59 ROUND TABLE Gender Diversity
CARYS HUGHES: Most of my family and friends have no understanding of what I do for a living. They have no concept of what roles exist within our industry outside of camera operating, directing, editing, producing and presenting. If I could change one thing, it would be that we were better at championing how diverse and innovative the roles within our industry are. A colleague of mine once wisely pointed out that our job and instinct has been to remain unseen. If things are working as they should, then people are unaware of the technical hiccups and the work keeping things running smoothly in the background. So, maybe it’s a self-made problem. FEED: If you could invent one piece of media-related technology, what would it be? SADIE GROOM: A camera that takes amazing pictures without the influence of the user, as I take rubbish photos! CARYS HUGHES: Most of our pain points (outside implementing new technologies with limited solutions) revolve around repetitive video quality assessment work and lip-sync analysis! So… all I want for Christmas is a fool- proof solution to HD/UHD/VOD/DTH/ OTT/SDR/HDR/House Mezzanine and Source Master/multi-genre video quality assessment. Easy, right?
technical for you?” But he didn’t say this to any of the men in the meeting. CALINA HO: I would say in the earlier stages of my career there have been instances or situations I have been in where my word or input was not trusted completely and had to be re-confirmed by a man. But I would say I have been lucky and, for the most part, have had fantastic managers whom I respect. CARYS HUGHES: No. I’ve found age to be more of a hinderance than gender (I look young enough to be an apprentice). Competency has generally been supremely more important than anything else. But I appreciate that is not always the case. I’m fortunate to work in a supportive environment. Any challenges generally
arise because of differences in character or working style – but that’s just a sign of a diverse team and certainly isn’t gender specific. And if women really are better multitaskers, then that’s an advantage in a project-orientated world! FEED: If you could change one thing about the media industry, what would it be? ANNE-LOUISE BUICK: I would like to see every C-Suite executive who speaks on an industry panel bring a young person from their own organisation to share the stage with them. SADIE GROOM: I would encourage more women to enter the sector, so that in ten years’ time we will see more women rising through the industry and getting to those top roles. Oh – and changing the IBC Beach Bar back to what it used to be would be nice. CALINA HO: Difficult suppliers and rude people are up there.
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