Creativity bias against women, does it exist?

Last month, Tokyo 2020 Olympics President Yoshiro Mori resigned over his sexist comments about women. “If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying,” Mori said at a board of committee meeting.

According to a study by USC Annenberg, across 400 popular songs, the ratio of male to female producers was 47:1. In terms of representation, the same study stated that only 10.4% of Grammy Award nominees from 2013-2019 were female. 

The lack of representation also happens in the film industry. Only 30% of non-acting Oscar nominees for films released in 2019 were women. In 2020, women only made up 16% of directors working on the top 100 US grossing films.

The Finery Report tries to investigate the women to men ratio in the Indonesian film industry, but the lack of available literature makes it difficult to draw comparisons. This can be attributed down to two things, the fact that Indonesia’s film industry is going under a reform and because gender bias is a topic that rarely sees the light of day.

This is because of a coveted definition of what it means to be gender biased. Biased by definition is to treat someone differently based on a personal opinion. To be gender biased is to treat someone differently because of their gender.

Gender bias can cover many aspects of gender discrimination. Sometimes it’s not as blatant sexual assault or wage discrimination, but it may come in the form of micro-aggressions, such as stereotyping and enforcing gender roles. 

Gender roles would pertain to the expectations one has over how a certain gender should act, present themselves, or even down to what they are expected to wear. For example, women are expected to play a passive role of a caretaker; to be nurturing and submissive. Meanwhile, men are usually portrayed as the alpha or leader of the hierarchies found in jobs. 

When asked about the relationship between occupations and gender roles, Anisa Amalia from Perempuan Tanpa Stigma (PenTas) said that there are underlying expectations towards a certain gender when fulfilling a job. The organisation is also raising funds on Campaign #ForChange app to combat gender inequality.

“As a student, I often hear people say that men are more suited for leadership positions in the class committee, such as becoming a class leader, while women are usually only appointed as a treasurer or secretary.”

Amalia’s remarks are backed up with suggestive evidence. In an Indonesian labour report, as of February 2020, only 139,110 women were registered in jobs related to construction and hard labour. Men made up 7,829,006 of jobs in that same industry.

However, not many people can recognise the fault in gender roles. This is because most Indonesians were raised under patriarchal culture— where a male is depicted as the backbone of the family.

One of the most tangible and understandable form of disparity between the sexes is perhaps wage discrimination. According to a research conducted in 2017, women under the age of 30 earn 21.64% less than their male counterparts of the same age. However, it must be noted this data is not exclusively for women in the creative industry as, once again, there is limited literature on this issue.

Yes, it may seem that Indonesia is on the progressive side of the spectrum in terms of being more open towards women in positions of power.

It can be argued that the Indonesian film industry has never been fully against the idea of women in power. In fact, some even consider women to be the main catalyst for the film industry’s rebirth– a point brought up by film director Kamila Andini in a conference at the Tokyo International Film Festival. 

However, there is more than what meets the eye. Considering that the debate on gender bias is a colossal glacier, there is a slim possibility that awareness is unilateral for all sectors of work.

Being progressive in some areas does not guarantee progressiveness in all areas. Besides, recognising gender stereotypes and challenging gender roles only cover the tip of the iceberg.