1. Underrepresentation of women in the animation industry
1.1. The early history from a feminist perspective
Segregation on the basis of gender has always existed in the world as it was useful for a patriarchal society as a source of low-income or free labour. Persistent unfair inequality led to the birth of feminist movements. First wave of feminism can be characterised as the period between the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, it achieved formal equality of both sexes, but this equality remained only indicated on paper (Koroleva, 2013). In fact “women remained a small minority at all levels of political life, they were strikingly absent from high professional positions, they were discriminated against in all areas of employment, they were paid less than men, and many women certainly did not share the benefits of their newly affluent society” (Bryson, 1992).
Gender-segregation was also very common in the animation industry. The creative departments in most studios were handled by men, while women were limited to the drawing and painting department, where the work was mostly uncreative and repetitive (Furniss, 1998). Kirsten Thompson in her 2014 article notes how ink and paint departments usually consisted of hundreds of female workers with the lowest pay in the industry, while male supervisors would walk around and urge them to work faster (Thompson, 2014).
Discrimination on a gender basis have always existed in the society and an animation industry is not an exception. Women have been always put in the lower positions with a “glass ceiling”. However, women’s awareness of their own discrimination was gradually embedded in the minds of the majority, which led to the emergence of other types of feminism, new “waves” and thereafter a better position in the workplace.