At Davos, a number of distinguished observers including PM Trudeau of Canada criticised the paucity of women. Anticipating this, the organisers had offered corporate partners who are normally restricted to four passes an additional pass if they had a woman in their midst. In spite of this, women made up just 17.8% of delegates this year compared to 17% five years ago.

Meanwhile, in LA, this year's starkly homogenous roster of 20 white nominees for the acting categories and 0 women nominees for best director or screenwriter caused Hollywood heavyweights like George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Idris Elba to bemoan the lack of diversity while the likes of Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith have announced they are boycotting the Oscars altogether. Amid the public uproar, the Academy has quickly promised to alter the makeup of its membership body. And change is needed: a recent LA Times study revealed the Academy is 90% white and 70% male. 

The lack of diversity at the Oscars is symptomatic of the lack of diversity in the film industry as a whole. Only 6.4% of features released in 2013 and 2014 were directed by women and only 12.5% were from minority directors. 91% of working directors are male, 85% of working screenwriters are male, 83% of executive producers are male, and 98% of cinematographers are male.

The overwhelmingly white, male dominated film industry means that what is assumed to be mainstream is actually far from the truth. Is it any surprise that most films typecast women and minorities, perpetuate gender stereotypes and offer a limited range of role models for the young?

At TWF, we are also committed to changing the media landscape through our documentary "She Objects" and the critical thinking and media literacy programmes we plan to roll out in secondary schools later this year. We are delighted to have as our IWD Lunch guest speaker this year Jackson Katz, the eminent US anti-sexism author, film-maker, academic, TED presenter and architect of the Bystander Approach to reducing violence against women. Of any year, this is the year when we hope 50% of the room will be male!