Actress Jameela Jamil slammed the idea of the Oscars eliminating gender categories and warned that doing so would “completely shut out women.”
The 37-year-old took to Instagram over the weekend to respond to reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was considering scrapping gendered acting awards. She proposed creating a new category for “non-binary people” instead.
“Would it not be better to give non-binary people their own category rather than open the door for Hollywood to completely shut out women given the known disproportionate amount of men vs women winning at award shows?” Jamil asked.
“I feel as though we will see a growing ire from women who get shut out of award opportunities…because we have created only one spot among 10s of thousands of actors in a world that favors men,” she added.
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“I don’t think it will help women or NB people to minimize the amount of possible winners,” Jamil continued. “We should look to EXPAND the possibilities so that both GNC [gender non-conforming] people and women have a fair shot in an industry that has for a long time struggled to treat others [as] equals to men.”
The “Good Place” star noted that if the “Athlete of the Year” award were to be given “without gender,” it is highly unlikely that “anyone other than a cis man is going to win, because they dominate that world.”
“They generate the most income for the industry, get the most attention and are the biggest stars/names,” Jamil wrote. “And yes, that is frustrating, but as I said in these slides, we cannot bank on utopian changes, we have to work incrementally to create change and visibility. The same exists across most industries in the world.
She also said that she decided to post her thoughts on the issue because many people have sent her messages making it clear that they agree with her sentiments, but are “too afraid to say it publicly.”
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