Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE IRISH FILM Board (IFB) has announced a series of new funding opportunities that it says will go towards achieving “gender parity” in the Irish film industry.
Budding female filmmakers will be able to avail of funding of up to €400,000 to produce a feature film, with an aim to achieve an equal level of funding for male and female applicants across a range of projects.
Dr Annie Doona, chair of the Irish Film Board, said that the direct funding offers will “incentivise an increased number of applications from female-led talent and will support, empower and elevate Irish female talent working within the industry”.
Unconscious bias
In December 2015, the film board announced plans to address the under-representation of women in Irish film.
Upon launching its plan, it noted that, between 2010 and 2015:
It says that significant progress has been made since then, with 70% of IFB-funded short films to premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh this week having female directors attached.
Earlier this year, unconscious bias training was mooted as a way of making the film industry here more diverse.
Unconscious bias is defined, by the University of Warwick, as “a bias that we are unaware of, and which happens outside of our control”. It says that it causes our brain to make quick judgements and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences.
Donna told TheJournal.ie that this was something the IFB was seriously considering. She said: “We have talked a lot in the board – which is 50/50 male and female – we’ve talked a lot about unconscious bias and [Deputy Chief Executive] Teresa McGrane in particular has been talking to companies who deliver unconscious bias training and saying we could get those guys in to work… with the industry.”
Achieving parity
To follow on the aim of achieving 50/50 funding provision for men and women in the industry, the IFB is rolling out this new series of funding initiatives aimed at women.
They are:
Doona said: “These initiatives represent the continued commitment of the IFB to achieve gender parity within the film, television and animation sector.
We are of the view that whilst a lot has been achieved in developing the careers of female writers and directors, not enough has been achieved in relation to increasing the actual funding applications received by the IFB, with female talent attached. 50/50 parity of funding remains our goal.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What next? Do we start dividing the money between each race or gender preference? Why not just give the money to the projects that actual deserve to be funded because they have a chance of succeeding? “Positive discrimination” is still discrimination.
They powerful elite want us outraged and in a chaotic state. Divide and conquer. Take no notice and carry on.
@Blarneykite: Nope shouldn’t fire females in those roles, but maybe males should be payed more or offered a bonus to encourage more male applicants.
I work on building sites and there is gender inequality in pouring concrete. I have yet to hear anyone complain about that
@domas1507: Right you are , we’ll throw a million at that and see if we can’t get any of the fairer sex involved .
@domas1507: same for the refuse engineers
@Ken Hayden: Ironically, your always met with a wall of silence as soon as you mention females in construction roles..In any case, identity politics is just another way for the rich and powerful to sub divide us, men vs women,gay vs straight, black vs white, religions, etc.
@Shane Cormican: A “refuse engineer”?
@Gary: Bin men – sorry bin person.
How will see to be fluid fair out on this gender stuff, will they decide what side they are depending on which gender is specified on grant application forms?
The IFB said ‘significant progress has been made with 70% short films at Galway Film Fleadh having female directors’
How is this progress? Surely this is discriminating against men and the objective should be 50%?
@Nick Allen: Because feminists do not care about equality. As a famous feminist said, they want to be more equal than men
@Nick Allen: “70% short films at Galway Film Fleadh having female directors” – what about lgbtqq directors ? Do we support them or we are still in middle ages mentality where lgbtqq are not allowed to develop their talents working within the industry ??
How do you know that a female at the time of the application will still identify as female when the film is made?
Blokes should apply for it anyway, when refused, take them to court. It discrimination 101.
Does anyone think that any career would naturally fall as 50/50 without artificial intervention? Men and women on average have slightly different interests. Saying that, treating ‘men’ and ‘women’ as homogeneous groups is daft. Encourage everyone to pursue careers they are interested and talented in. If that’s a male nurse or a female engineer, I don’t care. Equality should be in terms of equal access to careers for all.
@Hughie Geaney: Soviet Russia comes to mind and Pasha Angelina, the first female tractor-operator in the USSR !!
So are they going to address the shortage of male directors in the short film sector? 70% female is very one sided.
Submit all scripts and screenplays anonymized and let the money follow the talent
@Francis Devenney: But… but the equality, what would the feminists complain about then…???
@Francis Devenney: Being fair is no longer fair Francis. Aren’t you by any chance white, heterosexual male ??
This is absurd. We have an industry which anybody can take part in, regardless of creed, colour or gender but because men happen to take to this industry more than women – whoa. Can’t have that.
The solution? Give grants only women can apply for and get and call this equality. Seriously??? No promotion and encouragement for women to enter the industry the same way men do on a level playing field, giving additional grants to women and pretending this is equality is just laughable and fooling nobody.
Why do we have to keep going we want more females. If they don’t want to work in that industry ah well. If there is more men than woman ah well.
@Connell Murdock: Because certain feminists have pushed this agenda, it has to be said with the help of the media too, telling us that in any walk of life (at least ones that suit) if there is an unbalance and women are underrpresented then this is a problem. This is an inequality, one that absolutely must be corrected. Never mind that the door to the particular role was open to both genders, equally. That neither were descriminated against but for various reasons the role just appealed more to one gender.
But to take corrective action, to award grants solely to one gender or perhaps the infamous ‘positive descrimination’ that is favouring one gender over the other, even if the excuse is equality it is favouritism.
Judging by Ms. Doona’s twitter feed, she’s more of a womens’ rights activist than chairperson of a film board.
FG and Mr Noonan ensured this happened.
Keeps elitists happy…
Unconscious bias has been slammed by the scientific community for a long time. Its the pinnacle of stupidity. Ben Shapiro calls it not even a ghost but a ghost of a ghost. It is a way of saying that thought always results in action, which if it was true we would have Veronica slaughtering men on the street.
So,if i put up an ad for a job looking for 2 people, have no restrictions on who applies for it. I happen to get 40 men and 2 women.To make an “equal” playing field i would be required regardless of talent or timing or anything to give one position to a woman just because she is a woman. How is this equal?
Also, can anyone give an example of governmental money which is directed purely for the benefit of men to the exclusion of women?
And this is equality?Us men need to stand now
@Kris Kendellen: Are we sure that she isn’t slaughtering men in the street?
Great, Just what we need, more love stories on Trailerwatch.
Anyone know where I can get a sex change operation?
What percentage of IFB staff is female?
Women get paid more in porno’s…just saying
@Kev Creed: Yeah, I nearly walked off the set when they told me.
@Kev Creed:
You actually get paid for doing Pornos?
@Nick Allen: haha…not me
@Honeybadger197: strike
@Kev Creed: Down tools?
The whole process of funding and making a film is for directors, producers and screenwriters something that reduces grown men to tears and mental health issues, especially IFB applications.
I am so sick of this gender parity cr*p. Does everything have to be equal?
So there is a call for parity by giving them more money. Is that an oxymoron? (definitely some kind of moron)
All the lads going whinge whinge whinge. Get off your backsides and do something about your life if you feel it’s so unfair, like women are doing. Stop begrudging women from having what you have.
@Veronica: You have just contradicted yourself there.
@Veronica: women have higher life expectance and I will take your lower death rate in the the work place .I’ll take your better pay in fashion and engineering and you can have the guns too fight in all the wars and when the ship is sinking women and children first never heard of a feminist on a sinking ship
@Veronica: let’s see if veronicas inappropriate comments are deleted today
@Veronica: Social welfare for female directors… Nice. And you want me to pay for this? Call this equality?
@Veronica: what you seem to be saying are men are lazy and women deserve an advantage. Women have exactly the same opportunity as men in Ireland today with the now added addition of a gender biased 400k this move is incredibly sexist, and being seen more and more, it’s no longer best person for the job or hardest worker but quotas now come first but only in convenient industries, it is actually illegal to not hire someone or provide funding based on gender so it’s an absolute disgrace to punish male film makers for women’s lack of interest in a certain industry.
@Veronica: Oh shut up Veronica.
@Veronica: Do you seriously think that us men have everything easy Or you just whinge when something does not suit you ? Perhaps you will explain how you achieved what you achieved by getting up off your own backside.
@ter Have you ever thought about why men face those issues? Like really thought about it?
You want men to die less at work? Get out there and protest for more stringent work and safety rules.
>the ship is sinking women and children first
Who do you think came up with that? Do you think it was a woman who was captain of a ship a hundred years ago? I can give you a hint: it was a man.
Good god. If you actually care about the hardships men face why don’t you actually do something useful to help. It really feels like you don’t actually care about men, you just like having those things as a stick to wield at women any time women’s issues are brought up.
Has anyone else ever seen any of these issues affecting men being brought up on any article that wasn’t about women’s issues? Seriously, comment if you have, because I genuinely haven’t.
@Jho Harris: No I don’t think you have it easy, but I think it’s pathetic when you all come out to complain when women are out there fighting for themselves. If you want change for men, be the change. Don’t just complain when women are trying to better their situation.
>Perhaps you will explain how you achieved what you achieved by getting up off your own backside.
What does that even mean?
@Veronica: Do you mind me asking, do you use every article to push your very clear misandrist agenda? Every time there’s an article of anything happening to a woman, a murder for example, you hop right in with almost child like glee to condemn all men and warn all women of how untrustworthy we are etc.
You clearly didn’t get enough manly hugs this morning, come one, arms wide… Welcome to the dark side babe…
@Veronica: This is a great initiative for women. It’s obvious they need the extra help because they can’t compete on a level playing field. This is what I learned from the government, women need extra help to compete because men are too good. If I was a woman I’d be pissed that the government think I need extra help because of my genitals, surely initiatives like these make women appear inferior?
@Veronica: Veronica men do stand up for equal rights and against what they feel is injustice. Do you actually believe all this feminist movement was fueled and achieved by just women? You said it yourself with the women and children first comment, its been men alongside women helping them to attain an equal position within society. The issue is now that it is starting to come around a complete 180 degrees and become sexist against men. In my opinion that’s neither fair nor long-term beneficial to anyone in society. The whole approach to tackling gender imbalance in society is flawed.
Millie Tant from Viz springs to mind.:
@Stephen Foster:
>Do you actually believe all this feminist movement was fueled and achieved by just women?
Yes. Historically men have mostly been against women having more rights, they were abandoned by their leftist comrades so they set up their own movement, which brought about actual results for women.
At every step of the way, there have been so many men moaning about how women are getting above themselves, and that hasn’t changed.
>The issue is now that it is starting to come around a complete 180 degrees and become sexist against men.
I really wonder why you think that. Are men being raped or beaten or murdered by women at the same rates as women are by men? I’m not saying I want men to suffer, I’m saying that I want women to stop suffering.
>The whole approach to tackling gender imbalance in society is flawed.
Agreed. We need to dismantle and overthrow patriarchy and capitalism in order to see real, beneficial, and lasting change in society.
@Jed I. Knight: >Every time there’s an article of anything happening to a woman
You mean I stay on topic? I do, yeah, which is a lot more than can be said for you guys.
P.S. I’ll say no thanks to the hug, but yes please to a coffee ;)
@Veronica:
Where are men complaining? The comments are looking for equality
@Veronica: you seem to have fallen into victim mentality, nothing is holding you back from being an award winning film director apart from your complete lack of talent where you reply on getting up the ladder via playing the victim.
@Veronica: “Every time there’s an article of anything happening to a woman” But this isn’t such an article, it clearly illustrates that women have the same opportunies in the film industry as men but they either don’t take them or it just doesn’t interest them.
Someone, somewhere decided this was a problem that needed to be addressed and, rather than promoting the industry among women felt it necessary to promote grants for which only women can apply. And this is called equality. No, it isn’t, it’s called favouritism in the real world.
@Veronica: You need to look at paganism a bit closer, I am not here to help you understand the facts but under paganism woman was in charge and men invented organised religions to turn the tables and claimed power for men. Still 2000 years on women still take sh^t form Christian sects and scandalous treatment from Islamic sects anything way beyond Christian sects handed out. So get up off your backside and do something that make themselves about who you lost power to.
@Jed I. Knight: A valid point. And original.
have your say