Women in View – Research and action on the role of women in Canadian media

WIVOS23 Report - TOOLKITS

While the sector has progressed since the first On Screen Report in 2011, this progress remains slow and, as Covid-19 revealed, quite fragile and vulnerable to regression. The findings in the On Screen report provide a snapshot of the sector’s current state. As a quantitative report, the findings comprise the outputs of the sector system. That is, the numbers presented in this report are the result of the processes and practices that define how our section works. This important context provides the backdrop to this toolkit,
which offers a series of questions that will help you reflect on your role in these findings meaningfully, understand how the stories these data tell relate to your practices and be moved to create a more equitable industry.

This toolkit offers a series of questions to help stakeholders in different positions engage with the research and findings presented in the On Screen Report 2023.

Read the Toolkits in English:

WIVOS23 Toolkit for Broadcasters

WIVOS23 Toolkit for Funders

WIVOS23 Toolkit for Professionals working in the industry

In French here:

WIVOS23 Boîte à Outils pour les Diffuseurs

WIVOS23 Boîte à Outils pour les Bailleurs de Fonds

WIVOS23 Boîte à Outils pour les Professionnels travaillant dans le secteur

WIVOS23 Report - CALLS TO ACTION

The results of WIVOS23, presented in August, clearly demonstrated a decrease overall in progress for women and gender diverse creatives made pre-pandemic, as shown through WIVOS2019 and WIVOS21. Indigenous Women, Black Women, and Women of Colour were the most significantly impacted and underrepresented.

Based on these findings, WIV released the Calls to Action that outline eight urgent and necessary steps that must be made to see substantive movement toward an equitable industry.

The Calls to Action were presented at this year’s St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF), the same festival that supported the launch of the first On Screen Report in 2012.

Read the Calls to Action in English:

Calls to Action WIVOS23 Report

English Press Release

In French here:

Appels a L’Action WIVOS23 Report

French Press Release

ON SCREEN REPORT 2023

Women in View’s 7th On Screen Report documents women’s employment in Canada’s publicly funded film, television and documentary from 2019 to 2021 with data on Black women, Indigenous Women, Women of Colour and Gender Diverse people who identify beyond the binary of cisgender men and cisgender women throughout.

The report takes a deep dive into gender representation and diversity in Canada’s English-language screen industry, examining how multiple aspects of identity—most prominently race and gender—intersect when it comes to accessing employment and funding. The findings reveal precarious progress around parity gains and many setbacks for women and gender diverse creatives in the industry. For example, while Indigenous women and gender diverse creatives saw small gains in film, they experienced huge losses in their share of work in television. Black women, as another example, had the least representation across all key creative roles, led the fewest projects, and received the least funding overall and on average. Of the 5919 credits examined in this report, 71% were by cisgender males.

These findings suggest that the hard-earned progress that began to pick up speed in 2019, is fragile and that more sustainable infrastructure must be developed to ensure parity and importantly equity gains withstand market pressure.