How could it be that in the last 82 years only eight women have been nominated, and only two have won, the Academy Award for Best Original Film Score? While some industries have seen strides made in closing the gender gap, when it comes to the film industry, and especially within the field of composing music for media…well, not so much. A recent study released by the Screen Composers Guild of Canada exposed the reality of the gender imbalance in this industry. From pay gaps to limited representation to gender-related discrimination, there is a substantial deficit of female film composers composing for blockbuster projects, and therefore an unconscious (and let’s face it, in many cases, conscious) bias continues to occur. For hundreds of years the composing gender paradigm has remained stagnant, but now (thankfully) female composers of Canada and the US are diligently working to create a shift. In an effort to move the needle and advocate for themselves, women composers are uniting — in this case, in the form of advocacy groups like the Alliance for Women Film Composers. Together they aim to create a powerful movement- banding together, networking with each other, and showcasing their work. Their goal: to celebrate and support each other, while also shining a light on industry inequalities. +1 on all of this.
