Speakers during the Symposium "Women, Cinema and Film Archives" at the 2023 FIAF Congress in Mexico City.

2025/26 Survey on Gender Equality in FIAF-Affiliated Institutions: A Report

Results of the survey conducted by the FIAF Gender Observatory

Survey created by Caroline Fournier and Drika de Oliveira
Report written by Clare Healy

You can consult and download the report in English HERE.

We know that the whole world is facing major political challenges and that, historically, women and non-binary people generally encounter more resistance in reaching positions of leadership in the professional sphere. It is precisely because this situation is constantly evolving, highly diverse across countries and of considerable interest within a wide range of fields around the world that FIAF considers it essential to also reflect on how this issue comes into play within film archives.

This survey, consisting of nine questions, was developed by the FIAF Gender Observatory to fill existing gaps in the data on gender-related issues in FIAF-affiliated institutions. The aim of this project is to create democratic, open and welcoming dialogue with all institutions of the FIAF network.

Accepting responses between September 2025 and January 2026, the survey garnered 104 responses from a total of 186 eligible affiliates, giving a response rate of 56%. Participating institutions came from all corners of the globe and included everything from small regional archives to large national organizations. While the results are not representative of the entire FIAF community, they offer valuable insight into the prevalence of gender-equality policies and the practical measures being taken to tackle gender-based inequities and challenges throughout our network, as well as the proportions of women, men and gender non-conforming individuals employed in the workforce at large and in managerial positions. Respondents voiced a variety of perspectives on areas in which they felt their institutions needed to improve, what they felt they were doing well, and what the Gender Observatory could do to contribute towards improving gender equality across the community.

Anonymity is preserved in this report. However, several institutions have privately shared their policies and regulations with the Gender Observatory, and a next step will be to draw upon this data to create reference points and resources for institutions that do not yet have them.