On female leadership in the movie business: Evidence from over 130 years of filmmaking in Germany

This paper analyses gender differences in leadership in the German movie industry using a uniquely long-run dataset covering nearly 88,000 films and more than 27,000 directors from the late nineteenth century to 2023. Treating film directors as key leadership positions in a project-based creative labour market, we distinguish between career persistence and access to economically sustainable projects. Methodologically, we combine non-parametric survival functions and semi-parametric Cox proportional hazard models with film-level linear probability models including year fixed effects and detailed controls for experience, education, and production characteristics. This framework allows us to distinguish gender differences in exit behaviour from those in project allocation. We document a substantial historical underrepresentation of women, although participation has increased markedly since the 1960s. Survival estimates show no evidence that female directors exit the profession more rapidly than men once cohort and age-at-entry effects are accounted for. However, women are significantly less likely to direct commercial films—projects most closely associated with income generation. These gaps are large in unconditional models but largely explained by differences in accumulated experience. Conditional on commercial experience, women are no less likely than men to continue directing such projects. We further provide evidence suggesting that formal film education and public funding contribute to narrowing gender gaps, highlighting the role of institutions in shaping leadership opportunities.