Changing Gender Portrayal Conference in Riga

Changing gender portrayal: Promoting employment opportunities for women in the performing arts

This conference took place in Riga, Latvia on the 4-5 of April 2008. It gathered some 60 performers and performers' union representatives from across the EU. The discussion aimed to raise awareness on the issue of gender portrayal and representation and its impact on employment opportunities and to therefore build the commitment and interest of the EuroFIA members to the project. For this reason, the opening presentation by Dearbhal Murphy retraced the origins of the project and placed them within the context of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. It was followed by a number of very interesting presentations of national level experience on this topic. Members from Sweden and Norway highlighted the work that has been done to investigate the problem of unequal employment opportunities for women performers and the measures that have resulted. You can find the presentations below made by Jaan Kolk/Nina Stone from Teaterforbundet in Sweden and Agnete Haaland from Norsk Skuespillerforbund in Noray. Jean Rogers from equity UK spoke about the situation in the UK, her own experience as an actress, and explained how the steering group of the project had looked to the diverse national experience on this topic in order to shape the aims and activities of the current project.

Deborah Dean from Warwick University also made a presentation, recalling the structure of the research and the use of an online questionnaire to gather information about the situation of performers across the EU. She outlined how the questionnaire has been designed to gather specific data on a number of issues, in a way that is comparable and can be collated to deliver clear results. She strongly emphasised the need for high response rates from performers across the EU. You can read her presentation below.

The steering group of the project also used the opportunity in Riga to hold a planning meeting about the next steps for the project. The agenda and minutes of that meeting are availale on request. For more information about the Riga conference or the Gender Portrayal Project in general, please email: dmurphy(at)fia-actors.com.

Conference Documents:

Conference Programme
Introductory presentation by D Murphy
Speech by Agnete Haaland
Presentation of Research by Deborah Dean
Speech by Jean Rogers, Equity UK