Marsha Newbery will be in attendance to promote Mainstreaming Media Diversity and officially launch the start of the program development in Vancouver.

Visit http://womeninfilm.ca/ to get tickets.

Listen: Geena Davis Institute-SexMoneyMedia-05.mp3

Featuring:

Madeline Di Nonno,
Executive Director of See Jane and The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Stacy Smith,
Associate Professor of Entertainment at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California

Listen: Juhasz_SexMoneyMedia_04.mp3

Featuring:

Alexandra Juhasz, Producer & Professor of Media Studies, Pitzer College

Listen: Culture&Commerce_SexMoneyMedia_03.mp3

Featuring:

Trina McQueen, OC., Broadcast Journalist & former President of CTV Inc.

Rita Deverell, CM., Broadcaster & Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies, Mount St. Vincent University

Rita Cugini, Commissioner, CRTC Ontario Region

Valerie Creighton, President & CEO, Canadian Media Fund

After reviewing some of the links between the past and current literature, she turned her attention to the issue of women’s (in)equality within the industry, focusing on a number of issues affecting women as cultural workers. She identified 4 factors: distinctive characteristics of work in the media; failure of inequality laws; new forms of sexism; and the postfeminist problem. All combined, these mitigating factors, Gill argues, have created a hostile climate for women working behind-the-scenes wherein words like “sexism” become “unspeakable” and others like “diversity” are merely empty words used to illustrate workplace equality without actually implementing such change. In her concluding remarks, Gill called for women to (once again) “break the silence.” Amen.

Review by: Natasha Patterson

Listen: RosGillSexMoneyMedia_01.pm3

Presenters: Sara Diamond (Moderator), Ana Serrano, Michelle Perras, Lynda-Brown Ganzert, Stephanie MacKendrick, Sarah Prevette

Following Rosalind Gill’s plenary, Sara Diamond offered up an equally compelling and highly informative plenary session. The panel was comprised of well-respected women who are committed to raising women’s visibility within the technology and content sectors. They panelists made it clear that it’s not just about creating more awareness though; each speaker offered concrete suggestions for how we can make these fields a viable and attractive career option for young women.

Listen: SDiamond_SexMoneyMedia_02.mp3

Some of the key points and suggestions included:

• the need to raise the profiles of women working in the industry, to show young girls and women that it can be a career path for them too
• Similarly, they need to be prepared for the “realities” of that career – it’s not easy
• Mentoring, leadership, and apprenticeship programs play a crucial role and can offer young women the guidance they need to succeed and flourish in the “nerd world”
• Building on this, it was suggested that perhaps the government could utilize EI for job creation or perhaps to subsidize mentoring programs
• Or, why not bring young girls to conferences such as SMM?
• Networking: Creating communities of women is important
• Changes need to be made to the curricula for young girls; they need to be introduced to technology and sciences at a young age (it might also be necessary to “rebrand” these fields in order to gain their interest)
• Structural changes need to happen too – not always a welcoming environment to women which can result in the troubling work trend, “opting out”
• Safety nets need to be created so women can take risks, a necessity in current profession

How do we harness the time and energy that women put into their consumption in a way that might turn them into content creators? This is an important question given women’s increasing presence within the world of social media and the swirling debates about the consumer as producer.

Interestingly, Diamond’s panel title asked, “where are the women?” Well, they were clearly in the room! Yet, they are still a minority but given this group’s enthusiasm for, and commitment to creating gender parity within the industry, it wasn’t hard to imagine that change is just around the corner. The next generation has much to look forward to.

Reviewer: Natasha Patterson

SexMoneyMedia 2010: Special Presentation
This is a rare opportunity to learn about the trailblazing work of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and its programming arm See Jane, which engages film and television creators to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters and reduce gender stereotyping in media made for children 11 and under. The Institute is dedicated to changing the way media represents women and girls, to encouraging media to present and investigate issues of grave importance to women , and to use a “gender” lens when reporting. Lead researcher Dr. Stacy Smith will unveil the findings of the Institute’s current research.

Also available as an audio podcast: Listen: Geena Davis Institute-SexMoneyMedia-05.mp3

Featuring:

Madeline Di Nonno,
Executive Director of See Jane and The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Stacy Smith,
Associate Professor of Entertainment at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California

SexMoneyMedia 2010 Plenary
Known as the poster-child for freedom of expression and the democratizing possibilities afforded by user-generated digital content, YouTube provides free access to production and distribution of media while withholding other functionality sorely needed for meaningful personal and communal expression and activism. Feminist media has long made demands for expanded access alongside the growing of community, goals, history and literacy. Juhasz will offer lessons from her current work as a scholar and teacher on YouTube, and as producer of the micro-budget collective lesbian feature, The Owls (Cheryl Dunye 2010), as examples of the highs and lows of user-generated, feminist digital possibility.

Also Available as an audio podcast: Listen: Juhasz_SexMoneyMedia_04.mp3

Featuring:

Alexandra Juhasz, Producer & Professor of Media Studies, Pitzer College

SexMoneyMedia 2010: Keynote Panel
A rare dialogue with some of Canada’s leading women in media as they discuss their careers, and the challenge of balancing the forces of the market with our desire for art and public culture as Canada develops its digital economic strategy. Access to our stories, screens and markets lies at the heart of our national interest in public media policy. In this time of unprecedented change, how can the Canadian public media institutions support innovation and economic success in the cultural industries while still protecting a media that is equitable, diverse, and accessible to all Canadians?

Also available as an audio podcast: Listen: Culture&Commerce_SexMoneyMedia_03.mp3

Featuring:

Trina McQueen, OC., Broadcast Journalist & former President of CTV Inc.

Rita Deverell, CM., Broadcaster & Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies, Mount St. Vincent University

Rita Cugini, Commissioner, CRTC Ontario Region

Valerie Creighton, President & CEO, Canadian Media Fund