Women in theatre

Women-in-Theatre-coverThis report was commissioned in July 2011 by the Australia Council for the Arts to bring the research on the issue of women in creative leadership in Australia up to the present day, and provide a basis for the sector to discuss these issues and to reach agreement on some strategies to address the situation. It gathers together quantitative and qualitative information on the continuing gender disparities, and attempts to identify structural barriers and potential levers for addressing entrenched inequalities.

After concerted policy and strategy interventions in the 1980s through to the mid-1990s, the issue of gender equality in creative leadership in the theatre sector largely fell off the policy agenda until December 2009, when a media storm erupted and created momentum for change in the form of new networks, events and debates.

Quantitative analysis of data held by Ausstage is presented for the Major Performing Arts Companies and for the Theatre Board Key Organisations (Multi-year). There is significant variability in the representation of women as playwrights/writers and as directors from year to year, with a pattern of 'good years' and 'bad years' for women. In the MPA companies only 30%-40% of productions have a woman in a creative leadership role, with this proportion dipping below 30% in both 2008 and 2010.

 

Formats

This media release can also be viewed in an emdedded frame below (we recommend using the 'view in fullscreen' viewing option), on the Australia Council's Scribd account or downloaded as a PDF (683 KB).

 

 

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  • Donna Benjamin 10:37am on 29 Apr 2012
    Hi there, Wow - Thanks for doing this research, and releasing this report. Am excited to see you've referenced my 1994 Honours Thesis. If it's possible to update the report this is a better URL. http://kattekrab.net/australian-women-theatre-directors cheers Donna
  • Natahnee 6:30pm on 02 May 2012
    Hey all, A very important issue. Not only in the arts but in all sectors. In the hope that there will be plenty of people reading this article because they care and want to make a difference, I wanted to point out that there may be a typo in the opening sentence. You don't need to post this message - I just wanted to let you know because it is representing women and if we can't get the pro tonal article right how will people take it seriously. Now let's get involved and take over the world. Cheers Natahnee
  • Jane Khoo 3:07pm on 08 May 2012
    As the Founding Artistic Director and President of Flare Dance Company, an established non-profit amateur dance company with 30 dancers, based in Melbourne, I was nominated for AusDance awards by my peers. But the application was rejected on the basis that I was not a professional in theatre/dance. It is thus not surprising that there is this lack of recognition as women in creative leadership roles. Many of us juggle family responsibilities and jobs (I have a 10month old baby and work as a health professional). Why should the fact that I do not earn a wage through my creative leadership role negate me from being recognised for my work?
  • Teegan Lee 5:55pm on 03 Jun 2012
    As a young woman working as a lighting designer in theatre I feel this report doesn't go deep enough. A similar situation of gender inequity exists for other creative roles within the industry such as lighting, set and sound design. I say similar rather than the same because in most cases the gender divide is even more skewed in these roles. Yet these roles are not included in the current discussion. I have heard some speculation that improving the gender balance of directors will have a flow on effect for women in other creative roles but this report highlights that it is not just male Artistic Directors who privilege male directors and playwrights over female ones so there is actually no reason to assume that female directors will naturally prefer to work with female creatives. For this reason I think these roles need to be included in future discussions about women in theatre.
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