Gender Gaps and Representation in the Audiovisual Sector: A Key Debate for the Future of the Industry

The gender panel at the latest AVACI Assembly examined the situation of women and sexual minorities in the audiovisual industry across different countries. Among the issues discussed were the limited presence of LGBTIQ+ themes in today’s audiovisual narratives, the lack of gender parity on film sets, and the scarcity of a faithful representation of women’s economic realities.

Within the framework of the 2025 Annual Assembly of the International Confederation of Audiovisual Authors (AVACI), held in November in Zagreb, Croatia, the panel Visibility and Inequality: an analysis of the situation of women and diversities in current audiovisual production brought together directors and representatives of collective management societies from different countries to reflect on the current situation of women and gender diversities in audiovisual production, as well as the challenges that remain in achieving real and sustainable inclusion in the industry. Far from a purely rhetorical approach, the discussion connected concrete experiences, partial yet revealing data, and shared concerns about the gap between progressive legal frameworks and their effective implementation when it comes to gender inequalities in audiovisual workplaces worldwide.

Director and president of DAC Carmen Guarini opened the debate by noting that although progressive legal frameworks exist in Argentina—such as the equal marriage law or the trans employment quota law—their implementation remains incomplete and uneven. Globally, she recalled, only about 25% of audiovisual directing positions are held by women, and these gaps deepen in key areas such as directing, screenwriting, technical roles, and acting.

Guarini also warned about the geographic concentration of festivals and training programs, which are mostly located in major urban centers, and stressed the need to analyze how unstable political contexts—often accompanied by cuts to cultural funding—particularly affect the visibility of women and gender diversities.

From Chile, Daniella Castagno, president of ATN and vice president of AVACI, broadened the discussion to include LGBTIQ+ diversities, highlighting the tension between existing legal protections and the setbacks in representation within industry content and diversity standards. Castagno pointed out that after a peak in visibility during the pandemic, the presence of these identities in series and films has declined, while regulatory risks and forms of censorship have increased. In that context, she emphasized the importance of integrating diversity from the early stages of project development and strengthening laws that guarantee protection and continuity.

For her part, Dina Pokrajac, representing the host society DHFA, focused on material working conditions and the power structures within the audiovisual industry. She noted that women continue to occupy fewer creative and decision-making roles—except in areas such as costume design and makeup—while also carrying invisible care responsibilities on set. Pokrajac denounced women’s disproportionate exposure to psychological and sexual harassment, the normalization of rigid hierarchies, and the lack of effective protection, calling for action that goes beyond formal protocols toward concrete measures based on collective organization and collaboration across the different sectors of the industry.

Director Dana Budisavljević, also representing DHFA, highlighted the absence of systematic statistics on gender and diversity in her country and stressed the urgent need to produce reliable data to measure real inequalities. Drawing on her personal experience, she described how the creation of public film support institutions allowed, within a few years, a significant increase in the number of women directors and greater visibility for diverse identities. However, she warned that without precise data it is easy to lose perspective and live within professional “bubbles.”

Screenwriter Sylvia Palma, representing GEDAR, celebrated the evolution of the gender space within AVACI and the increasing number of women in leadership roles within the collective management societies that compose it. She also shared data from the Brazilian context: women now occupy around 38% of roles in audiovisual production, while Black women account for roughly 20%, with Indigenous women still having only a very limited presence.

Palma emphasized persistent wage inequalities—women earn on average 87% of men’s salaries, while Black women earn only about 50%—and noted that the lack of parity in strategic areas such as cinematography and directing remains a central issue. She also warned about the invisibility of women’s work within screenwriting teams and about resistance to quota systems, often framed by a notion of meritocracy that ignores historical inequalities.

Toward the end of the panel, director Inés de Oliveira Cézar, deputy general secretary of DAC, proposed a reflection on LGBTIQ+ cinema and its current challenges. She pointed to the rapid growth of this type of production and the emergence of internal debates about the “clusterization” of content, questioning whether these stories should be told exclusively by people belonging to sexual minorities or dissident identities.

Referring to examples such as Call Me by Your Name and Brokeback Mountain, Oliveira Cézar defended the diversity of perspectives as a driver of rights, audiences, and cultural expansion. She emphasized that greater representativeness is not only fair but also strategically intelligent from an industry standpoint, particularly at a time when platforms are seeking to broaden and segment their audiences.

The panel concluded with a call for integration and collective action. Castagno emphasized that the audiovisual sector is, above all, a talent-driven industry, and that the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people improves the quality of storytelling, expands audiences, and strengthens the business itself. Clear standards, fair hiring practices, and effective protocols against censorship were identified as essential conditions for sustainable development.

The final interventions agreed that diversity is not a sectoral or secondary issue but rather a structural component of the future of audiovisual production. The AVACI Assembly 2025 made clear that the progress achieved so far is significant, but that the central challenge remains transforming legal frameworks and public discourse into concrete practices that guarantee equality, visibility, and dignity for all those who make up the creative industry.