As this year’s Animation April comes to a close, we thought we could discuss a topic that has been on our list for quite some time. During past years, we’ve covered the histories behind several animation studios like PIXAR, Laika, Cartoon Saloon, Amblimation, and Bluesky. We’ve discussed the history of animation, the rise of Walt Disney, and even the history behind a few specific animated films. And after poring over countless articles, watching several documentaries and DVD commentaries, and tracking down dozens of library books on the topic, we noticed that there was something–actually a lot of things–missing from the history of animation: women.
But it’s not as though women simply weren’t there in the early days of animation. In fact, women worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of the first full-length animated films. However, women were almost always relegated to ink and paint departments, which meant that they were responsible for creating animation cells based on drawings. It was an incredibly important part of the medium, but these women had no creative input on the final product. For many years, women were either consistently rejected from animation and story departments, or they were hired and not given credit for their work.