The place of female directors in French television fiction remains largely in the minority. According to Laurence Bachman, producer and co-president of the association Pour les Femmes Dans les Médias, 8% of French fiction is produced by women and 18% is co-produced by a woman. These figures were communicated during a debate conducted Thursday as part of the 22nd Festival of television creations, which is held until February 9 in Luchon (Haute-Garonne).
This gender imbalance is also found in production stations. And even in the roles present on the air. Director Claire de La Rochefoucauld estimates that men represent 70% of the characters.
The debate brought together alongside Laurence Bachman (member of the festival's Fiction jury) and Claire de La Rochefoucauld, the director responsible for dissemination and innovation at INA Agnès Chauveau and producer Julie Gayet. The latter presents the third part of her documentary Filmmakers to Luchon, which explores the working conditions of female directors around the world. The four women called for the establishment of quotas to promote parity in French television drama.
A position that wants to be measured
If parity is the long-term objective, the women present during this debate are not asking for 50% quotas. "We are not extremists, we are full of common sense and we do with reality," says Laurence Bachman, quoted by AFP. Faced with the widespread fear that a legal obligation harms creativity, the creators initially demand a minimum level of 30% of women.
The INA is also preparing a major study on the place of women in French fiction over the past ten years. "In order for women to count, you have to count them," explains Julie Gayet, quoted by a sister from the Parisian special envoy to Luchon.
Minister on reserve
Culture Minister Franck Riester said on Friday that he preferred "incentive measures" to quotas to increase the number of women directors on television. On the cinema side, the CNC already created a 15% bonus last year in its film subsidies, the teams of which include as many women as men in key management positions.
However, the Minister is not completely opposed to the idea of mandatory quotas. Franck Riester said that "if we had to go through" this method, he would solve it.
In Luchon, Nadège Beausson-Diagne recalled that this fight for equality between women and men should not forget the diversity of the creators. In 2018, the actress co-signed the Black Book is not my job , in which black French actresses testified to the racism suffered in their careers.
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- Julie Gayet
- French series
- Television
- Parity