Poker faces and smooth operators: The social space for women professionals in the Finnish screen industry in financing negotiations

Abstract

The article examines the positions of professional women in negotiations for early development in Finnish film and television production. According to recent studies, closed evaluation practices exclude women professionals and narrow the diversity of women’s representations and narratives on screen. We argue that women in the Finnish screen industry encounter prolonged psychological and economic constraints during their active careers. We analyse the qualitative data of 40 active professional women using Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of social space and symbolic power. We find that gender-based economic harm is constructed and implemented in the discourses of the institutionalized undervaluation of professional women’s work. Three recurring discourses shape the practice of decision-making in early development and position women professionals on the margins of the social space of the Finnish screen industry. The analysis illustrates the construction of gendered symbolic power in the Finnish screen industry that can be developed and applied to other national contexts.