Tag: Female

Categories
Health

Tina Fey Expertly Called Out David Letterman on His Lack of Female Writers


Tina Fey is no stranger to making waves in roles where women are incredibly underrepresented: She was the first female head writer on Saturday Night Live. She was the creator of—and writer for—30 Rock and a co-creator and writer for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Most recently, she’s shown off her talent by rewriting Mean Girls for Broadway (which racked up 12 Tony nominations on Thursday).

So you’d think she’d have a lot to talk about with David Letterman on his new Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. And she did—although it might not have been what he was expecting. Fey’s spoken about the importance of diversity in the writers’ room before, recently in Variety‘s April “Power of Women” issue. Meanwhile, late-night comedy shows—like Letterman’s old Late Show—still are notorious for being a boys club. Although women are beginning to pave the way for other aspiring female comedians and hosts like Samantha Bee and, most recently, Busy Philipps, gender inequality still prevails in the writers room and in front of the camera.

So when Letterman attempted to explain why he’d had few women employed as writers, Fey put him squarely in his place.

“I didn’t know why there weren’t women writers. There was no policy against women writers,” Letterman, who passed the late-night baton off to Stephen Colbert in 2015, told Fey. “I always thought, ‘Well, geez, if I was a woman I don’t know if I would want to write on my nickel-and-dime, dog-and-pony show anyway because we’re on at 12:30.’”

Thankfully, Fey didn’t let that response slide: “Yeah, we did want to write on it, though,” Fey said.

Fey’s blunt response prompted Letterman to apologize: “But that is my ignorance, and I feel bad for that,” he said. “And it’s changing, has changed.”

But Nell Scovell, who made history as the first female writer on the Late Show in the early ‘90s until leaving in 2009, pointed out on Twitter that things have remained mostly the same for Letterman.

“Meanwhile, on Dave’s new Netflix show, there are 5 Executive Producers and ALL are male,” she wrote. ‘It has changed’ but not on Dave’s shows.”

You can watch Fey’s appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction here.

Related Stories:

-‘Mean Girls’ Leads the 2018 Tony Awards With 12 Total Nominations–Tina Fey and Megyn Kelly Share the Life Advice They Swear By At This Very Moment–’30 Rock’ Called Out Harvey Weinstein Five Years Ago





Source link

Categories
Health

Female Music Executives Are Calling for Neil Portnow's Resignation


More than a dozen female music executives have issued an open letter calling for the resignation of Neil Portnow as the Recording Academy president and CEO. They say that the comment Portnow made on Sunday about women needing to “step up” to get more recognition at the Grammys was “wrong and insulting and, at its core, oblivious to the vast body of work created by and with women.”

“Your most recent remarks do not constitute recognition of women’s achievements, but rather a call for men to take action to ‘welcome’ women,” the women wrote. “We do not await your welcome into the fraternity. We do not have to sing louder, jump higher or be nicer to prove ourselves.”

The letter was signed by industry veterans and leaders, such as music attorney Rosemary Carroll, Warner/Chappell publishing vice president Katie Vinten, Pharrell Williams’ manager Caron Veazey and John Legend’s manager Ty Stiklorius. Label executives were, surprisingly, missing from the effort.

Portnow tried backpedaling from his initial comments earlier this week, after facing a wave of backlash from artists like Pink and Charli XCX. He released a statement that didn’t explicitly apologize for what he said, but acknowledged that he’d used clumsy language to address the gender gap.

“Regrettably, I used two words, “step up,” that, when taken out of context, do not convey my beliefs and the point I was trying to make,” he said.

He also announced yesterday that the Recording Academy would put together an independent task force, designed to review biases and barriers that keep women from advancing in the industry. The initiative seemed to be an attempt to show that Portnow was truly committed to understanding and affecting change in music.

But his efforts may be too late—and not nearly enough to address a widespread problem that many women say he’s only made worse.

In their statement, the female executives outline several statistics from a recent study that the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism conducted to examine gender disparities in the music industry. Some of the most salient points include the fact that last year, 83.2 percent pop artists were male, while 16 percent were women. Additionally, only nine percent of the 899 artists nominated for Grammys over the last six years have been female.

“Your comments are another slap in the face to women, whether intended or not; whether taken out of context, or not,” the letter reads. “Needless to say, if you are not part of the solution, then you must accept that YOU are part of the problem. Time’s up, Neil.”



Source link

Categories
Health

Shonda Rhimes Wants to Ban the Phrase 'Strong Female Leads'—and She's Not Wrong


How often do you hear the phrase “strong male characters?” Probably not very much, but the entertainment industry is quick to point out whenever a “strong female woman” makes it on screen. And Shonda Rhimes is sick of it.

Yesterday afternoon, the producer and creator of some of the most beloved female-driven shows, such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and “How To Get Away With Murder,” made the case that although using phrases like “strong female character” or “smart female lead” might be well-intentioned, these qualifiers are not just redundant and condescending.

“Okay,” she tweeted on Thursday. “Entertainment industry, time to stop using the phrases ‘Smart Strong Women’ and ‘Strong Female Leads’. There are no Dumb Weak Women. A smart strong woman is just a WOMAN. Also? ‘Women’ are not a TV trend — we’re half the planet.”

Her remarks started a conversation about how these descriptors are a disservice to women, because they imply that brainy, independent women are a rare sight that needs to be applauded or pointed out. As she explains, the industry should assume that women are already strong and smart, the way they generally do with male characters. Twitter users noted that these terms can also be limiting, since being constantly painted as strong doesn’t always leave much room for complexity or nuance, which is often celebrated in brooding, tortured male characters like the Don Drapers and Walter Whites of the TV world.

A few hours after Rhimes initiated the discussion, Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain chimed in to say, “Yes to this. I’m always told I play ‘strong women.’ Lets pleasw use the phrase ‘well written women’ in its place ALL WOMEN ARE STRONG WOMEN.”

It’s not the first time Rhimes has spoken up about how the industry characterizes female characters. As part of an interview series for Time back in 2017, Rhimes said, “Every time someone says, ‘How do you write such smart, strong women?’ I find it appalling because it suggests that there are stupid, weak women and that’s who is generally out there.”





Source link

Categories
Health

60 Years of Female Nominees at the Grammys in 4 Staggering Charts


The 2018 award season has already been markedly altered by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, from actors wearing black at the Golden Globes to the SAG Awards’ decision to have only female presenters. At the Grammy Awards this weekend, the spotlight will shift to the music industry, which has seen its own share of sexual harassment scandals during the past year—from Kesha to Russell Simmons. Musicians, producers, and managers will be wearing white roses on the red carpet to support Time’s Up, and Kesha’s performance will reportedly speak to the #MeToo movement.

Much like the award ceremonies that spotlight the year’s noteworthy performances on the big and small screen, however, there’s a deeper story to be told around how women are represented at the big award shows for music—and there’s no bigger music award, arguably, than a Grammy.

For this awards season we’re eschewing some of the standard fare of previous years—consistent “Best Dressed” roundups, for example—to focus on spotlighting the ways women are changing the entertainment industry, from record-breaking awards to the perspective-shifting performances. We’re also digging into the data behind key categories at all the major award shows. Just how often do women get nominated? And how often do they win? And are we getting better at being truly representative of the people listening to music or watching shows?

Our reasoning is simple: We believe that better representation—in all areas of the entertainment industry—means healthier workplaces and better storytelling.

2018 marks 60 years of Grammy Awards, and we looked at the data in major, gender-neutral categories all the way back to 1959—including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. (Note: Across all of these categories, we excluded groups of more than 10-12—the ensemble cast of a musical, for example, or the various artists that worked on a movie’s soundtrack—totaling 13 exclusions in all since 1959.) It wasn’t an enormous surprise that musicians and songwriters who identify as female are underrepresented here—as they are across other entertainment award stages—but the percentages are truly staggering. In an industry where artists like Cardi B and Taylor Swift have dominated headlines, the lion’s share of the accolades are still consistently awarded to men in these categories.

Across the field, only 21 percent of the nominees since 1959 have been women and only 23 percent of the winners.

Only 24 percent of artists who identify as female have been nominated for Record of the Year, and only 22 percent have been winners.

For Album of the Year, one of the most distinctive awards at the Grammys (not to mention hotly contested: see Beyoncé’s much-discussed snub in 2017), only 20 percent of the nominees have been women and only 21 percent of the winners. There have been 11 years during the Grammys’ 60-year history where no women were even nominated.

Song of the Year, which is awarded to a songwriter (or songwriters), has the fewest female nominees of all the categories we looked at. Only 17 percent of overall nominees were women and only 16 percent of the winners. Since 1959, there have been 14 years where there were zero women nominated in this category.

The Best New Artist category fares slightly better than the others, with 24 percent of the nominees being female and a whopping 32 percent of the winners. (It’s still low, but significantly higher than the others.) This presents a question, however: Why the drop-off from ‘Best New Artist’ to the other categories? Why are women more routinely heralded as promising newcomers, but not necessarily industry heavyweights?

It’s also worth noting that this data presents just a limited window into women’s representation in the overall business and doesn’t factor in the gaping inequality that women of color, for example, face. This limited window, however, does already offer a pretty stark portrait of how far we have to go. The good news is that music—and the entertainment industry broadly—has a long legacy of artists speaking up and getting loud. Change is sure to follow.

You can explore the data in even more detail below, where you can hover over any of the many individual bubbles to see each nominee, male (in gray) or female (in peach), the work for which they were nominated, and the year—all the way back to 1959. You can also filter the data by gender and by winner.

Graphic: Condé Nast Data Visualization

MORE GRAMMYS:



Source link

Categories
Health

What It's Really Like to Travel With Vice President Mike Pence? One Female Journalist Explains Her Experiences Thus Far


You may have seen the hashtag #PenceFence erupt on Twitter this week, after female journalists covering Vice President Mike Pence‘s trip to the Western Wall in Israel were forced to report from the other side of a fence, behind their male colleagues. Some of those journalists, unsurprisingly, were not happy about it—and said as much on Twitter. Prominent Israeli journalist Tal Schneider wrote: “Separation at the Western Wall. The women stuck in isolation and can not photograph, work. Women journalists are second-class citizens.”

This incident had especially viral potential, considering what Pence has said in the past about working with women. Pence previously made headlines when comments re-surfaced that he does not dine alone with a woman other than his wife, and that he won’t attend events where alcohol is served without his wife, either. Both rules, of course, got their own share of blowback.

But Jenna Johnson, a political reporter for the Washington Post, who was traveling with the Vice President on his Middle East trip, says that the Vice President’s team was actually advocating on behalf of the women reporters at the Western Wall. We asked Johnson, who just completed her second international trip with Vice President Pence, to give us the inside scoop on what she saw happen in Israel—and what it’s really like to work alongside Pence as a reporter, who is, you know, a woman.

Can you explain the story behind #PenceFence? What happened at the Western Wall this week, when women journalists were forced to stand behind male journalists?

When you visit the Western Wall, you get put into two groups: Men can go to one section, and women can go to another section. There is talk in Israel of adding another section, where men and women can go, and that idea has caused a big controversy. Last year, it seemed like everyone had reached a mutual agreement—there could be a co-ed section—but that upset the ultra Orthodox jews in the area, so Prime Minister Netanyahu closed that plan. So again, anytime you go to the wall, men and women are split up. That complicates a visit like the one that Pence did, because only the men would be able to see it.

Who controls the rules at the Western Wall? It’s not Pence, to be clear.

Correct. It is called the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The Vice President was a guest there. And while his staff did work with them to get everything ready, it is their wall. They set the rules. And the [Western Wall Heritage Foundation] set up a work-around. They put up a platform on the male side so that all of the men could be a little higher up and get a good look at the Vice President. Then they made a platform on the female side, so that women could stand over the wall and look over and see the Vice President. This is the same setup that they did when President Trump was there. In the van ahead of time, [the Vice President’s] staff explained to us that this is how it works, this is what to expect. Once we got there, we got out of the vans. The male reporters went one way, the female reporters went another way. We got to our section and there were a number of female journalists, a lot of them local, who were already there. And they were very upset. Because on the women’s side, you just don’t have as great of a view as the guys do. We were behind them.

Did the Pence team step in to try to resolve the situation for the female reporters?

The Vice President’s office had really jumped in and tried to make things better. They added chairs to the women’s side—that way we could stand up on chairs and be a little bit higher. There had been some rain earlier in the day, so there was actually a little tent up over the men. It totally blocked the view that the women had, so they took the tent down.

Did the set-up obstruct your view, or prevent you from doing your job in any way, shape, or form?

For me, as a print reporter, I reported in a little notebook with a pen, and I was able to stand on a chair, see the Vice President through the crowd, and get what I needed for my story. But it was a big problem for women [reporters] who were taking photos—or taking video. One woman who ran a television station said, “The guys who did their stand-up [shots] were able to have the Western Wall as their backdrop. When I did my stand-up, there was a crowd of people behind me.” They felt like it was not fair, and they started tweeting about it.

Do you think the Pence team handled the situation well? Do you wish they handled anything differently?

I think they were honestly trying their best to make it as good of a situation as possible. Again, we walked into a hot topic—there is a lot of disagreement over who can go where at the Western Wall. So given that, they did their best to try to make it as good as they could. And anytime a United States’ leader is traveling overseas, the [leader’s] communications [department] has a tough job of trying to negotiate how much access American reporters can get, especially in countries that aren’t used to that. Earlier in the trip, we were in Egypt and President el-Sisi’s staff did not want American reporters to come into a meeting that Pence and el-Sisi were having. And at one point, we were trapped in a bus for a couple of minutes. The security guard barred us from going into the Palace and doing our jobs. It actually took Pence’s staff passing a note to the Vice President during the meeting—and letting him know what was going on—so that he could appeal to el-Sisi himself to get the issue resolved. So this is part of being a reporter overseas: Navigating countries and the way they handle journalists.

“The Vice President really makes an effort to get to know thereporters who are traveling with him … On our way back [from theMiddle East], we could look up and see him standing there in hissocks, talking to his staff.”

What is it like to travel with the Vice President?

This was my second trip with him. Right before Christmas, we did a secret trip to Afghanistan to see troops there. These are often really long days. You’re watching something unfolding and trying to absorb every detail. Or you’re writing as quickly as you can, to get your story in before you lose wireless. Or you’re exhausted and sleeping.

Do reporters have any informal interaction with the Vice President on these trips?

The Vice President really makes an effort to get to know the reporters who are traveling with him. At the beginning of the [Middle East] trip, and at the end of the trip, he and his wife would come back and thank us for coming along and chat with us about what was to come or what had happened. On our way back, we could look up and see him standing there in his socks, talking to his staff. He didn’t have any shoes on, chatting with his staff. [Laughs.]

What were your biggest takeaways from this Middle East trip?

Back in December, President Trump announced that the United States was going to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. It’s a decision that pretty much every ally urged him not to make. It has not been popular over in the Middle East, other than in Israel, and so, at each stop, this is something that was being talked about, whether publicly or behind closed doors. When we were in Jordan, King Abdullah [II] publicly laid out his concerns, and was kind of lecturing the Vice President about it. But Vice President Pence did not budge at all on this decision. At the end of the trip, he was as confident as ever. He heard the concerns, but he really didn’t see that much protest while he was there, because we were kept to barricaded-off streets, red carpets, palaces, and things like that. And he was welcomed, in Israel, as a hero. He became the first Vice President to address the Knesset, which is the Israeli parliament, and there were trumpets playing and people cheering. I think, for him, this trip just confirmed that the Trump administration made the right decision, despite what others might be saying.





Source link

Categories
Health

The 2018 SAG Awards Will Only Feature Female Presenters


UPDATE, January 21: The full lineup of the women presenting at tonight’s SAG Awards has been revealed.

Here’s who you can expect to see: Rosanna Arquette, Halle Berry, Connie Britton, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Geena Davis, Dakota Fanning, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Felicity Huffman, Brie Larson, Laura Linney, Leslie Mann, Mandy Moore, Rita Moreno, Megan Mullally, Olivia Munn, Niecy Nash, Lupita Nyong’o, Gina Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, Sarah Silverman, Marisa Tomei, and Kelly Marie Tran.

That’s not the only news: The SAG Awards’ traditional “I Am an Actor” segment will be comprised of only female actors this year.

ORIGINAL POST: What’s the opposite of a sausage party?

This year’s annual Screen Actors Guild Awards—which, if you don’t follow the Hollywood awards season too much, is unique because the nominees and winners are chosen by peers, as opposed to stuffy nominating committees—will be exclusively featuring women presenters. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that all 13 acting awards will be presented by a group of actresses, as well the two additional, nontelevised awards for stunt categories. Traditionally, the SAG Awards would see a man and a woman present onstage for each award, but in the current, post–Harvey Weinstein climate, the committee decided that change would be a good thing. (Plus, think of the pairings. Jessica Chastain and Mary J. Blige! Saoirse Ronan and Judi Dench!)

“Beginning with the Women’s March in January, it’s been the year of the woman. This is a unifying salute to women who have been very brave and speaking up,” SAG Awards executive producer Kathy Connell told The Hollywood Reporter. “How many times has a woman walked into a room of predominantly men? We thought, maybe for one night, it’ll be more than fifty-fifty [onstage]. We don’t want to slight the men who have given great performances this year—knowing our membership, I’m sure our men will embrace the opportunity to honor women. It’s still an awards show and a celebration; we’re not here to preach to anybody. To me, just having some of these fabulous women onstage sends its own message.”

To add to the fun even more, this year’s SAG Awards will also be featuring its first-ever host—the honor of which is going to the wonderful Kristen Bell. The ceremony will air on January 21 on TBS and TNT as a nice pregame to the Oscars.

Related: Nicole Kidman Is Championing Women in Hollywood: ‘To Be an Advocate, You Have to Actually Put Things Into Action’



Source link