Policy Ecologies, Gender, Work, and Regulation Distance in Film and TV Production

Abstract

Mainstream work and employment regulation, primarily based on a standard employment model, is largely ineffective in addressing gender inequality in industries organized around precarious, insecure work. This chapter uses the Canadian screen-based independent production sector as a case study to examine regulation of work and employment that is prototypically precarious, and an exemplar of gender inequality. The industry has high labor regulation distance and a mixture of male- and female-dominated occupations. Through an analysis of how cultural policy operates as a form of labor market regulation for the screen-based production sector, we argue for conceptualizing forms of labor market regulation more broadly. Analyzing the sector’s policy ecology enables us to identify new and non-traditional policy and regulatory mechanisms that address gender equality on an industrial scale.