Whats the Verdict: Will the Feds impose gender quotas in Hollywood?

Whats the Verdict: Will the Feds impose gender quotas in Hollywood?

Last week the ACLU launched a petition via email to people in the entertainment industry asking them to urge the federal government to “look into biased hiring practices” that they claim run rampant in Hollywood.

The petition comes at a time when much of the dialogue around Hollywood revolves around perceived gender imbalance and even gender discrimination. It hopes to send a message to the government saying, “gender bias against women directors in film and television is real and has gone on for far too long,” and that an, “investigation and oversight from civil rights enforcement agencies to foster reform of the industry’s biased hiring practices would be a welcome step.”

Is the ACLU overstepping its bounds? Some would say yes. Looking at the business of entertainment from a legal perspective there could be many possible explanations for this gender imbalance. It is doubtful that Hollywood is systematically geared against individuals of the female sex. Just look at the all films and TV shows that feature strong women this year. (Orange is the New Black, How to Get Away with Murder, Pitch Perfect, Cake, Still Alice, and the list goes on and on)

If Hollywood were the misogynist wonderland that the ACLU makes it out to be how would any of those projects gotten off the ground and into our nation’s theaters and onto our TV screens?

Furthermore, does the ACLU not have anything better to do? With all of the perceived injustices in our country why is it that they have Hollywood on their radar? Could it be that in their attempt to stay relevant in our 24 hour news cycle they have decided to attack Hollywood?

As for getting the government involved all I have to say is come on, really? Does the federal government have nothing better to do than look into hiring patterns in one of the highest paid industries. Are they going to carry away studio executives and content creators in shackles? Will they impose gender distribution quotas? Does anyone really want to work in an industry where their position in a company is entirely dependent on a preset government statistic? I sure don’t.

What do you think the verdict will be? Will Hollywood be left alone, or will it have to enact gender quotas?