Is gender bias affecting women writers?

Gender bias against female writers, particularly playwrights, seems to be a hot topic at the moment.

As Tracy Brabin reported on this website, the recent conference organised by Sphinx Theatre Company, Vamps, Vixens and Feminists, brought together a wide range of practitioners to discuss the subject.

The whole event was at turns depressing, uplifting, empowering and hilarious and I really hope something positive will come from the fabulous energy created by so many intelligent and sparky women and men who know the only way to change anything is to shout out and be heard.

 And looking around the packed theatre, thinking of all the experience and talent in the room, I wondered why we didn’t just all collaborate to make shows we want to watch with people we want to work with.

There are further reports on the event in The Guardian and by writer Helen Smith and actor Abigail Tarttelin.

Now here's an analysis produced by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, showing the gender breakdown of TV and radio writers listed in the Radio Times over six weeks from 23rd May - 3rd July 2009.The bias towards men varies from 80%-20% one week to 65%-35% another. The average is well over 70% in favour of male writers.

Meanhwile, in America, Emily Glassberg Sands has produced a thesis concluding after three different experiments that "female playwrights face more barriers in achieving production than do their male counterparts."

She continues:

Scripts bearing female pen-names are deemed by artistic directors to be of lower overall quality and to face poorer economic prospects than otherwise identical scripts bearing male pen-names. In addition, artistic directors believe cast and crew will be less eager to work on a female-written script. Female artistic directors, in particular, deem scripts bearing female pen-names to be poorer fits with their theaters, and to face not only worker discrimination, but also customer discrimination. The severity of the discrimination against female playwrights appears to be more pronounced for women writing about women than for women writing about men.

You can download the full text of her thesis (c/o The New York Times), and there are also articles considering her findings in The New York Times and The Guardian.

It's the claim that it's women discriminating against women that is particularly striking. As Alexis Soloski writes:

So, bias does exist but – surprisingly – perpetrated by women against women. But a boost in female-penned scripts and more of a willingness from artistic directors and producers to give these scripts higher-profile, longer-running productions might help correct it.

Article published 29.06.2009

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