#IWD2018: FIA champions equality every day

Statement from FIA President Ferne Downey

Happy International Women’s Day 2018.

There’s something in the air – it’s the powerful flutter of many wings all over the world. We are taking flight, making plans, investing in a future where women will not be sexually harassed, bullied and demeaned. Instead, we are working collaboratively as part of an unprecedented global movement focussed on the work before us – our fight for women’s rights, equality and justice.

As artists – in our most visible of workplaces, the stages, screens and studios of world – we acknowledge that we have a deep collective responsibility to step up and help light the way. All over the world, FIA affiliates are working to make this vital work our top priority. FIA has pledged to harness the energy of our global community of performers to create the sustained major cultural shift that must happen.

IWD is a day to celebrate the strong women leaders driving change, also within the trade union movement. Committed women have taken up an ever greater role within FIA over the years. They are at the frontline now, pushing for a sea change in our industry: a redistribution of power; a re-examination of representation; and discrimination and harassment-free workplaces.

We get every drop of encouragement we can from each other and share our successes in our home unions and countries. There are many different routes and practices that will get us moving along the same road when the goal is equality, inclusion and freedom from sexual harassment.

There is no going back to sexist, racist, homophobic behaviours that have long been engrained and tolerated by society. The autumn of 2017 marked a dividing line in our collective expectations for our future. At FIA we are proud that our fierce commitment to promoting equality and combatting discrimination has been a cornerstone of our work since our founding in 1952.

FIA honours the activists on every continent for all you have done and for all you will do to rise to the multitude of challenges that abound. Be heartened: We are artists. We are activists. We can do this.

Ferne Downey, FIA President