Dear Barack Obama,

While watching a movie or a TV series recently, did you by any chance ask yourself the following questions:

"Are there more than two women in the film?“ 
"Do they talk with each other?“ 
"Do they have other topics they talk about other than men?“

These are the three simple questions of the Bechdel-Test, now recognized worldwide as an easy way to measure the active presence of female characters in movies. 

You might be astonished to hear that only a few movies worldwide would pass this test. Generally women in film neither have names nor professions. They are hardly dressed at all and seldom talk. In 2013 only 15% of the leading characters in Hollywood blockbusters were female. In children's movies you can find only 24% female leads and therefore hardly any female role-models for our coming generation. 

We are very pleased that one of the key-topics during the G7 Summit will be the "Empowering self-employed women and women in vocational training“.  We think it is necessary to include the situation of women in the film and media business. 

"Pro Quote Regie" was founded in 2014 and is an association of 320 German female directors. It was initiated by the blatantly disproportionate employment of male and female directors in Germany. In Germany only 11% of primetime TV and 20% of films are made by women. In Europe, only 16% of the films are made by women. Hollywood films made by women are 12%, an even worse figure! This is a worldwide problem. In nearly every country with a  prominent film industry, you can find organizations like ours. 

We all know about the exemplary function and opinion-forming role of media. English studies about the influence of "Telenovelas" on the Brasilian Society suggest a big impact of media on the thinking and life-style of people. The lack of women in creative key positions behind the camera, and therefore the lack of women and their stories in front of it, is an overall problem for our society.

The reactionary and stereotypical image of women in most of our movies, does not represent the democratic values of the G7 member states. It feeds the repressive tendencies against women in our world at a time when in a lot of countries women's rights are at stake and violence against women is on the rise.  From a democratic point of view this is politically unacceptable.

Changing the situation of women in the media business should therefore be a priority when it comes to empowering women, creating gender-equality or fostering democratic values. 

Together with our sister-organisations in France, England, Canada and the USA, we address you as the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury of the G7 Summit.

Please take measures to change the situation. Send out political signals for a more diverse and democratic worldview in our media. Make space on your agenda for the situation of women in the media! 

The G7 States stand for equal opportunity, tolerance and democracy. Make sure that this worldview finds an equivalence in the media. Only sufficient employment in all leading fields of filmmaking can guarantee that the media truly portrays and represents our diverse, open and democratic society.