Barbara Benedek: Women in media can bring about change

Despite a number of high profile and very talented women at the top of our industry, women remain noticeably under-paid and under-utilised in the television and film industries. Brand new figures from Skillset's 2002 Audio-Visual Industry Census reveal that women make up 44 per cent of the total workforce in the UK television and film industry.

But these figures also reveal that while women fill the majority of positions in make-up, costume, wardrobe and archives, they continue to represent less than 10 per cent of the workforce in the more lucrative roles such as camera, lighting, special effects and engineering departments.

According to British Film Istitute research, of a total of 350 UK features produced over the past two years, women directed only eight.

And it is not only on the film set that the director's chair is inaccessible to women. It is also in corporate boardrooms. In 2001, only 7 per cent of board directors of the FTSE 100 companies were women. Women fill only 18 per cent of the seats in Parliament and since the dawn of time, according to the BBC poll; only 13 have contributed to the 100 Great Britons. Congratulations go to Dame Julie Andrews, the only "woman in film and television" to make it on to the list.

The portrayal of women in film, television and the newspapers is not always positive. Women are often painted as weak or inferior, as victims or as objects of sexual exploitation, or simply tarred with unhelpful epithets. Forthright opinions from last year's speaker, Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, have earned her the moniker "Nanny". Not much to choose between – "Nanny"or "Blair's Babe"!

But there is good news. Research from San Diego State University shows that the presence of women executives on US television programmes brings about a significant increase in the numbers of women both in front of and behind the camera. So, we can make a difference, and we can bring about change.