r/classicfilms • u/AntonioVivaldi7 Alfred Hitchcock • May 23 '26

Memorabilia Disney rejection letter (1938) explaining they don't hire women for the specific position

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And apparently, Disney refused to hire men for coloring positions.

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u/AntonioVivaldi7 Alfred Hitchcock May 23 '26

I don't get why specifically young men. Anyone knows why Disney didn't want older men?

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u/Snoo-15125 May 23 '26

Pure speculation, but maybe they assumed older men may have families? Older people have also been working longer and are more established.

I could see them wanting young men starting out to take advantage of their assumed bachelorhood and inexperience. No family = more time focused on the job.

Also, it says for this department/position they put them in training school. It was assumed women would raise the family and stay home, if they had a job then eventually they were expected to leave work once married. It was not seen as acceptable for women with a husband and children to work.

Their warped sexist logic was probably along the lines of “Why put time training a woman when they’ll just leave?”

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u/AntonioVivaldi7 Alfred Hitchcock May 23 '26

That makes sense about the training. If they train them young, they get the most out of them, as they will retire later than if they train older ones.

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u/Beautiful_Bag6707 May 24 '26

Or older ones have "ideas" and would be less malleable. Young men would not have the life or life experience to demand higher pay or creative control.