‘Transparent’ creator Jill Soloway weighs in on Hollywood’s gender gap problem

It’s no secret that Transparent is one of our favorite new shows of this past year. Creator Jill Soloway masterfully explores gender in her show that begins with Jeffrey Tambor’s Maura coming out to her children as a trans woman, and follows Maura’s journey as well as that of her children, who are both adjusting to their parent’s transition and wrestling with gender and sexuality issues of their own. It comes as little surprise that Soloway has as much to say about gender off-screen as she does on.

Soloway recently hosted a Women in Film fundraiser, during which, as Variety reports, she powerfully spoke about gender inequality in Hollywood.

“I think, as the ACLU is investigating the illegality of keeping women from directing positions, male creators, showrunners, producers and directors have to really face the immorality, their own immorality, of hiring their friends, of telling male stories, of perpetuating male privilege through protagonism,” Soloway said. “So that means the male gaze — men as subject, women as object — is business as usual for men to be able to keep telling their stories from their point of view. (They need to) really offer women the chance to write, to direct, and then to empower them once they are writing and directing, and say, ‘tell your story, tell your story!’”

Soloway had words of praise for men she sees leading the charge to create leadership roles for women in the entertainment industry.

“I really applaud Judd Apatow for, over the past few years, using his privilege to give access to people like Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer,” she noted. “Paul Feig is doing the same thing, helping the all-female ‘Ghostbusters’ get made. They should be examples to other men who have power and give access to female creators that they admire.”

We think Soloway beautifully summarized Hollywood’s gender problem, completely agree with her proposed solution, and we loved how she gave deserved props to male allies in film and television doing their part to promote gender parity and make Hollywood a better place for female storytellers, which will, of course, make film and television better for audiences everywhere.

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