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Engendering Change: Strategies to Combat Gender Stereotypes and Promote Equal Opportunities for Performers in Europe
IETM News - Europe - posted by IETM on 03.11.09
The new project led by EuroFIA will build on the foundations laid by the first one and will seek to identify clear strategic actions to engender change across the EU.
The focus will be on coming up with strategies, both at the level of performers’ unions themselves and at the level of political advocacy, at national and EU level. These strategies, examples and good practices will be intended to empower and support performers’ unions to undertake action on this issue.
Equally they can serve as a blueprint providing examples of possible effective political action that decision-makers can pursue. They will also highlight ways in which the industry can work from within to change gender portrayal and do away with stereotyping. More precisely, our main objectives with this project are:
- To capitalise and build upon the foundations laid in the first EuroFIA project on Gender Portrayal and use the momentum and network that have been developed to have a real impact on this issue;
- To share and exchange good practice on combating gender stereotypes and improving representation of women in film, television and theatre in Europe;
- To draw together these ideas and good practices in order to come up with targeted strategic recommendations for performers’ unions, policy-makers and stakeholders in the industry on how to take action on gender portrayal and equal opportunities. The aim would be to provide examples of both hard (such as, for example, quotas and funding criteria) and soft approaches (such as, for example, developing cultural projects or applying a gender check list approach in cultural institutions) gleaned from across the EU and to analyse what works and how. This in turn would inform and empower different relevant actors on how to develop effective strategic approaches to gender equality in their work and structures;
- To develop and renew the commitment to gender equality in the workers’ organisations that are members of EuroFIA through the development and adoption of a FIA charter on gender to which its members should adhere;
- To feedback the work and findings into the work carried out at European level, through the sectoral social dialogue committees on live performance and audiovisual and through contact and cooperation with the Commission and the Parliament in their work in this area;
- To continue to develop strategic partnerships with other civil society actors active in this area.
Means to achieve this project: regional seminars and final conference.
In order to carry out all these goals five different regional seminars will bring together representatives from the sector and relevant political and civil society actors, as well as performers themselves.
A consultant will attend these five meetings and draw out and feedback the good practice identified, the recommendations made and any key ideas and suggestions developed, so that these can be drawn together in a handbook. The strategic recommendations emerging from the project will be developed on that basis.
The findings will be shared and discussed throughout the whole European network of FIA (EuroFIA) during the final conference to be organized in Brussels in May 2010.
Date, location and organising members:
- November 06, 2009, Marseilles (France); SFA - Syndicat Français des Artistes-Interprètes (France) and FAEE - Federación de Artistas del Estado Español (Spain)
- November 25, 2009, Brussels (Belgium); ACOD Cultuur (Belgium), ACV / TransCom – Culture (Belgium), CGSP - (Belgium), CSC / TransCom – Culture (Belgium), FNV-KIEM - Kunsten, Informatie en Media (Netherlands)
- December 06/07, 2009, Bled (Slovenia); GLOSA (Slovenia), HA - Herecká Asociace (Czech Republic), HOS - Herecká Obec Slovenska (Slovakia)
- December 14, 2009; Stockholm (Sweden), TF – Teaterförbundet (Sweden), NSF - Norsk Skuespillerforbund (Norway)
- To be confirmed: London (UK), Equity (UK), Irish Equity Group (Ireland)
More Information?
If you have further questions or would like to get involved in the events mentioned above, please call or email the FIA secretariat.
