The Stage

Majority of female performers believe gender works against them

Published Thursday 23 October 2008 at 10:45 by Matthew Hemley

Around three-quarters of female performers believe their gender puts them at a disadvantage in relation to the number and variety of acting roles on offer.

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds feel they are not realistically presented on television.

The findings are the preliminary results of a Europe-wide survey aimed at assessing television, film and theatre opportunities across genders, with a specific focus on women aged over 40.

Carried out by the European arm of global union the International Federation of Actors, the survey’s results show that 79% of female performers consider their gender puts them at a disadvantage in relation to the number of roles on offer, while 73% feel their sex works against them in terms of role variety.

By contrast, 74% of male performers feel their gender is an advantage in relation to the number of roles available and 70% feel being male helps in terms of variety of roles.

Equity vice-president Jean Rogers, who was behind the formation of the survey, said the findings would be taken to governments across Europe in a bid to change the perception of women, claiming how women are portrayed on television and stage can impact on the way they are treated in society.

“We are finding in so many areas - not just where women are concerned - society is not being properly represented in the media,” said Rogers. “It is getting very selective and it has such an impact on values and people’s perceptions - even if they don’t consciously realise it. If they only see people of a certain kind, that’s what they think is the norm.”

The survey was distributed to all FIA’s affiliated unions in Europe - including Equity - and made possible with funding from the European Commission. It was completed by more than 2,100 members in 28 countries, with 54% of respondents being women and 46% men. More than 1,000 responses came from Equity members in the UK and Eire.

Although its exact findings have yet to be finalised, its initial conclusions suggest men enjoy longer careers in television, film and theatre, with 71% of the 71-80 age group bracket being male.

Respondents were asked to state whether they felt age and gender is represented in a realistically varied way across all mediums. Although the majority of women said television is not realistic in its portrayal, theatre fared better, with 51% of female respondents claiming the medium does realistically portray age, compared with 75% of male participators.

The survey found that 57% of women feel theatre also represents gender in a realistically varied way, compared with 85% of men.

The findings were presented to a conference of FIA members last month, during which UK actress Kate Buffery criticised the “pathetic caricatures on offer” of older women and Pauline Moran, best known for playing Miss Lemon in Poirot, said there should be “more aggressive commissioning and more imaginative casting” in order to rescue older women from the “artistic wasteland”.

Following the conference, Rogers, Buffery and Moran have formed an Equity steering group to discuss performance opportunities for older women.