Latest survey reveals glaring gender inequality in the anime industry, including One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Dragon Ball

The anime industry and the role of women in it has always been a controversial topic, both in the stories this medium produces and the people working behind the scenes. Now, a survey by the Japanese Film Project (JFP) - focused on the role of women in these types of productions, including anime films - shows how there is a significantly lower percentage of females compared to males in the industry.

This survey also shared the distribution of roles in the anime industry when it comes to several prominent roles, such as directors, music directors, producers, assistants, and a lot more. Furthermore, it is also interesting to note why the industry is male-oriented.

Disclaimer: The opinions shared here are subjective and are not a reflection of Sportskeeda as a whole. They are also, by no means, an attempt to undermine the role of men and women in the anime industry or any other professional field.

---

A recent survey by the Japanese Film Project (JFP) shows the role of women in the anime industry

Some prominent anime female characters (Image via MAPPA, Wit, and more).

The Japanese Film Project, an institution focused on the cinema industry as a whole in Japan, did a survey on the role women have in this medium, and that included the anime industry. The survey revealed that there was a much lower number of women involved in this medium, as compared to the percentage of men working there.

The survey took into consideration several anime films that earned over 1 billion yen at the box office, with some of them being One Piece: Film Red, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Suzume no Tojimari, Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Scarlet Bond, Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night, and more.

Some of the most notorious stats include the ratio of female directors, animation directors/chief animation directors being 41 percent (65 women out of 160 staff), a ratio of 18 percent when it came to producers positions (56 women out of 315 staff members), and 20 percent when it came to art directors (3 women out of 15).

There was a section dedicated to more general yet significant roles (directors, animation directors, cinematographers, music directors, scriptwriter/screenplay, character designers, and a few more), which showed a ratio of 31 percent (124 women out of 400 staff). Assistant roles had a ratio of (2345 women working in assistant roles out of 4906), with a subdivision of animators at 58 percent (1137 out of 1952), and art-related positions at 53 percent (144 out of 274).

---

The role of women in the anime industry

The anime industry has always been criticized for the role of women, particularly in their stories, and the recent survey by the JFP suggests that things are fairly similar behind the scenes.

One reason for this could be that anime is mostly a male-oriented hobby. Despite having its own genres aimed at women (shojo anime being the most notorious example), the male-centric content gets young men interested in working in the industry more than females.

However, what should be most prominent in these discussions is transparency and merit, which means hiring a professional because of his or her qualities and not his or her gender. Not only does that mean a greater sense of quality but also ensures that the anime in question is going to be a lot better, because the right people were hired.

---

Final thoughts

The anime industry has always earned criticism as far as the role of women in it are concerned, and while things seem to be improving, the recent survey indicates that there is still a long road ahead. Be that as it may, there should be a focus on merit and not the gender of the professional since that does not matter in these situations.