Events

Dr. Hong Luo
Associate Professor
Business Administration in the Strategy Unit
Harvard Business School

ABSTRACT

How do the Harvey Weinstein scandal and #MeToo affect women’s likelihood of working in male-dominated domains and the types of ideas developed in Hollywood? To discern these events’ impact, we exploit the variation in whether a producer previously collaborated with Weinstein. We find that compared to their non-associated counterparts, Weinstein-associated teams with female talent are more likely to work on male-oriented stories after the shock, and their depiction of female protagonists is less traditionally feminine. Finally, we find no change in the share of female-oriented stories by Weinstein-associated producers, even though they now work substantially more with female talent. Our findings suggest that these events have helped counteract gender stereotypes for women, but they do not mitigate the shortage of female-oriented ideas.