2008 Research Project on Gender Portrayal and Employment Opportunities for Performers
This report is the outcome of FIA's year-long project "Changing Gender Portrayal: Promoting Employment Opportunities for Women in the Performing Arts". You can read more about the actions of the project and the background to the research in the dedicated project section. The research strand of the project was a key part of the project work. It entailed an ambitious reporting exercise that seeks to capture a snapshot of the experience of performers across Europe in relation to how their age and gender profile impacts on their employment opportunities.
The report was launched in the European Parliament at a special Press/Launch event hosted by MEP Proinsias de Rossa on the 27th of January 2009. Photos from the launch, the official press release and an overview of some of the press coverage is available on the launch page.
The study was carried out by Dr. Deborah Dean, of the Industrial Relations Research Unit of Warwick University, UK, which is part of the European Industrial Relations Observatory network of leading research institutes. The principal study method was an online questionnaire.The Questionnaire was managed by an organisation specialised in online research surveys, called "Quadresearch". The online questionnaire was available for completion by performers from all over Europe on the Quadresearch website in English, Spanish, French and German. It was widely distributed by the member unions of EuroFIA and was even been translated into additional languages on their initiative, in order to reach the widest possible audience. It is no longer online, as it was taken down once the research was completed. Some 2000 responses were received. If you would like to consult a paper version of the questionnaire for information, it is available from the FIA office.
The research is further completed by a number of structured interviews undertaken by member unions of EuroFIA. The aim is to gain an insight into the role and views of those who influence gender portrayal on screen and in theatres, in order to better understand how to have an impact in this area. Casting directors, writers, directors and theatre managers are among the “gatekeepers” that the member unions have interviewed. A number of model questions were been prepared in order to help members to structure these interviews. which was made available in a variety of languages to performers across the EU, through the EuroFIA member unions. The responses (46% Male and 54% Female) constitute a unique snapshot of the professional experience of performers in Europe.
The final research report aims to establish an overview of how gender and aging impact on the employment conditions of performers: quality and variety of the work available to them; career length; income levels etc. Surprisingly, despite the variety of cultural traditions, the results were very consistent across the EU. The findings are particularly disquieting in light of the fact that performing is a “gender-integrated” career (ie: exactly the same task is carried out by men and women and this has been the case for hundreds of years) – yet inequalities persist.
The Report is available for download below in four languages. It is also available on CD Rom on request to the FIA secretariat.
This project is supported by the European Commission
Age, Gender and Performer Employment in Europe Age, Genre et Emploi des Artistes-Interprètes en Europe Alter, Geschlecht und Beschäftigung von darbietenden Künstlerinnen und Künstler in Europa Edad, Género y el Empleo de Los Artistas-Intérpretes en Europa
Resource Section on Gender Portrayal and Equal Opportunities
Within the framework of the European research project entitled "Changing gender portrayal: Promoting employment opportunities for women in the performing arts” FIA has begun gathering existing resources on this topic together and has received contributions from several European countries. FIA will continue to bring these together in this web section and to make them available as a value resource for all members working on this issue, and as a useful complement to the research currently being undertaken.
If you have information about a project or piece of research on this issue that you think should be included here, please take contact with dmurphy@fia-actors.com.
Research on Gender Portrayal in the Performing Arts:
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Survey on resilient (raked) stages in live performance
FIA and its members are committed to ensuring that performers can work in the safest conditions and that appropriate measures are taken at all times to safeguard their health while they perform or rehearse on stage. The amount of hazards that performers are potentially subject to is often underestimated. This is not only the case of big theatres with important choreographies but also, perhaps even more so, of mid-sized, small venues where performers are sometimes hired by less experienced management, with little resources to ensure their venue fully complies with all applicable health and safety regulations.
In live performance, props, smoke and haze, noise, fire and explosives, lighting, stunts, ventilation and temperature, electrical equipment are just some of the potential threats to performers that they and their employers/contractors need to properly assess, to avoid exposing themselves or others to risk.
Under the impulse of Equity in the UK, FIA has undertaken a survey of its affiliates around the world, focussing on one particular threat to the safety of performers: resilient or raked stages. Rakes can be defined as inclined floors - permanent or temporary slopes - which can be used in the course of a given production and that may either concern parts or extend to the entire surface where performers are to play, depending on how the set is designed for that production.
Standing, walking, dancing, jumping or, to put it plainly, acting on rakes does expose the performer to a potential injury, mostly via repetitive strain to specific parts of his/her body, and calls for specific precautions. Additional factors like costumes, rake surface, rake angle, time spent on rake, footwear and others can increase exponentially the amount of risk and require additional care.
FIA now wishes to collect information about this subject and draft unified guidelines, to make performers more aware of the risks generated by rakes and promote codes of conduct within the industry at all possible levels to help reduce injuries caused by rakes.
Study on industrial relations in the media sector
The European Commission has released a comprehensive study on industrial relations in the culture and media sector, covering the 15 old EU member States. The study was carried out by a contractor - the Labour Science Institute of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium – largely on the basis of interviews with the main industry players in those countries.
FIA provided valuable information on the nature and scope of its activity at international and European level and was instrumental in facilitating further interviews with its affiliates. In spite of this, interviews appear to have been mainly carried out with national trade union centers.
The research focuses on three issues:
1. The structure, organization, evolution of the culture and media sector – in its broader sense;
2. The professional relationships in the sector and the nature of collective bargaining;
3. The main players - social partners - in the sector.
Unfortunately, the final report is only available in English. However, summaries in French and German have also been made available. You can find them on this page (see under 2004, "secteur culture/médias") Perhaps not surprisingly, this work stumbles upon many hurdles that make it difficult to provide a comparative analysis of the state of this sector in the 15 old EU member States.
The blurry boundaries of the culture and media sector in Europe, the absence of reliable data on employment, the lack of professional status of many workers in this area, the fragmented nature of social dialogue, the different stakes in the public and the private sector, are some of the difficulties that rule out any authoritative conclusion. Indeed, drawing a clear picture of the challenges facing industrial relations in this area continues to be an extremely difficult exercise, whose outcomes must always be taken with a pinch of salt. The study, which will be complemented by a similar exercise focusing on the new EU member States, provides in our view a very rough, at times perfectible and often extremely cautious information about national systems and realities, with only very broad cross-national clues about trends and similarities. Among the latter, however, it is worthy to notice the escalation of job insecurity, an increasing demand for flexibility by employers, a rising competition, a deterioration of working conditions and the soaring number of free-lance, self-employed workers – deprived of even the most basic level of protection in many European countries.