In the animation industry, a professional association called Women In Animation formed in 1993. Men in the business joked, "Where's the Men In Animation group?," to which the women replied, "That's what we call 'The Animation Industry.'"

Actually, there are a lot of women in animation, and their number has been rising. I don't know that there are statistics that are readily available, but since this is an opinion piece, my opinion is that there are more women than ever working in animation.

What is unusual and noteworthy, though, is that there is not an even breakdown of tasks between men and women. This is obvious to the naked eye of anyone visiting an animation studio or network animation department. Just as an entomologist can view the breakdown of gender roles in an ant colony, we can analyze the animation industry the same way. The following are some thoughts--not on the analysis itself--but on why we can analyze the industry that way.

First, imagine you were attending a large party for members of the animation industry. After a round of toasts to, say, Bob Clampett or Shamus Culhane, everyone went off to the lavatories at the same time. The line into the women's room would be comprised of a large number of network executives, studio management types ranging from producers to production assistants, color and background designers, and perhaps an occasional director. The line into the men's room would include studio owners, business types, directors, artists, show creators, designers, and a significant number of other animation artists.

While this is more of an observation, it has already been established that men and women gravitate to different parts of the industry. There are a couple of theories that are often discussed to support this.

Different Paths
First, there is the history of the industry. While there have always been women in the animation, historically the more important jobs have gone to men. This is as much a function of the eras involved and of the history of the business. When you consider that the entire animation industry has been around for less than a century, and that for years women were systematically relegated to such "lesser" jobs such as ink and paint, women have actually done fairly well even getting into any positions in the industry over the last 20 years.

It is also important to look at the motivations of people entering animation. The artisans of the industry (more men than women) tend to enter by first studying animation in school and then simply getting jobs in their chosen field. Some women have taken that path as well, such as director Becky Bristow, currently head of the California Institute of the Arts Character Animation program, and Nancy Beiman, a supervising animator at Disney. But many women, more often than not, tend to "end up" in the industry by one of three different paths, all not all of which involve animation or even an initial interest in the field.

The "different path" theory includes the following typical job motivations. Some women are driven by an interest in children's television, of which animation comprises a large bulk. These people could just as easily end up in publishing or teaching, where many began their careers. Geraldine Laybourne, formerly president of Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, and now President of Disney/ABC Cable Networks, initially pursued a career in education and entered the media industry with an active interest in children's television.

Others simply aspire to work in the entertainment industry, and have career paths that take them through the animation industry as well as through live-action television and film production.There are also other career paths that can lead to animation, including the CD-ROM or CGI industries, as well as graphic design and illustration. Oddly enough several translators of Japanese language materials have gone on to careers as animation producers.