Entertainment Management Students Put Spotlight on Gender Inequality in the Entertainment Industry

Gender equality in the workplace has been a hot topic recently, and one group of Bay State College Entertainment Management students is doing their part to shed some light on how it affects the entertainment industry. 

Mind the Gap is the brainchild of students Allyson Hibbard, Shawn Barroso and Jake Rollins. The documentary is a rush of actual clips and images of how women are portrayed in the media, coupled with interviews with real people who have been affected by gender discrimination in the entertainment industry. 

"It's interesting, because there are mostly girls in the Entertainment Management program here, but I definitely think there are more guys in the industry itself," said Allyson Hibbard. "I think it's easier for them to get jobs compared to women. Some people blatantly don’t want girls on tour, even if they're experienced. I think that's the reason why there are a lot of girls in the Bay State program, because they want to know more and have that levarage so they can say, yes, I'm a girl, but I'm qualified because I finished this program." 

Allyson and her group researched the topic extensively, uncovering organizations advocating for women in the entertainment industry and articles highlighting women who have made a difference in the industry but are not publicly acknowledged for it. The information that has stuck out to her the most, though, is from women in the industry that she's heard of and interviewed. 

"When I was younger and went to shows, I never paid attention to who did what job. Now I'm involved, and I pay attention to if there's a girl on the crew and notice if they're doing a job that's super hard. This one band I know, they have a girl on the tour and she's their tour manager, she does merchandise, she does photography, she does film, she does basically everything for the band. It's a hard job and she's the only person doing all of it. It's great to see women like that out there doing those jobs." 

The thought-provoking documentary will premiere during the Bay State College Service Learning Showcase at The Spot on Thursday, April 27th from 5:30pm-7:00pm. 

"I definitely think it's an eye-opening documentary, whether you know about the situation or not.," said Allyson. "Sometimes you don't realize how severe it is, especially if you're not involved. You might not know it exists at all. It does make you realize, wow, this is a huge problem that we need to not let happen anymore. I'm interested to see how people will react to it." 

Interested in Entertainment Management? Learn more about Bay State College's unique Management program with a concentration in Music Industry here.  

Interested in Service Learning? Read about all of the recent service learning initiatives from Bay State College students here!