The ACLU Calls for Investigation Into Hollywood Sexism

The national ACLU Women’s Rights Project and the Southern California branch of the ACLU are calling for state and federal investigations into Hollywood’s hiring practices on the charge of gender bias in hiring movie directors.

Studies over the past few years have found an incredibly slim percentage of Hollywood films are helmed by women (Kathryn Bigelow, Sofia Coppola, and Ava DuVernay among them).

The ACLU argues that the small number “paint[s] a disturbing picture of long-running, systemic gender discrimination against women directors throughout the film and television industry.” They believe women are deliberately being “shut out” of directing big movies and sent letters to state and federal civil rights agencies to demand they investigate possible violations.

In the letters, they accuse Hollywood of a “reliance on… sex stereotyping in hiring and evaluation of women,” and the “use of discriminatory recruiting and screening practices that have the effect of shutting women out.”

Most of the movies coming out in the next few weeks are directed by men, but Pitch Perfect 2 (out this Friday) was directed by actress Elizabeth Banks.

[h/t NYT]
[image via Wikimedia Commons]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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