A new report released by the Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association (ASPERA) shows that there is limited on screen diversity within students' capstone projects at film school, and behind the camera, crew roles are gendered.
While Screen Australia reports that 57 per cent of all key creatives to receive production and development funding last year were women or female-identifying people, new industry-wide data suggests bolstering women's participation more broadly is a slow road.
A Diversity in Australian Media forum in Sydney next week will highlight how much progress the screen industry has made over the past 10 years in better reflecting Australia's diverse society - and how much remains to be done.
Create NSW has already achieved its target of an average 50:50 gender split in its screen development and production funding programs by 2020.
The state branches of Women in Film & Television (WIFT) are set to form an alliance under a national banner, WIFT Australia, in a move designed amplify advocacy efforts towards gender parity in the Australian screen industry.
Benevolent sexism functions in a different but just as insidious way as overtly hostile sexism does.
Brooks is circumspect but optimistic about the steps being taken by Screen Australia to guarantee gender equality behind the camera.
Screen Queensland will roll out four new programs this year in a bid to address the gender imbalance in the Australian screen industry.