Scotland’s For Me?: The (gendered) salience of parental status and geographical location to experiences of working in film and television

Citation

Berridge S (2022) Scotland’s For Me?: The (gendered) salience of parental status and geographical location to experiences of working in film and television. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media.

Abstract
In recent years, international scholarship and industry reports have exposed the inherent incompatibilities between the sector’s working cultures and caring responsibilities, focusing particularly on women who remain disproportionately responsible for childcare. The ideal media worker – characterised by geographical mobility, autonomy, adaptability and total commitment to work – is highly at odds with the material realities of parents and carers. However, despite recognition of the salience of mobility to wider (gendered) patterns of exclusion of parents, there is little scholarship that critically scrutinises the significance of geographical location on experiences of work. This article addresses this lack, contributing to wider debates around the need to promote equity, diversity and inclusion in the film and television workforce, which in turn, is viewed as crucial to facilitating diverse representations, voices and perspectives on-screen. Using the Scottish screen sector as a case study, the article draws on a series of one-to-one interviews with parents – both men and women – who work, or have previously worked, in the film and television industries to explore the complex ways in which gender inequalities are mediated by both geographical location and caring responsibilities.

Notes
Output Status: Forthcoming

Journal
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

People

Dr Susan Berridge

Senior Lecturer, Communications, Media and Culture