O Womania! report highlights lower representation of women in films, series, media firms

Ormax Media, the media consulting firm, and Film Companion, the entertainment platform, have released O Womania!, a report on women representation in Indian movies and web-series. 

The report highlights on-screen and off-screen representation of women through analysing 150 theatrical films, streaming films and web-series released in 2021 across eight languages - Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati. 

The report has received collaboration from various film bodies, streaming services like Hoichoi, SonyLIV, Voot and Zee5, and production houses like Clean Slate Filmz, Dharma Productions, Emmay Entertainment, Excel Entertainment, Purple Pebble Pictures, RSVP and Sikhya Entertainment.

The report studied the representation and participation of women across three major categories – ‘content’ that included female representation on-screen and behind-the-camera, ‘marketing’ that studied female representation in promotional trailers of films and series, and ‘corporate’ that analysed female representation in board rooms of top 25 media and entertainment firms.

The key findings of the report include:

Low representation off-screen: Women have low representation behind-the-camera with only 10% head of department (HOD) positions across key divisions (production design, writing, editing, direction and cinematography) held by women. Out of the 56 theatrical films analyzed across languages, not even one was directed or edited by a woman. Even in media and entertainment corporate houses, that are at the center of decision-making, only 10% of senior leadership roles were held by women, having a cascading effect on inclusivity through the production and execution chain.

Low representation on-screen: Only 55% of the films and series passed the Bechdel Test, at least one scene in which two named women are speaking, and the conversation is about something other than men/ a man. For streaming series, the criterion was modified to include three scenes, given their longer runtime. Even in promotional trailers analysed through the Trailer Talk Time Test, women had only 25% talk time with 48 titles even allocating ten seconds or less to female characters.

Women hire more women: The percentage of female HODs doubled when a woman greenlit a series or a film. Similarly, a higher percentage of films passed the Bechdel Test (68%) and women had higher trailer talk time (35%) if the title was commissioned by a woman.

Streaming is driving the change: Streaming films and series performed better than theatrical films across all parameters indicating the change the sector is ushering in representation on and off-screen. For instance, representation of female HODs in streaming films and series was five times higher than theatrical films. Similarly, 64% of streaming series and 55% of streaming films passed the Bechdel Test, as opposed to more than half of theatrical films failing it. Likewise, streaming films and series provided more talk time to female characters in trailers, leading theatrical films by 10 percentage points and 14 percentage points respectively.

Speaking about the findings, Shailesh Kapoor, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ormax Media, said in a statement, “While it’s no surprise that female representation in mainstream entertainment is low, the degree of skew, such as 10:90 on some key parameters, should be a wake-up call. While streaming titles, especially series, are more women-inclusive in on and off-screen representation, theatrical films continue to perform very poorly, and in fact, have shown no positive growth at all since the previous report, which covered content released in 2019 and 2020. We hope that this report serves as a starting point for the industry to come together and discuss ways to address the evident imbalance.” 

Anupama Chopra, founder and editor of Film Companion, said, “Data is essential to understanding how drastically skewed the gender equation in the Indian film industry is. O Womaniya! provides us with the starting point for discussion and debate. Starting out as an effort by Ormax Media and Film Companion, the initiative has now found resonance with the entire industry. The support that we have received from film bodies, streaming services and studios is heartening. We will continue to build this momentum and hopefully lead the way to change.” 

Aparna Purohit, head of originals at Amazon Prime Video said that although there has been an improvement in female representation in the Indian entertainment sector, there was never any data-backed report that can hold a mirror up to the current reality. She believes that O Womania! fills that vacuum. 

“We are thrilled to join hands with Ormax Media and Film Companion on an initiative that is in sync with our philosophy on equitable representation,” she said. “The report serves as a good starting point to initiate discussions on the need to involve more women, particularly in decision-making roles, as that has a ripple effect on inclusivity in the entire ecosystem. Change has to be persistent and intentional, and we need to take constant steps to improve these numbers year after year.” 

Elaborating on the role of streaming in improving female representation, she added that they have opened the doors for more inclusive storytelling that provides greater opportunities to women. “Streaming has given voice to more female storytellers resulting in an increase in stories that are driven by female characters with agency,” Purohit said. “At Prime Video, we have rolled out an inclusion policy playbook that has institutionalized certain guidelines to ensure just female representation on and off-screen. These range from mandatory female representation in writers’ rooms, and evaluating every script on specific parameters. I am certain that streaming is going to further lead the charge on diversity, equity and inclusivity in Indian entertainment.” 

O Womania! is also supported by actress Vidya Balan. She is the poster girl for films with female protagonists. Some of these include The Dirty Picture (2011), Kahaani (2012), Tumhari Sulu (2017), Shakuntala Devi (2020), Sherni (2021), and Jalsa (2022), etc.

Sharing her take on the findings, she said that she has noticed the increase in female representation in the last decade and a half with just a handful of women on sets to now having women lead filmmaking by taking charge of direction, editing, and other key departments, we have come a long way. 

“While this change has been underway for a while, it’s now become stronger with streaming services that have introduced the much-needed diversity in storytelling and on sets,” Vidya said. “However, the report indicates that we still have a lot of ground to cover. And this can only happen when we have more women in the boardrooms, prompting change right at the heart of decision-making. As female actors in positions of influence, we need to push for more female representation behind the camera in order to have more sensitive, authentic and relatable representation in front of it too.” 

She added, “I am glad to be associated with the report and commend Ormax Media, Film Companion, Amazon Prime Video, and all other entities for taking the step towards documenting female representation in Indian entertainment. We now need to move the needle from intention to action, and work towards minimizing and disrupting biases.” 

The complete report can be accessed here.