Female Writers discussion...again

[hammard]

Both the Guardian and IO9 have articles out today about the lack of female writers in Doctor Who and British Genre TV in general (something I looked at a couple of years back).
EDIT: And here is Johnny Morris's response to these articles unofficially titled Why that 'Why Doctor Who needs more female writers' article is ballsThe subject has also

Comments

[amorettea]

The problem is one women face all the time. People are inclined to hire people like themselves and men see women as the "other." I have no idea who they need to hire but they need to "think outside the box" or, in this case, the men's room.

[mizz_britain]

I think if they write really well then why not, I don't think gender should matter. JK Rowling would be interesting however.

[welshgirl15]

My thoughts exactly! I don't really know many Sci-Fi writers, but of course I'd love to see brilliant female writers; because they're brilliant not because they're female.

[hammard]

The problem is Rowling has no script writing experience, which is very different from novel writing.
Moffat has said in the past (as people keep suggesting authors to him) if a writer doesn't have enough experience in the medium he usually ends up having to rewrite 75% of the script and he doesn't have the time to do that any more.

[mizz_britain]

I know, she was the only one I could think of with sci-fi type experience though.

[mizz_britain]

And I work in the industry and I don't think they aren't hired cause of their gender, it's just that many women aren't really pushing for it.

[sofish_sasha]

Why is that, though? Is it because women simply don't want those jobs, or because we think we can't get them anyway, so there's no point in trying? Or is it because we've been taught to sit down and be quiet and ask for help even though we know exactly what we're doing?

[hammard]

Don't know how well it applies to scriptwriting but I remember reading a study (from one of my old lecturers) that looked at promotions and pay rise disparity between genders. They found the biggest cause is that women are more likely to request time-off (often for caring reasons), whilst men will ask for more work.
The reasons why though are obviously complicated.

[mizz_britain]

Yeah and I've heard that across the board that women get paid less. But I think it's cause women, at least a lot of women I know, give up working to have a family. A guy I work with has a wife who doesn't even work, he does it all. I couldn't do that but there are obviously women who do. But on the other hand my manager, a woman, is the bread winner. Her husband is an actor so his work is unreliable so she is the constant income.

[ericadawn16]

No. 2 is a great question because while we all complain about the lack of female writers on Doctor Who, it's more than that. Other than Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson, how many female tv writers can we name PERIOD?

We complain about a particular show when we need to be encouraging female scriptwriters of all genres and forms because they're lacking. Even female directors and producers are lacking in both our countries. We can blame the BBC for being a boy's club but the US is just as bad.

[gloraelin]

I like this answer, and I wish to subscribe to its newsletter.

[fannishliss]

One of my husband's besties from college is a very successful woman screenwriter. I think they are out there, just not as high profile. There have been several women who have written for Supernatural for example, including past showrunner Sera Gamble.

We need to complain, and really, let people know that we demand to hear the stories women tell alongside the ones men tell. Diversity is always a strength -- no less so in storytelling.

Felicia Day is in my icon, being the creator, writer, and director of indie hit The Guild (among many other things!)

[meggygurl]

Felicia Day writing an episode would be epic. Though, she might fangasm so hard she would pass out.

[tenthrose]

I think there should be good writers on Doctor Who, other British Genre TV, and writing in general. For me, quality trumps diversity (which is not to say that something quality cannot be diverse and vice versa, but that the focus should be on finding the best, and then logically the diversity would fall into place, as the best in any field should be from a variety of backgrounds by the rules of probability)

I, for one, don't tend to notice the gender, race, age, sexuality, etc. of a writer until I've seen and enjoyed enough of their work to start looking up articles and interviewes about them (well, I'd notice from the name if someone is female, but probably not really register it), unless there's something political about the writing itself to make me curious.

eta: I think there are good writers on Doctor Who, although more good writers is certainly not a bad thing!

[fannishliss]

logically the diversity would fall into place, as the best in any field should be from a variety of backgrounds by the rules of probability

sadly this is just not the case, because success is not based just on raw talent, but also on networking, privilege, and the kinds of support you receive. In feminist theory, it's the fable of Judith Shakespeare. You might expect the offspring of Shakespeare to have great potential as writers - but in real life, Shakespeare had two daughters, and neither of them were taught to read or write. Luckily we have literacy now, but there are always glass ceilings to fight our way through.

Issues of diversity matter.