Gender Equality Statistics and Strategies in Audiovisual Production webinar was organised by European Film Agency Directors (EFAD), UNI Europa - Media, Entertainment & Arts (EURO-MEI), the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA), the International Federation of Actors (FIA), the Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA), the Lab Femmes de Cinema, the European Audiovisual Observatory and Cineuropa.

The aim of the webinar was to keep the topic of gender equality firmly on the audiovisual agenda, as well as to unpack and debate existing statistics and already-identified trends.

How far is the sector from reaching parity between men and women? What is the pace of change, and what are the key obstacles to progress? What actions/policies have been the most impactful, and what still needs to be attempted in order to unlock the sector and open up opportunities for women?

Emma Rafowicz, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, and member of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, opened the discussion. She underlined how progress remains too slow, and how worrisome this observation is, especially in the broader climate of the backlash towards equality and diversity that we currently face in Europe and beyond. Against this backdrop, ensuring that women can participate fully and visibly in the audiovisual sector is not, in her opinion, simply a professional or artistic concern; it is part of a wider effort to defend democratic values and preserve cultural plurality. Targeted actions with clear indicators therefore remain crucial, so as to address every stage of the professional journey of women, from education and training to access to opportunities, distribution and recognition. Structural inequalities need to be addressed and corrected, starting with equal pay and equal access to financing, as well as the ongoing fight against gender-based and sexual violence.

Presentations of the latest reports by the European Audiovisual Observatory and the Lab Femmes de Cinéma followed, illustrating the state of play across Europe regarding gender equality.

Gilles Fontaine, head of the Department for Market Information, presented the 2015-2024 figures concerning female professionals in European film production, published by the European Audiovisual Observatory in September 2025. The report provides an overview of the gender disparities among film professionals in six creative roles – directors, screenwriters, producers, cinematographers, composers and editors – in European feature films produced and theatrically released in at least one European market. “European” here refers to the member states of the Council of Europe. When all six roles are combined, the share of women professionals is about 24%. Per role, the share of women is lower for cinematographers (12%) and composers (13%), there are 25% women directors, and even the occupations with the highest proportion of women involved – screenwriters, producers and editors – are still far from parity, at 31%.  

Over the past ten years, taking all roles combined, the share of women in theatrical films only increased by 4%. Even more worryingly, the figures suggest that the slow improvement that started in 2018 came to a relative halt fairly quickly, after two or three years, and that the proportion of women is now stagnating again. When focusing on directors, the situation is only very slightly better (+6%) with, again, stagnation seen over the most recent years.

Delving deeper into an analysis of the data, Fontaine shared some insights. First of all, looking at debut films, while the share of women among film directors might indeed be higher than average (31% versus 25% for all films), it is still well below 50%. Secondly, the “auteur film” model, which is still a defining characteristic of the European film industry, seems to be detrimental to women, as a low share of women among film directors translates into a low proportion of women among screenwriters; a majority of men combine both roles. On the other hand, when the screenwriter is not the director of the film, the share of women screenwriters is higher. Thirdly, the proportion of women accessing large-scale budgets is also low. Of the top 100 European films by admissions (which can presumably be considered to have larger budgets), 17% have women directors (versus 25% for all European movies). Women are also overrepresented in documentaries, a category of films with lower budgets than live-action fiction films or animation. Finally – this being the only “positive” insight – the data show that when the director of a film is a woman, the professionals in other roles are more likely to also be women.

In addition to European figures, the European Audiovisual Observatory also offers statistics per country. These highlight that some countries have managed to reach parity in some of the roles under scrutiny, such as Austria for directors and screenwriters, and Iceland for cinematographers and composers.

When comparing film production with TV/SVoD fiction – a sector for which the European Audiovisual Observatory also collects data – there are minor differences. The situation is similar both in terms of the share of women and in terms of its evolution in recent years. When looking at the details by role, the situation is, however, slightly better for screenwriters and producers, which might be related to different market dynamics and more opportunities being available for newcomers.

The second study presented during the webinar focuses on the public policies implemented across Europe to improve gender equality and diversity in the audiovisual sector. Every year, the Lab Femmes de Cinéma surveys national film institutes across Europe. In 2025, 36 countries responded to the questionnaire, and it is the report presenting the analysis of those responses that Fabienne Silvestre and Elena Laquatra, director and general coordinator of the Lab, presented during the webinar. The study is therefore both an annual overview of the situation in Europe and a compilation of good practices.

Several takeaways from the 2025 study were highlighted. First, diversity is increasingly replacing parity as a central focus. In 2025, 20 institutes developed initiatives to promote diversity, compared to only seven in 2020. Second, the fight against sexist and sexual violence remains a very central priority: this year, 25 institutes have implemented measures on this issue, as against only five in 2020. Third, the topic of parenting is gaining visibility. In 2020, only two countries were working on it, while in 2025, seven institutes were developing related measures. Fourth, financial incentives remain crucial: bonuses, quotas and calls for projects for women. Spain is still the only European country to apply full quotas, systematically allocating part of its budget to movies helmed or written by women. Other countries prefer moderate or hybrid quotas. Fifth, the gender pay gap remains a major challenge. Nine countries collect gendered pay data across film professions, and 15 countries collect data on budget disparities between films directed by women and by men. Finally, several new trends are emerging: the first concerns gender-balanced governance, which appears to be a logical prerequisite for increased equality. The second is the introduction of monitoring indicators to evaluate and adjust policies. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to promote equality in data collection and for expressing inequalities in a concrete form is also gaining traction. Finally, gender equality is increasingly being integrated into broader sustainability strategies, fostering understanding that an inclusive industry is also a responsible industry.

However, as underlined by Silvestre, and despite the increasing number of gender-equality initiatives and strategies being implemented across Europe, the figures, as shown by the European Audiovisual Observatory’s report, are still too low and show that progress is happening at such a slow pace that, at this rate, parity will only be achieved by 2066. Furthermore, even in countries where gender parity is supposed to be the most culturally established, the proportion of women filmmakers still doesn't rise over 36%. The fight for gender parity behind the camera therefore remains more necessary than ever.

Sabri Derinöz, a researcher at UCL Louvain – Saint Louis Bruxelles and an audiovisual sector expert, took the floor next to put the figures and public policies into perspective. In the last few years, we have seen an expansion of anti-discrimination frameworks across Europe. Equality has become a prominent public topic, and the #MeToo movement triggered a worldwide reaction that reshaped agendas across many sectors, including audiovisual production. Issues related to equality, such as violence, representation, stereotypes and workplace inequalities, entered the mainstream. To correct the problem of inequality, on-screen and off-screen public policies, as well as company-level policies, were adopted. Yet, as the figures show, progress remains extremely limited.

Derinöz underlined that numerous studies show that, indeed, many equality policies do not produce the desired effect. The reason might be that they focus on the individual when the problem is more systemic or structural. They therefore make the consequences less severe instead of tackling the causes. Those policies might even protect the status quo, or at least not truly challenge it.

The relationship between equality policies and broader frameworks might also be one of the reasons for the limited effect of said policies. If diversity policies adopted a more intersectional approach to the issues of equality, they would be valuable, but what the scientific literature demonstrates is mostly the use of vague, ill-defined words that can even lead to the overshadowing of key stakes, such as racism and sexism.

How sustainable can those equality policies be in a time of political backlash towards equality and diversity? Do these equality mechanisms have solid legal foundations? Will minoritised groups with different equality and minority rights that rarely reach the upper echelons in institutions continue to be heard and be supported by people in a position of power, who are capable of changing the status quo?

While Derinöz is not optimistic, he concluded by underlining the key role of civil society – NGOs, grassroots groups, collectives and individuals – in continuing to nudge the issue into public debates. In times when those organisations are being attacked and their funding is being cut, it is essential to listen to and support them.

A debate followed, moderated by Sevara Irgacheva, secretary general of EFAD, involving European film agencies from Austria, Spain and France. They discussed the effects of their equality strategies so far and their prospects for future actions.

Iris Zappe-Heller, deputy director of the Austrian Film Institute and chair of the EFAD Gender and Inclusion Working Group, highlighted the measures she believes were the most impactful ones. In 2013, in Austria, approximately one-quarter of films were made by female directors. Those films received 12% of the total funding distributed. However, by law, public money has to be shared equally between men and women, so after several years of discussion, the institute established a system of “gender budgeting”. Focusing on three key positions (production, scriptwriting and directing), the institute creates virtual “female accounts” and “male accounts”. When attributing funding to the different projects, the split between men and women in those virtual accounts has to be 50/50. In 2023, the Austrian Film Institute distributed 51% of its funding to female-driven projects. Those numbers went down in 2024 (44%) and dropped even lower in 2025 (41%).

“Incentive funding” is another measure implemented in Austria. Each time a project that gets support from the Austrian Film Institute attains a certain number of points because it has women in key positions, an additional €30,000 are granted for the development of a subsequent project (for script development or development). This measure led to a very swift rise in the number of women in almost all departments (except for DoPs), as shown by the statistics.

Since 2021, a code of ethics and an “advice centre” have been established in close cooperation with the Austrian film industry. The aim is to improve working conditions through individual support provided to professionals who are facing difficult situations, but also through the organisation of workshops at the start of shoots. The code of ethics reminds producers of their responsibility to oversee safety and the fact that, in the worst-case scenarios, public funding received might have to be paid back.

Looking to the future, the Austrian Film Institute is now setting up a community-based working group to better understand the needs of underrepresented groups and design forthcoming measures. Tools to collect diversity data more efficiently are also being implemented, in cooperation with the Hamburg Film Fund and its Omni project.

Lucia Garcia Garzon, head of unit at the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) in Spain, explained that in 2020, the institute had started to allocate 35% of its grants to projects that were directed by women. This increased to 40% in 2022.

Additional points are also given to projects with women in key positions (such as director, executive producer or screenwriter). Extra points are attributed when both the screenwriter and the director are women, and when 40% of the heads of technical and artistic departments are women. Finally, projects directed by a woman are considered to be “difficult work”, which means that the “intensity” of the support can be higher than the general rule allows for. “Artificial” cooperation between men and women on key roles in certain project submissions might have been one of the reasons for the slow progress in the past few years. Those shared roles are not taken into account any more for point allocation. 

A guide for production companies has also been created in Spain, encompassing good practices related to risk prevention as well as mental health and other social issues.

In France, as presented by Agnès Toullieux, deputy secretary general of the CNC, a gender equality observatory has existed since 2014. It produces yearly data such as statistics on employment, wages and the financial assistance provided to women. The data help monitor the state of play and the effect that public policies are having on the ground.

Since 2019, the CNC has awarded a parity bonus of 14.21%, which is based on a points-based system as well. Each key position corresponds to a certain number of points, depending on the genre of the audiovisual production. The majority of films that benefit from the bonus (58.4%) are directed by women, illustrating the “virtuous circle” already mentioned by Gilles Fontaine.

In the last few years, however, there has been a decline in the number of films eligible for the gender-parity bonus. As the policy no longer seems to have an impact, the CNC has decided to change tack. In the future, efforts to put women in key positions won’t be rewarded any more, but on the contrary, if parity, which is now considered an obligation, is not implemented, a penalty will be imposed. The penalty (or malus) will come into effect in January 2027. The details of this penalty are currently being worked on, in consultation with employers’ and workers’ organisations.

In France, a comprehensive policy has finally been put in place to combat sexual violence. It also promotes good working conditions. The aim is to create safer workplaces for everyone, including women. Since 1 January 2021, all CNC grants have been conditional on employers undergoing training on gender-based and sexual violence, as provided by the CNC. This applies to all producers, distributors and sellers in the video-game, digital creation, cinema and audiovisual industries as well as cinema operators. Seven thousand employers have been trained accordingly since 2021. Since 1 January 2025, the funds have been conditioned (for cinema to start with) upon a training obligation extended to all shooting crews. It is a two-stage training programme: first happening remotely, and then on film sets. The aim is to have the entire work collective fully trained on gender-based and sexual violence. Thirteen thousand people have already completed the first part of the course remotely. One hundred and seventeen training sessions have been organised on film sets since January 2025. Almost 4,500 professionals have therefore completed the training, alongside their colleagues, on set.

Bill Anderson, screen director and the chairman of FERA, made some final comments. He underlined the relatively high percentage of women directors leaving film schools (around 40%) and yet the low numbers of active film directors (24.6%) in European film production. In his opinion, this is due to a problem in the perception of what a film shoot actually is and the competences it demands. Industry people ask themselves: can we put young directors in charge of million-euro budgets? Will they be able to navigate a “quasi military environment” in which you have to be able to manage resources and deliver on a huge scale? This comparison of the sector with the military goes some way to explaining the challenges faced by those fighting for gender parity; challenges that are very similar to the ones faced by those asking for more equality in the army, navy and air force.

However, says Anderson, there is a sizeable difference between the two sectors: in audiovisual production, we do not have to be prepared to sacrifice people's lives; we're just telling stories. It is therefore important, in order to keep pushing for more gender equality and inclusion, for sector organisations to focus on working conditions and on “demilitarising” film production, which will ultimately be beneficial for all professionals, of all genders.