The Stage

Theatres must join fight for older women’s roles - Equity

Published Thursday 9 February 2012 at 10:45 by Matthew Hemley

Equity vice president Jean Rogers has called on the theatre sector to follow the example set by broadcasters and take steps to address the lack of opportunities for older female performers.

Rogers was speaking after the publication of research revealing that TV viewers have concerns about the lack of middle- and older-aged women on screen. She claimed the report was a “vindication” of the union’s campaign calling on broadcasters to cast more female performers.

However, Rogers said that, while the broadcast industry is beginning to make improvements in relation to “gender balance and awareness of the issue”, the “same awareness and will to improve the situation” is not apparent in the theatre sector.

She revealed that Equity had sent 43 letters to artistic directors of venues in the subsidised sector in February last year, asking about their plans to improve gender balance in their choice of repertoire. She said there had only been five replies six months later and “a gentle reminder brought in half a dozen more”.

“The older actress barely walks our British stages and it would seem, unlike the British public, our theatre community does not think this state of affairs warrants any changes,” she said.

Last week, the BBC, as current chair of the Creative Diversity Network, published Serving All Ages - research aimed at finding out what the public and people in the broadcast industry feel about the representation of age on television, radio and online. It discovered that there is concern across all age groups surveyed about the lack of middle- and older-aged women on television.

Rogers said she was “delighted” by the report, which she claimed “concludes that the media has all but censored the portrayal of middle-aged and older women”.

“In fact it was, and I quote, ‘typically a key concern across all age groups of both genders and it was also an issue raised by the expert participants’. I believe Equity’s campaign has been vindicated,” she added.

In response to the report, BBC director general Mark Thompson said the lack of older women on screen “needs to be addressed”. Rogers said Equity could now prepare to deliver a petition, which calls for equal representation of women in film and television drama and has been signed by more than 10,000 people, to the BBC and other broadcasters.