Equality: A Closer Look At Women In The Theatre

WOMEN are a good thing!

WOMEN are sensuous!

WOMEN are sexy!

WOMEN are strong!

WOMEN are an emotional species!

WOMEN are wives!

WOMEN are friends!

WOMEN are behind every successful man! (wink)

WOMEN are comfort!

WOMEN bleed!

WOMEN cry!

We often hear that women are underrepresented in the tech world; a fact that is, unfortunately, backed up by statistics. However, tech might be the headline, but there are many other sectors when women are still fighting for equality with accurate representation – even when moving away from the world of STEM, and into the arts. 

The infographic below demonstrates all the latest statistics regarding women in the world of Broadway; the theatre capital of the world. Some of the numbers below are extremely encouraging; while the ratio of performers is still weighted in favor of men, the discrepancy is not overwhelmingly concerning – especially when compared to other sections. 

Equality: A Closer Look At Women In The Theatre

However, in contrast, offstage work – such as writing and directing – is overwhelmingly dominated by men, which is perhaps less than encouraging. Women may take to the stage, but it’s far less likely that they will speak words written by fellow women. Off-Broadway productions, however, seem to be far closer to true parity, which is incredibly encouraging, and should eventually result in more even statistics at the 41 Broadway theatres. 

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the unevenness in the talent behind the scenes is reflected with the awards – women are far behind men in terms of Tony award wins.

According to American Theatre:

The results the first year weren’t encouraging: We found that just 21 percent of plays in the 2015-16 season had female authors, with 67 percent written by men and 12 percent having been co-authored by writers of both genders. We also discovered that the number of productions of new plays trounced both those for classics and revivals (see below for how we define these three categories), and that among new plays the gender count was slightly better: 29 percent authored by women, 59 percent by men, 12 percent co-written.

In 2016, we were slightly encouraged to see the top-line number jump to 26 percent female-authored plays, with 63 percent by men and 12 percent co-written. The new-play number inched forward too, to 32 percent female-authored, 55 percent male-authored and 12 percent co-written.

This year, though, only the new-play number budged. The overall number, as you can see below, stayed stubbornly on par with last year at 26 percent female-authored works, with 62 percent by men and 11 percent co-written.

However, there is one standout exception who is leading the way: the incredible Audra McDonald, who is the only person to have won performing awards in all four of the major categories. Hopefully McDonald’s incredible achievements will one day be shared by female writers and directors, too. 

The overall picture – which you can read for yourself above – is mixed; there’s some positive news, and there’s no doubt that great strides have been made, but there’s still room for improvement in the future. 

With the push towards women’s rights, there has also been pushes towards expanding the rights for the lesbian community.  More women are stepping forward to fight for the rights that they are owed and due, alongside those already afforded to the male homosexual community.

Women have been taxpayers for as long as men have, at the same rates, and there are daily battles and struggles to overcome the problems and oppression that women are faced with, especially within the homosexual community to level this unfairness. 

Even in today’s society and the move away from sexism there is still a notable difference in the amount of money a man earns compared to the amount of money a woman earns for the same job.  This is regardless of experience, training, and education, as many employers still feel women lack the competence to work within a competitive environment. That's where equality in the workplace, no matter if it's the trades, arts, or tech, needs to happen.

There are always major differences in the way issues of equality are handled and there seems to be new differences appearing each and every day.