Redressing the balance

By Lindsay Watson 20-07-2015

There are around 5,000 people working in animation and visual effects (VFX) in the UK. Women make up 34%, at around 1,700, a split between employees, freelancers and ‘others.’ The industry average for women is around 10% lower than in other media sectors, and 80% are either working in production or on the administrative side of the business, having started as runners, receptionists or personal assistants.

Fewer than 20% of women in the industry obtain technical or senior artistic positions such as lead animator, VFX supervisor, writer or director, and only a tiny number of women have started, own or run an animation or VFX company. While that figure is slowly improving, clearly there are not enough women filling these artistic and technical roles and creative talent is being lost.

Animated Women UK (AWUK) launched in 2013 with five key aims: networking, mentoring, showcasing, recruitment and education (including training and research). Since then, we’ve grown to more than 850 subscribers and held a number of events at great venues like the Cartoon Museum, Mind Candy, MPC, Pinewood Studios, RSA, Bafta and Double Negative, all with a small and dedicated volunteer team and masses of support from the industry.

AWUK’s mission is to better support and represent women working in animation and VFX in the UK. We want to break the barriers that prevent women climbing up the career ladder. We want to see a visible change in the industry, which means seeing better characters for girls on television and better management structures in companies, with women in authority-driven roles.

Britain has a fantastic history of animation and VFX, and in order to understand how women can be nurtured to grow in these industries, AWUK completed targeted research earlier this year, including a survey and case studies with both employees and employers.

More than 260 women responded to our survey and more than 50 interviews were completed with experts across broadcasting and studio production. A lot of the barriers we have long suspected do exist, but we wanted to put them in black and white.

There’s no doubt women experience sexism and discrimination in the workplace. But there are other things that are talked about less, such as being able to balance family life while taking care of older and younger generations.

We found that while 65% of survey respondents were of ‘child-bearing age,’ only 22% actually had children, and women over the age of 35 were leaving the industry en masse. Our demographic was also educated at a higher-than-average standard (i.e. post-graduate), but many women felt they weren’t being taken seriously or listened to.

If you go through a recruitment agency, you’re very unlikely to find work in the animation sector. The number-one way people find jobs in our industry is through personal contacts, which is why a network is so important.

We also know that freelancers require very resilient attitudes, great people skills and the ability to think on their feet – qualities many women possess.

But there still needs to be improvement in the building of personal profiles, managing careers and saying, ‘Hey, look at me, I did that!’ Sometimes that can be quite difficult for women in the public eye, as the risks are higher.

AWUK’s research has allowed us to better identify the kind of support women want and clearly outline what resources are required for future initiatives. As a business owner and someone dedicated to creating great animation for girls, having the support of other women has been essential to my own career growth and an invaluable tool when faced with new decisions.

Initiatives like this enable women to easily access opportunities that have never existed before, and we hope that having access to groups like ours enables more women to reach for ‘infinity, and beyond!’