Educational Media Reviews Online

Women in Manufacturing consists of a series of short interviews with fourteen women all pursuing careers in the manufacturing sector, whether in a large industrial factory, to agriculture, to medical prosthetics, or to hoop dancing. The film is best suited for middle, high school, or first-year undergraduate audiences and would be useful at career fair venues. However, the fact that the film is completely composed of still images that are not the best image quality, might be a turn-off to some viewers. Although a variety of businesses, products, and locations for manufacturing careers are depicted, there is a lack of racial, ethnic, and class diversity among the women interviewed. Incorporating a more diverse group of interviewees would appeal to broader audiences. Additionally, broader contextual information and intent for the film in a lesson plan is left to the instructor.

The accompanying resource guide (114 pages) contains viewing notes, the complete script for the film, discussion questions, and more in-depth profiles of the women featured in the film. While the resource guide is helpful in some ways, such as in providing additional context for the women in the film, the guide is very basic, repetitive, and the discussion questions lack a sense of purpose. The absence of a bibliography or mention of additional resources is also a noticeable shortcoming.

The overall concept of Women and Manufacturing and the series Her Own Words: Women in Nontraditional Careers to which it belongs is wonderful, however, the execution could be improved upon both in the quality of the film and the resource guide. This brief film provides a good introduction to the variety of nontraditional careers available to women and is an encouraging documentary for young women considering a nontraditional career path.