Dimmock’s request comes during an awards season in which women have been excluded from the major directing prizes, including the Golden Globes, the Oscars, the BAFTAs in Britain, and the DGA Awards, which will be doled out on Sunday. While women are directing more box office hits than ever, nine of 10 top directing jobs go to men.

Dimmock was still working on “Flint Town,” the 2018 Netflix docu-series about policing in the beleaguered city of Flint, Mich., when her labor pains began.

Roxy, as her parents called her, was born with hip dysplasia, and needed X-rays or sonograms every three weeks or so. Dimmock, whose partner, the director Zackary Canepari, also lost his coverage after caring for Roxanne, wound up moving their daughter to her Cobra plan, at a cost of $1,400 a month.

Speaking from her home in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Dimmock said the scales were already tipped against female directors, especially if they happen to be pregnant or new mothers. Being underrepresented and hired less often than men makes hitting the minimum earnings amount more difficult, she said. Being visibly pregnant often dampens employment prospects. Such jobs often demand travel, and pregnant women are discouraged from flying in their final trimester.

She also said that not having maternity leave policies in place was at odds with recent pushes for gender parity in the entertainment industry.