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Permalink Reply by Wasylyshen on February 28, 2012 at 8:39am

Terrific article. It starts with drawing attention to the topic. I'm sure the boys enjoy sharing their office space with girls, but by the end of the next decade, it'd be awesome to see a girl at least nominated, for sure. Thanks for making this article. Well done. Laura

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Permalink Reply by Scott Squires on March 21, 2012 at 10:02pm

I think it's important to understand not too many women wanted to work in visual effects. When I started years ago there were a few women in vfx production offices and possibly one or two in a model shop. These days there are a lot more women involved (although it's still much less than 50%).  When I started and was looking for a job Disney actually told me I couldn't do ink and paint work because they only hired women to do those jobs. I'm sure there might have been some prejudice from some people but in all the years working at companies or running a company I didn't see discrimination based on gender or race. Running a company pre-digital meant that almost every resume was from a man. We had a woman camera person working on a project but it was rare to find that.

So what you're seeing reflected in the list isn't a 'boy's club', it's simply the people who at that point wanted to do visual effects and who were in it long enough to advance.

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Permalink Reply by Kristy Barkan on March 22, 2012 at 6:54am

Thanks for sharing your insight, Scott.

This list is definitely a reflection of the fact that, historically, a disproportionate number of women have been interested in visual effects as a career. However, I also believe that VFX is one of many "technical" fields that have repelled women in the past because social norms led them to believe that technical work was probably not something a women would enjoy or be particularly good at.

Consider the fact that certain aspects of the visual effects process (such as ink and paint) were defined as "women's work" and set aside for females. Drawing that line is, to me, an indication that other areas of visual effects were generally understood to be work best performed by men. 

I don't believe that studios excluded women on the basis of gender, but rather that the perception of the field of VFX as male-dominated is both historically true and self-fulfilling. 

The past aside, you're right about women becoming much more involved these days -- things are definitely changing (which is great).   

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Permalink Reply by Wasylyshen on March 22, 2012 at 7:26am

Kristy, it is a pleasure to know you (online). Well said.

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Permalink Reply by Kristy Barkan on March 27, 2012 at 3:06pm

Thanks for that. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Kieran Black on May 13, 2012 at 5:53pm

Just to be the Devil's Advocate here but perhaps there are just more more male VFX artists, perhaps not currently studying or starting out because I know a lot of female VFX artists but most of them are younger and I would say that most of these awards are given to guys who have extensive careers in VFX and since until recently most people see it as a pretty nerdy field, perhaps women are only just now coming up to the level where they might be nominated.

Surely it's only a matter of time...

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Permalink Reply by Sara Cartwright on May 17, 2012 at 9:59pm

From my personal experience, I would say that about 1 in 4 of the vfx people I know are female.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Marie Lohse on May 24, 2012 at 5:00am

I did get the impression it's a bit of a boy's club, today there really isn't an excuse.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Squires on June 1, 2012 at 1:59pm

There's nothing preventing woman from becoming vfx artists except for the interest and desire to do so. Get more woman interested in doing Vfx and you'll have more woman in Vfx at that point. I've never encountered any resistance to hire qualified people of any sex or race. Not to say that it has never happened but it certainly seems to be minimal if it does exist. The number of woman working today in Vfx is already a huge leap above what it was in the days of optical effects.

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Permalink Reply by Kristy Barkan on June 1, 2012 at 2:32pm

You have a point, Scott. It seems to me that the only real form of resistance is the underlying but annoyingly pervasive idea that it's novel for a woman to work in VFX (in a role other than producer). It's a bit like the old riddle:

A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is wheeled in for an operation, the surgeon says 'I can't operate on this boy- he is my son!'. How is this possible?

While the perception that VFX is a "man's job" may not make a woman applicant a less viable candidate in they eyes of the hiring managers, or exclude her from the hiring process altogether, she may seem (to some, on a subconscious level) to be a less natural fit for the job. 

The real damage inflicted by this perception lands on young girls who doubt their own interest in such things from a very young age.

On a (somewhat) related note, in 1986 I asked for a lightsaber for Christmas... and got a Strawberry Shortcake doll.

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Permalink Reply by Solar Gravity Studios on May 30, 2012 at 10:13am

Kristy, great article! I completely agree with you that there is an unfair balance. Over the past 16 years I have been in the VFX field I have had the pleasure of working with many women in the creative arena from web designers to graphic designers all the way to photographers and producers. However, I have yet to work with in collaboration or for that matter as colleagues with any other females that are into VFX / motion design. It's tremendously disappointing. I wish that that high schools could adopt a program similar to the one that promotes girls to engage in the sciences and technology fields. That type of starter program would greatly benefit our industry. Thank you for shining light on this subject.

Erik

www.solargravity.com

@solargravity

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Permalink Reply by Kristy Barkan on June 1, 2012 at 2:05pm

Thanks, Erik. Educational programs encouraging girls to participate in the field would be fantastic. Of course...job stability is also a concern. I don't know how I'd feel about urging hordes of students (of any gender) to commit to the uncertain world of VFX.

The wild price fluctuations in the VFX market can't go on forever. Region-of-the-moment schemes are bankrupting small studios that are forced to chase subsidies, not to mention the hardworking artists trailing behind them who end up losing their jobs anyway. Meanwhile, a few lucky houses (ahem....Digital Domain) are having money fights with the millions lavished on them by foreign countries looking for their share of the market. It's madness.

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