In May of 2015, the ACLU wrote a letter to a federal agency demanding an investigation into something it perceived as a serious human-rights violation: the lack of female film and television directors in Hollywood. Specifically, the ten-page letter charged that “women directors are subjected to discriminatory practices, including recruiting practices that exclude them, failure to hire qualified women directors based on overt sex stereotyping and implicit bias, and the use of screening mechanisms that have the effect of shutting women out.”
For some reason, the federal government jumped.
As a result, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has launched an investigation into the ACLU’s claim that women are deliberately discriminated against in Hollywood.
Is this true? Not really, no. In a diversity report from December of last year, the DGA (Directors Guild of America), the acting union for directors and studio contractors, reported that just 5 percent of their membership was made up by white female directors and a mere 1.3 percent of their membership by minority female directors. It’s difficult to discriminate against something that isn’t there to begin with.
Putting aside the obvious conservative schadenfreude — once again, we see a leftist institution being targeted by leftists — the prospect of federal regulatory agencies intervening in Hollywood on the basis of wild claims by the ALCU is not one that should fill anybody with joy. Where, one wonders, will it lead? Will the EEOC begin to use its authority to decide the appropriate race/sex make in the motion pictures of the future? And, if so, who will decide which standards are to be used?
A dangerous path.