Prime Video’s O Womaniya! Spotlights Gender Gaps in Entertainment

Prime Video has unveiled the latest edition of its O Womaniya! report, a comprehensive study focusing on female representation in the Indian entertainment industry. Produced in collaboration with Ormax Media and Film Companion Studios, the report explores critical gaps and trends in areas like production, corporate leadership, and storytelling across films and series released in 2023.

The 2024 edition analyzed 169 films and series across nine Indian languages—Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, and Gujarati—released on streaming platforms and in theatres. The findings highlight both progress and persistent challenges in achieving gender equality in entertainment.

One of the key revelations is that women receive only 29% of the talk time in trailers. Although this marks a slight improvement over the years, the growth remains slow. Streaming films lead the way in allocating more dialogue to women compared to theatrical releases. Notable titles showcasing prominent female characters include Made in Heaven Season 2 (Hindi), Boo (Telugu), and Sweet Kaaram Coffee (Tamil).

The report also sheds light on the underrepresentation of women in key production roles. Only 15% of HOD (Head of Department) positions—including direction, cinematography, writing, editing, and production design—are held by women. Streaming projects showed slightly better numbers, with 20% of HOD roles helmed by women. Editing emerged as the most inclusive department, with 18% of streaming projects employing female editors.

Corporate leadership reflects a similar disparity. Among the 144 CXO positions analyzed across 25 media and entertainment companies, only 12% were held by women—a decline from the previous year.

This year, the report introduced the Gender Equality Toolkit, a new framework to measure female representation in films and series. The toolkit evaluates whether women in stories have agency or are merely supporting the male narrative.

The findings are sobering: only 31% of the analyzed titles passed the Gender Equality Toolkit test. Interestingly, streaming series performed better, with 45% passing the test. Moreover, the report found that titles commissioned by women had a higher success rate—48% passed the test compared to those led by male commissioning heads.

Stuti Ramachandra, Head of Production at Prime Video India, emphasized the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in transforming the entertainment landscape. “DEI is not just a goal but a necessity to foster an environment where women are seen, heard, and valued,” she stated.

Shailesh Kapoor, CEO of Ormax Media, noted that the Gender Equality Toolkit aims to be action-oriented, enabling creators to address biases during the content creation process.

Film critic Anupama Chopra applauded the report’s efforts, stating, “Each step toward gender inclusivity matters. The O Womaniya! initiative brings us closer to creating an equitable industry where meaningful change becomes a collective responsibility.”