Reporting for The New York
Times (May 12, 2015), Cara Buckley writes:
"Grumblings
that Hollywood is a man’s world have percolated for decades and are
borne out in grim figures: Women directed only 4 percent of
top-grossing films over the last dozen years. Now this apparent
truism is being challenged as a violation of civil rights.
"On Tuesday the American
Civil Liberties Union asked state and federal agencies to investigate
the hiring practices of major Hollywood studios, networks and talent
agencies for what the organization described as rampant and
intentional gender discrimination in recruiting and hiring female
directors.
" 'Women directors aren’t
working on an even playing field and aren’t getting a fair
opportunity to succeed,' said Melissa Goodman, director of the
LGBT, Gender and Reproductive Justice Project at the ACLU of
Southern California. 'Gender discrimination is illegal. And, really,
Hollywood doesn't get this free pass when it comes to civil rights
and gender discrimination.' "
While the ACLU is using
anti-discrimination laws to fighting hiring biases in the
entertainment industry, the women in Hollywood Witches have turned to
the supernatural to achieve gender parity at the studios.
Read about their witchy exploits -- and
the tabloid reporters who struggle to expose their wiccan schemes --
in the 2010 novel that preceded the current controversy!
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