How Equity in the Entertainment Industry is Shaping the Content on Offer

How Equity in the Entertainment Industry is Shaping the Content on Offer

In 2026, almost every industry is unrecognisable in its level of equity when compared with its beginnings. The product of decades, if not centuries, of battles against a patriarchal system has led to more women achieving positions of genuine influence within industries, allowing more diverse experiences to be represented in boardrooms around the world.

It has been a long and arduous journey, and many areas lag behind, but there has never been a greater sense of equality in most sectors. In particular, this has become key to a booming entertainment industry, with broadening perspectives allowing for a more creative environment that fosters genuine innovation and storytelling. But just how are women in entertainment shaping modern content?

Gone are the Days of the Gender-Blocked Gaming Landscape

Gaming has been one of the sectors of the entertainment industry that has lagged behind its peers in achieving a greater level of gender equality. Controversies like Gamergate have targeted women in the field and cast aspersions on their influence in both production and journalism. However, as we continue to progress, it is becoming clear that gaming is no longer a male-only pastime.

More studios are embracing diverse gender perspectives and tailoring their products to wider audiences as a result. It is not only in AAA video gaming, either, as when you look at the slots on Pink Casino, you can also see that titles like Agent Jane Blonde are centring the stories of female protagonists, aware that it is no longer enough to appeal to hyper-masculinity in casino gaming.

In the console gaming world, we have seen characters like Lara Croft become more well-rounded and fleshed out. What’s more, the Nintendo Switch, which ranks second among the highest-selling consoles, boasts a demographic split in which women edge out ownership at 52%, as exploration RPGs like Animal Crossing, managed by a team headed by Aya Kyogoku, attract a wider female audience.

Film and TV Telling Women’s Stories Authentically

It has been said that we are living through the golden age of television, as streaming has provided impetus to tell stories in long form, allowing people to consume at their own pace. It could also be said that the streaming age has enabled women to tell their stories in both film and TV, as creatives are no longer restricted by the typical studio or network framework.

Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge was a perfect example of this. It has won almost every television award there is to win, developed from the creator and star’s one-woman theatre show. While the BBC did partly produce the series, it was the partnership with Amazon Prime that gave Waller-Bridge the freedom to develop an authentic and risky story based on her show.

Elsewhere, Northern Irish writer Lisa McGee’s Channel 4 show Derry Girls was a smash hit in the UK and Ireland, as well as across the pond, serving as a voice for the city’s young women in a post-Troubles age. McGee has since gone on to produce How to Get to Heaven from Belfast for Netflix, which has already been described by the New Yorker as an ode to women’s middle-aged friendship, a more real representation than the 90s Sex and the City approach to storytelling for women.

A Long Way to Go Yet, But More Vibrant Entertainment is Welcome

There are many areas where work is yet to be done - STEM, for example - but that we are seeing authentic storytelling across so many different mediums is encouraging. Where blockbusters were once only headed by men, for example, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emerald Fennel, and Nia DaCosta are being handed the chance to offer their perspectives on big-budget stories.

That is welcome, especially as our media largely reflects the reality in which we live, speaks truth to power, and inspires our youth as they go forward into the world. We can only hope that industries that are still not harnessing the power of half our society will finally catch up and see the benefits of a more equitable landscape.