在好莱坞，两性不平等依旧令人震惊

我在25年前进入娱乐行业。过去十年，我曾在国际电视台AMC从事剧本节目制作，现在经营着自己的制作公司Assembly Entertainment，与ITV Studios America建立了全面合作关系。我曾监制过多部电视剧，包括《广告狂人》（Mad Men）、《绝命毒师》（Breaking Bad）、《纽约神探》（Copper），以及即将在Showtime电视台播出的《含笑上台》（I’m Dying Up Here）。用“喜欢”都不足以代表我对这个职业的感情。我热爱我的工作，并愿意为之努力。我非常幸运，能够把自己热爱的事情变成谋生的方式，并有机会与我敬佩和尊敬的人们共事。

但这份工作并不轻松，而其中最困难的部分，则要数这个行业内严重的性别歧视。虽然金像奖会表彰当今最优秀的男女演员，但最近的娱乐界不平等现象调查给出的统计数据，却令人感到担忧、震惊和愤怒。在“浮华城”的每一个工作岗位上，女性都远远落后于男性，这让人觉得不可理喻。

顶级女星的收入，仅有男性同行的40%。在当今时代，男女依旧没有实现同工同酬，这确实非常荒唐。而更令人沮丧和困惑的是，这个号称进步的、富有远见的行业竟然也会存在这种不合理的情况。

曾经斩获奥斯卡“小金人”的女演员娜塔莉•波特曼，与迈克•尼科尔斯、达伦•阿罗诺夫斯基和吕克•贝松等大导演有过合作，但她最近公开揭露，在电影《爱情无线牵》（No Strings Attached）中，她的片酬只有男主角艾什顿•库彻的三分之一。

2014年索尼（Sony）电子邮件被黑，揭露出了更多不公平现象，其中《美国骗局》（American Hustle）的男演员（克里斯蒂安•贝尔和布莱德利•库珀）获得了电影9%的后端利润，而女演员（詹妮弗•劳伦斯和艾米•亚当斯）却只能得到7%。

在《福布斯》的2016年收入最高的10位演员榜单中，仅有两位女演员上榜： 分别是詹妮弗•劳伦斯（第6位，4,600万美元）和梅丽莎•麦卡西（第9位，3,300万美元）。排在榜首的是男演员道恩•强森，收入6,400万美元。但他甚至并不是票房最高的演员。获得这一殊荣的是《美国队长3：内战》（Captain America:Civil War）和《凯撒万岁！》（Hail, Caesar）的主演斯嘉丽•约翰逊。但很可惜，她并没能进入收入最高的10位演员排行。

以千禧一代为核心的传媒公司Mic对2006年至2015年，每年票房最高的前25部电影的总票房进行了研究，得出的结论是，女性主演的卖座影片平均票房为1.26亿美元，而男性主演的卖座电影平均票房只有8,000万美元。

至于为什么多数人并不会因为娜塔莉•波特曼的片酬只有300万美元而不是900万美元感到不满，原因是可以理解的。但随着波特曼和珍妮弗•劳伦斯等女演员勇敢站出来揭露电影界薪酬差距的问题，为整个行业内不同岗位的女性如何应对这个问题指明了方向。

2002年，南加州大学（University of Southern California）受圣丹斯协会（Sundance Institute）和女性电影人（Women in Film）委托，对前100部票房最高的影片中由女性执导的电影数量进行了研究。研究结果？只有7.3%。他们还发现，在2014年票房最高的影片中，由女性执导的电影仅占1.9%。女性工作机会的日益恶化，以及电影行业男女之间的薪酬不平等，使许多人意识到，好莱坞出现了严重的问题，女性进入娱乐业面临着显而易见的障碍。

约一年前，一批制片人、演员、电影公司老板、导演和编剧共同创建了REFRAME，其前身是由圣丹斯协会和女性电影人联合成立的“系统性改变项目”（Systemic Change Project）。这个行业组织旨在增加台前幕后的女性就业机会，并确保她们得到与男性平等的报酬。REFRAME的成员一直在参加各种研讨会，了解为什么电影行业会存在如此巨大的差距，以及不同公司如何从各个层面解决这个问题。该组织会对成员进行培训，指导如何创建导师项目和增加女性招聘。这无疑是朝着正确方向迈出的重要一步。

但最重要的问题是，为什么在这样一个创造性的行业会存在性别歧视。我并不认为行业内的人们某天早上醒来，突然决定要实行性别歧视，视其他女性都低人一等。事实上，我相信多数人都认为在招聘和做生意方面，自己是公平的，开明的。问题出在潜意识层面，源于我们所处的性别歧视的社会，使所有人都暴露于持续的性别歧视的信息当中。这些信息深深植根于我们的思维方式，我们甚至没有意识到它对我们的影响。这种情况被称作“无意识偏见”。

第一次听到这种说法和知道它的含义时，我的第一反应是抗拒。我怎么可能有性别歧视？我本身就是女性，是一位自称的女权主义者，而且经营着自己的公司。我聘用了许多女性，支持她们成长，为她们提供上升的空间。但后来我开始发现了自己的某些思想，这让我意识到，我也未能幸免，正在做出性别歧视的决定。我知道自己在工作中存在无意识偏见，于是开始了解它如何影响我的招聘决策或者我做生意的方式。

举个例子：当我需要为正在制作的一部电视剧列出一份编剧或导演名单时，我会在写完之后甚至经常在一位同事的提醒下，才会意识到，我写的名单里全是白人男性的名字。我是有意漏掉那些同样才华横溢、经验丰富的女性或少数族裔吗？当然不是，但在考虑编剧或导演时，我的大脑习惯于首先想到白人男性，因为我每天看到或听到的从事这些职业的都是白人男性。

所以，在对自己的无意识偏见有更清楚地了解之后，现在我的编剧和导演名单中会包括同样具有才华的男性和女性。我会确保关于招聘和做生意的决定，纯粹基于能力和是否适合项目，不会被成长过程中所接收的信息影响。更清楚地了解自己的偏见，还帮助我在面对事关自己的问题时，勇敢说出自己的不满。

最近，一家电视网邀请我与一位没有经验的制片人合作，因为他把一部电视剧的创意卖给了这家电视网。在即将签署项目协议的时候我才注意到，这位男性制片人每集的薪酬远远高于我的薪酬，虽然他们之所以聘请我参与这个项目是因为我在电视剧制作方面更有经验。这位男性制作人之前从没有过制作一小时电视剧的经验，而我已经制作过九部电视剧。如果是在过去，我可能会选择默不作声，不会纠葛于这种不公平，但现在我为自己勇敢地站了出来，告诉他们我们的报酬应该相同。最后这家电视网和电视台都同意了我的要求。

要始终支持自己认为正确的事情，并希望其他人会同意你的观点。下一次，当你发现自己拒绝了一位女同事的建议或意见，但后来你却同意了一位男同事的相同言论时；当你排斥一位与团队中的男性水平相当甚至更为出色的女性，却没有正当理由时；或者当你需要填补某个职位空缺或者需要谈判某项交易，但有人认为其中存在性别歧视或不公平时，请尽量不要有抵触心理。你应该认真思考一下在你的思维方式中根深蒂固的无意识偏见，然后努力弄清楚如何作出决策。思考之后的结果，或许会让你大吃一惊，就像当初的我一样。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

本文作者克里斯蒂娜•韦恩是Assembly Entertainment的创始人兼CEO。她将在2017年春启动Televisionschool.com在线课程。

I began my career in the entertainment industry over 25 years ago. Over the last decade, I’ve run scripted programming at AMC, an international TV studio, and I’m currently running my own production company, Assembly Entertainment, with an overall deal at ITV Studios America. I’ve overseen and produced shows including Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Copper, and the upcoming Showtime series, I’m Dying Up Here. To say I love my job is an understatement. I work hard and am passionate about what I do. I’m very fortunate that I get to make a living doing something I love with people whom I admire and respect.

What I do is hard, though, and the hardest part is navigating the tricky waters of sexism that exists in the business. As the Academy honors today's tip actors and actresses, recent findings about inequality in the entertainment business show statistics that are grim, shocking, and infuriating. Women lag absurdly far behind men in every Tinseltown gig.

Top actresses make about 40 cents on the dollar compared with their male counterparts. Of course it’s absurd in this day and age that women and men aren’t paid the exact same amount for the same job. It’s even more frustrating and confusing when it occurs in an industry that claims to be progressive and forward-thinking.

Academy-Award-winning actress Natalie Portman, who has worked with directors such as Mike Nichols, Darren Aronofsky, and Luc Besson, recently went public with the fact that she was only paid a third of what Ashton Kutcher was paid for the film they co-starred in, No Strings Attached.

The Sony email hacks of 2014 revealed more of the same, with American Hustle's male stars (Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper) getting 9% of the backend profits on the film, while the female stars (Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams) got only 7%.

On Forbes' list of the 10 highest-paid actors of 2016, only two women were listed: Jennifer Lawrence (No. 6) at $46 million and Melissa McCarthy (No. 9) at $33 million. The highest-paid actor, Dwayne Johnson, came in at $64 million. He wasn’t even the actor with the highest-grossing movie. That was Scarlett Johansson, who starred in both Captain America: Civil War and Hail, Caesar. But nowhere is she on the list.

Mic, a millennial-focused media company, looked at the box office grosses of the top 25 highest-earning films each year from 2006 to 2015, and concluded that box office hits with female protagonists grossed on average $126 million, while box office hits with male protagonists only made on average $80 million.

It’s understandable why most people wouldn’t cry a river over Natalie Portman making $3 million instead of $9 million for a film. But with actresses like her and Jennifer Lawrence finally speaking out about the pay gap issue for those on the big screen, a light is beginning to shine on how women across all jobs in the industry are dealing with the issue.

In 2002, the University of Southern California was commissioned by the Sundance Institute and Women in Film to look at how many of the top-100-grossing films were directed by women. Their findings? Just 7.3%. Then, they found that, in 2014, only 1.9% of the top-grossing films were directed by women. The worsening job opportunities for women, and the pay disparity between men and women in the industry, have prompted many to realize that something is seriously wrong in Hollywood, and that there are definite barriers for women entering the entertainment business.

About a year ago, a group of producers, actors, studio heads, directors, and writers got together and created REFRAME, formerly called the Systemic Change Project, which was founded by Sundance and Women in Film. It’s an industry group committed to getting more women hired in front of and behind the camera, and ensuring they're paid equally to men. Members of REFRAME have been attending workshops to learn why such a vast divide exists and how to address it on all levels at different industry companies. It trains members on how to create mentorship programs and increase female hiring. It’s certainly a step in the right direction.

The biggest question of all is why this sexist dynamic exists in the first place in a creative business. I don’t think men or women who work in the industry wake up in the morning and decide to be sexist and treat other women as their inferiors. In fact, I believe most people think they are being fair and open-minded when it comes to hiring and making deals. The issue happens on a more subconscious level and begins with being raised in a sexist society that exposes people to consistent sexist messaging. These messages are so engrained in our way of thinking that we aren’t even aware of how it affects us. It’s called unconscious bias.

When I first heard this term or began to understand what it meant, my first reflex was to be defensive. How could I be sexist? I’m a woman, a self-professed feminist, who runs my own business. I’ve hired lots of women, supported their growth, and promoted them. But then I started to catch myself doing things—thinking things that made me realize I was falling into the trap of making sexist decisions. I became aware of my own unconscious bias at work and began to understand how it has affected my hiring decisions or the way I approach deals.

Here’s an example: When I need to come up with a list of writers or directors for a TV series I’m producing, I write out the list only to realize afterward—or, more likely, am alerted of it by one of my colleagues—that the list is entirely made up of white male names. Did I intentionally leave off equally talented and experienced women or minorities? No, but my brain is conditioned to think of white males when the idea of a writer or director comes up, because that is who I see and hear about working in the business.

So now, as I’m becoming more aware of my own unconscious bias, I make lists of writers and directors who are equally talented men and women. I make sure my decisions on hiring and deal-making are based purely on talent and the right fit for the project, and are not tainted by vestiges of messaging I grew up with. Being more aware of my own bias has helped me speak up when it comes to my own deal-making.

Recently, I was asked by a network to partner with an inexperienced producer, who had sold them an idea for a TV series. As the deal was closing for the project, it was brought to my attention that the male producer was going to receive substantially more per episode than I was, despite the fact that I was hired for the project because I was the more experienced producer. In fact, this producer had no previous experience making one-hour series, when I had nine TV series under my belt. In the past, I might have just let this inequality go without saying anything, but I stood up for myself and made it clear that we had to be paid the same fee. The network and studio agreed.

Always stand up for what you believe is right, and hopefully others will agree. And, the next time you find yourself dismissing a suggestion or a comment by a female colleague, when moments later you agree with the exact same sentiment said by a male colleague; you marginalize the woman on a team who is the same level or superior to the men on the team, and there's no good reason why; or a job needs to be filled or a deal is being negotiated and someone suggests that it’s sexist or unequal, try not to get defensive. Instead, take a moment and think of all of the unconscious bias that has been ingrained in your way of thinking, and try to understand how it shapes your decision-making. You might be surprised, like I was, by what you find.

Christina Wayne is the founder and CEO of Assembly Entertainment. She is launching Televisionschool.com, online classes, in the spring of 2017.