Women, Ageing and the Screen Industries

This book explores the challenges facing women from their mid-forties as they attempt to build/maintain careers in the screen industries. Essays are concerned with the intersection of gender and age on screen and behind the camera and how that can create a 'double jeopardy'.

Existing research in this area has been primarily directed to onscreen representation. Female actors, with notable exceptions, struggle to get screen time and expansive roles as they age. Behind the camera, women 45+ also face challenges and roadblocks; to date, less attention has been directed to this group. The cross-cultural research in this collection offers an analysis of representation, on and off screen, touching on film, television, streaming services and film festivals. It includes an exploration of gendered ageism, age bias and stereotyping. It also highlights the achievements of mature female practitioners who, in their work and working lives, embody a resistance to restrictive cultural discourses about ageing women. 

Dr Susan Liddy lectures in MIC, University of Limerick, Ireland. She is editor of Women in the Irish Film Industry: Stories and Storytellers; Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power and co-editor of Media Work, Mothers and Motherhood. She has co-authored Auditing Gender and Diversity Change in Irish Media sectors for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and The Pursuit of Change for Raising Films Ireland. She is Chair of Women in Film and Television Ireland and sits on a number of national and international industry boards.