The ACLU of Southern California and the national ACLU Women's Rights Project said Tuesday they are asking federal and California civil rights agencies to investigate what they call "the systemic failure" to hire women directors in the film and television industry.
The organizations have compiled statistical evidence of what they term "dramatic disparities" in the hiring of women. The organizations say fewer women are working as directors today than two decades ago. They estimate that, in 2014, women represented only 7 percent of directors on the 250 top-grossing films. That is 2 percentage points lower than in 1998.