With a recent report by Celluloid Ceiling finding that only 7% of Hollywood directors in 2014 were women, my personal experience as an aspiring filmmaker is this: even on a smaller scale, Dr. Martha Lauzen's statistics are alarmingly accurate.

After receiving my degree from U.C. Berkeley, I decided I would pursue filmmaking seriously. The first short film I wrote and directed, Hot Desert Night, premiered at the 2014 Oakland Underground Film Festival, alongside shorts that were shown at SXSW and other major festivals. Of the eight shorts in my category, myself and a co-director of another film were the only women filmmakers.

Singularities like this appear everywhere, from local festivals to the biggest awards ceremonies; ahead of this weekend’s BAFTAs, it’s interesting to note that female directors are missing from the Best Film, Best Direction, and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer categories (Laura Poitras' Citizenfour did, however, receive a nod for Best Documentary).

While taking a film class at a city college last year, I observed something surprising. As one of two females in a class of about 20, we composed just a sliver (10%) of the class population. Just like the numbers reflected in Celluloid Ceiling, our numbers were dismally small. If we consider classrooms our future, then the lack of women directors in these spaces says a lot about our inclusion in the industry. The problem here is gendered, but it is also artistic; if film, and by extension, Hollywood, is America’s prominent form of cultural dialogue, women have been left out of this conversation since its beginnings.

“If classrooms are considered our future, the lack of women directors in these spaces says a lot about our inclusion in the industry”

To understand how this disparity developed, let’s take a look at our history. Up till the 1960s, the majority of American women’s occupations probably fell into four categories: secretary, teacher, nurse, and (we’ll count this as an occupation) housewife. By both economic and social factors alike, women often found themselves diverted and pressured into these positions. In the 70s, a new era of Hollywood cinema occurred with Spielberg, Lucas, Millus, and Malick at the helm. Studios bloomed, titans were born. This was a profitable and creative period in Hollywood history, unlike anything it had experienced before as a nascent industry.

What this means is that since the film industry's formative years and later during its boom years, women missed out in the industry’s development due to little-to-no presence in film classrooms, restrictive gender attitudes in American society, and an evolving exclusion from "the boys club" of entertainment.

My experience in the film world combined with the numbers from Celluloid Ceiling show that around 10% of both beginning and successful filmmakers are women. Does this mean that potential female directors just aren’t taking the leap? Though not impossible, becoming a director or cinematographer often warrants some sort of schooling or experience as a first step. If women aren't present in classrooms, they're losing opportunities such as mentorship or technical training. The repercussions of this time loss are apparent when we see the current-day examples of men dominating the wealth, power, and creative influence of Hollywood.