Leading Women in Theatre Meet with Arts Council England to Mark End of Research Project

A historic meeting took place yesterday (March 20th) between leading women in theatre and Arts Council England to mark the end of a major five year research project.

Attendees were leaders from the leading organisations currently researching gender equality in theatre including Jude Kelly, CEO and founder of the WOW Festivals and former Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, Lesley Gannon, Deputy General Secretary of The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, Maureen Beattie, former President of Equity (and President at the time of the research), Cassie Raine, CEO of Parents and Carers in Performing Arts, Stella Kanu, CEO of The Globe Theatre and co-founder of Black Womxn in Theatre, Polly Kemp, co-founder and Director of ERA 50:50, the equal representation for actresses campaign whose supporters include Emma Thompson and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and co-Director of the Women in Theatre Lab, Kelly Burke, Chair of Equity's Women's Committee (2016 - 2023) and Cheryl Robson, founder and Managing Editor of Aurora Metro Books. Sphinx Theatre was also invited to attend but unable to attend but sent their good wishes and said it was great to hand over the baton to the next generation.

The meeting was organised and chaired by Jennifer Tuckett, author of the five year research project the meeting had been arranged to discuss, the former Research and Literary Director at Sphinx Theatre, where she came up with the idea for the five year research project out of her research for University Women in the Arts at the University of Cambridge and for Sphinx in 2018, and the co-Director of the Women in Theatre Lab, the new UK version of the US's ground-breaking Women's Project (WP) Lab and Australia's Women in Theatre programme which helped Australia's top eight theatres reach gender parity. The meeting was the first time all of the leading organisations researching gender equality in theatre had met with the Arts Council in one room and the research project, which was partnered by all of the leading organisations invited to the meeting, was the longest investigation into women in theatre in the UK in recent times.

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England, attended from Arts Council England, along with Neil Darlison, Director of Theatre, and Michelle Dickson, Director of Strategy.

The meeting discussed key findings from the five year research project, which built on past research by Jennifer Tuckett which received ethical clearance from the University of Cambridge, and discussed recommendations based on the findings from all of the leading organisations attending the meeting.

Key findings highlighted included that the issue of gender inequality is in danger of being dismissed as resolved when it's not, that even where some statistics in terms of employment may have improved, this doesn't mean discrimination experienced by women had improved, that the lack of childcare and caring responsibilities support was a repeated finding throughout the five years, that a need for policy support was a repeated finding throughout the five years, that some areas such as new writing and discrimination against older women had worsened post-pandemic, that countries like Australia can provide learning for the UK for example in terms of specific policy support for women such as a Gender Matters Taskforce, that the current NPO round has reduced its support for women's theatre companies to 0.30% and that women's omission initially from the Arts Council's recent 10 year strategy document suggests women have in recent times not been given the same consideration as other under-represented groups.

As a result of the meeting, Arts Council England have agreed to take action on discrimination against women in theatre, including working with PiPA on childcare issues raised, considering new writing, boards, and information sheets, and considering the creation of a gender advisory board and have said they will either write a letter to the group or arrange another meeting with the group outlining what further actions they will take.

Jennifer Tuckett, the author of the five year research project, said: "This is a historic moment for addressing discrimination against women in theatre. We are grateful to the Arts Council for meeting with us in different ways over the five years, and at this final meeting, which was the first time all of the leading organisations currently researching this area had met with the Arts Council in one room, agreeing to make concrete actions. The whole group felt that if the Arts Council is able to adopt in particular the idea discussed of a gender advisory group, similar to their disability advisory group and race advisory group, this would be particularly important in ensuring that the under-representation of women and discrimination against women is given the specific focus and attention it needs. We are grateful that the Arts Council has agreed to take action and delighted that five years of work has resulted in this".

CEO of Parents and Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA) Cassie Raine said: "The meeting marked a significant move forward, highlighting the crucial role of care responsibilities in perpetuating gender inequality within the arts. We look forward to collaborating with Arts Council England and this inspiring group of female leaders to address these long-standing challenges."

Former President of Equity and actress Maureen Beattie said: ""After our meeting with ACE today there is a glimmer of hope in my heart."

Director of ERA 50: 50 and co-Director of the Women in Theatre Lab Polly Kemp said: "I felt very privileged to be part of this group of incredible women working hard to campaign for equality at all levels in the Arts from boards, commissioning and producing to advocating for carers and older women. It felt like a productive meeting with a sense that ACE has taken away some concrete actions."

The group also wrote on December 4th 2023 to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer to request a meeting to discuss how best to request a government inquiry into the under-representation of women across all arts forms (including those areas not covered by Arts Council England such as film and television which The Writers' Guild amongst other partners has researched extensively) but have received no reply.

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