Men dominate the industry: Mirren

London: Veteran actress Dame Helen Mirren believes men dominate the entertainment industry. ‘The Queen’ star said there is a need to balance between the number of male and female roles in films, while speaking at the Women in Film and Television Awards.

"I`m looking forward to the time that at least there`s a balance. Women represent half of the population and I want to see as many female roles as there are male roles, because at the moment the balance is very unfair," the Telegraph quoted her as saying. She added: "When I started as a young actress, you walked on to the set and it was all men. “If you were lucky there was one woman who was perhaps the make-up person or the girl who helped you get into your costume. “Everybody was male. My God, it`s changed, but it hasn`t gone nearly far enough. "It`s incredible to see now the number of women in producing and writing, and I`ve worked with wonderful female assistant directors, but I want to see more women behind the camera because in my experience there are not enough female cinematographers and that`s an area we have to keep working on." The 64-year-old actress was honored with the award for lifetime achievement at the event. She said: "Really, the only reason I`ve earned this is by being old. I was just in the loo and it was absolutely jam-packed with women. And do you know what they were doing? They were networking. Because we can`t do it on the golf course, can we?" Mirren further elaborated on the payment women receive for their job. She said: "I just think women should get better at negotiating their pay. That`s the most important thing. "Because women would rather sit on the lavatory in public than ask for more money and that`s why I think they mostly get left behind, because they`re just not bossy enough. But I`m not a good role model because I`m a tough old bird. "I sort of thought we marched all those years ago so women wouldn`t feel like victims - and actually quite a lot of young women still do." ANI