FROM THE INTERSECTION: When Gender Equity Is Oversimplified

The recent Equity In Theatre report was centered almost wholly around gender.  It must be acknowledged first and foremost that gender equity is EIT's primary mandate and to their credit, the dearth of statistics about non-white artists contained within the report was not due to a lack of interest in or effort made to include this information on EIT's part. Rather, it was the result of a frustrating lack of recorded data from which to cull this information, which was itself addressed within the report.  (It is shameful, negligent and woefully short-sighted that this information is not readily available in 2015.)  When such data is not compiled and therefore excluded, discussion of gender equity takes place without simultaneous consideration of the dual variables of race and gender.  To have this discussion with gender as the one criterion can lead to a perception that is greatly misrepresentative of the larger picture. 

For example, that female playwrights and directors are associated with fewer than a third of professionally staged productions is a huge imbalance, and a fact.  It is also a fact that the majority of substantial characters in these productions are male.  Where the problem lies is that in keeping gender as the sole criteria – even in a discussion specifically about gender equity – we imply the following strand of logic to be true.

In the Canadian theatre industry, men are overrepresented compared to their female peers. Therefore,it can be inferred that in the positions of playwright, actor and director, men of colour are overrepresented compared to Caucasian women.

Right there, a major problem.  One would have to be in significant denial to believe that this postulation is correct.  I do not have stats on the percentages of directors, actors and playwrights in Canadian theatre who are men of colour, but I do have eyes and ears and while I am passionateabout working towards gender equity, I am also committed to the whole truth in meeting that end.  That truth is that in the last five years, I have been aware of more produced plays that were written or directed by white women than I have plays written or directed by black, Asian, Hispanic, Native and South Asian men combined.

So where does that leave us?  

It leaves male theatre creators of colour in a position in which they are told how much of an advantage they have over white female creators, when their actual level of visibility does not support that.  It may also lead Caucasian female theatre creators to believe that all men are being granted more opportunities than them, when that is a fallacy. The reality is that the only women over whom men of colour have a sizeable advantage is women also of colour.  This is not to say that there aren't male artistic directors who will program a black male playwright over a white woman – allegiance to testosterone can indeed trump racial likeness – but I assert that there are just as many male A.Ds who would easily choose to program “Susan Jones” in their seasons over “Muhammed Singh”.  This is why the gender stats on their own, while well-meaning, useful to a degree and important to note, are problematic.  They are lacking information intrinsic to a thorough understanding of that inequity. 

Up to this point, it would seem that examinations of gender equity in Canadian theatre are simply not broken down beyond male numbers vs. female numbers.  Some would argue that further breakdown is not necessary.  When colour and culture are not factored into these stats, however, what we are essentially left with is a generalized truth that applies to the majority only.  Think about how inherently incomplete it would be to speak of the privileged status of the white German male in the 1940s without including that if you happened to be white, German, male and Jewish – uh, not so much. 

To have this conversation excluding the glaring determinant of intersectionality is to not have the full conversation.

What “In the Canadian theatre industry, men are overrepresented compared to their female peers”, actually means – devoid of racial consideration – is “In the Canadian theatre industry, the cultural majority – white men – are overrepresented compared to their female peers, white women.”  If we are to be stone-cold honest, we must recognize that that is what that actually means.  It means this because, as a predominantly white society (Canada, not Toronto), those in power who have created the “categories” have decided that “men”, women”, and “minorities” are three distinct subgroups of people.  Men means white men, women means white women, and minorities means everyone else.  It is the grossest of oversimplifications.  It reduces each human being to one category only, with the default colour being white unless otherwise specified.  The dismissal of intersectionality is easy to be guilty of by those in the power position, as they are not affected by the prejudice affecting those in the subgroups. 

Imagine gender equity in theatre as a 200 metre sprint.  Caucasian males are permitted to begin the race 150 metres in, Caucasian women at 100, men of colour at 75, and women of colour at 25.  That's not an unrealistic representation of where we are at present.  (Some may argue the placement of white women vs. non-white men; I am speaking based on my personal observations and welcome discourse).  How can we possibly speak comprehensively about gender equity if we ignore this?  We can't.  If all men were sitting at 150, and all women at 100 or 75 or 25, we could streamline the conversation.  But that is not the case.

And so, gender equity is virtually impossible to assess beyond the basics – boys this many, girls this many – until we look at the experience of the cultural subgroups in comparison to the experience of the cultural majority.  There is nothing close to parity in our industry between white men and men of colour.  There is nothing close to parity between white women and women of colour.  Nor is there parity between white women and men of colour, although preferences may be shown one way or the other depending on the circumstance.  It is an inarguable assertion that we must acknowledge that overarching, disproportionate number of opportunities that are given to men.  At the same time that we continue to support and applaud those with commitments to gender equity, however, we must be cognisant of the areas of intersectionality that make that assertion significantly more complex.  For as long as racial inequities and intra-gender discrepancies exist, our analysis of this issue will continue to be a well-intentioned oversimplication.

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T. Taitt

Welcome to The PALETTE.

palette (noun):  
a thin board on which an artist lays and mixes colours.  2. the range of colours used by an artist or in a particular picture.  3. the range or variety of tonal or instrumental colour in a musical piece.

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Above, one sees the obvious reason for choosing palette for this initiative.  An array different colours all sharing equal space and importance.  As I lived with the word for longer, however, I grew to love it for other reasons.  I love the fact that it also happens to be comprised of pal, meaning friend, and the suffix -ette, used sometimes to denote distinctly feminine nouns (such as majorette or bachelorette).  It struck me that an amusing play on the word was that "palette" could mean female friend.  How totally a propos.

The idea that preceded The PALETTE Premise first began rummaging around my brain in 2013. At the time I was considering the formation of a group of female theatre artists of colour, but it never crystallized in my mind and remained simmering on low on the back burner.  After attending Equity In Theatre's Gender Equity In Canadian Theatre symposium, I felt that it was time to wander back over to the pot and turn up the heat.  TPP is the hotpot.

What is the premise?  

That our cultural diversity as women is our greatest artistic asset, and that we cannot claim progress towards equity with our male colleagues when women of a single race - despite the overall underrepresentation of all females - still receive the overwhelming majority of the opportunities given to women.  The PALETTE Premise holds the core belief that when women of all backgrounds are on an equal footing with each other, then and only then can we truly take strides towards gender equity.

As I read Equity In Theatre's recent report, it became glaringly obvious that while there were numerous readily available statistics on women in theatre in general, when it came to women of colour, it seemed that there wasn't sufficient information available to provide comprehensive analysis of almost any area.  I do not blame EIT for this - they cannot report on stats that have not been compiled - but I felt a palpable frustration as I read a report on Canadian theatre and was able to find out more in it about the status of women in theatre in Sweden, Australia and Norway than I was on women of colour in Canada.  Why are these statistics not considered important?  Are those compiling these stats so detached from reality that they believe the experience of white women and non-white women in theatre to be the same? 

The PALETTE Premise is a group of women in theatre who believe that not only should women have gender equity with men, but that we must work to establish equity between ALL women in our industry regardless of race or ethnic origin. 

I knew that there were those in our industry for whom women of colour did not register on their radar, but even I was shocked that a report of that length could be so devoid of information.  It cemented how invisible we actually are to many.  In that moment it became clear to me that simply advocating for women in the theatre industry was not enough.  I knew that there needed to be a contingent of women who made the reality of non-Caucasian women a focus, because the cause at large would likely not.  The "woman of colour" stat would always be an afterthought, a caveat, a footnote.

We are not a footnote.  

We are not incidental or uninteresting or incapable or marginal or singular or weak.  We are a vast array of experiences and as perpetual bearers of the weight of dual discrimination - sexism and racism - women of colour are some of the strongest creatures and most thoughtful artists you will find on this planet.  When the theatre industry denies itself the participation and insight of non-Caucasian women, it denies itself access to a wealth of the most powerful human stories imaginable.  

The simple truth is that while women continue to be underrepresented in the industry -- less than a third of professionally produced plays are written or directed by women, despite women being 55% of ticket buyers and 58% of theatre school grads -- the truth for women of non-European descent is a far more sombre one.  If the majority of predominantly white male A.Ds aren't even programming plays with white women in mind, is anyone naive enough to think that they are sitting in their offices contemplating vehicles for black, Asian, Hispanic, South Asian or Aboriginal women?  

I say "majority" because I am well aware of the male Artistic Directors who are doing the work of TRUE equity.  To these allies, I say a sincere, deep-seated thank you.  To the female A.Ds who have granted numerous opportunities to female creators -- you are sisters in this effort.  To Artistic Directors of both genders who continue to shine disproportionate light on male-focused narratives, male directors and male playwrights -- despite the fact that the majority of people patronizing your theatre are women -- your short-sightedness is seen by all and your legacies will tell the tale.

The PALETTE Premise is not a theatre company or ad-hoc collective, but a group of creators led by a desire for equity in our industry and devoted to the following:  

COMMUNITY - The PALETTE Premise is a community, bound by a shared belief that women need to be each other's greatest sources of support in an industry which, as a whole, continues to marginalize our stories and limit our opportunities.
COLOUR - We welcome women of all cultural backgrounds who recognize and support an end to underrepresentation of racially and culturally diverse women our industry.  Our focus is the increased visibility of women of colour and we embrace our sisters of all hues who are steadfast allies in achieving this goal.
CREATION - We encourage the creation of theatre by female artists beyond the stage. While we call for more roles of substance for female performers, our particular interest is in supporting female artistic directors, playwrights and directors -- positions that hold the balance of creative power.
COMMITMENT - We are committed to not allowing the issue of cultural diversity to be eclipsed by that of gender disparity.  We affirm the tremendous importance of both, but we also recognize that women of colour are given considerably fewer opportunities than their Caucasian peers and we are dedicated to trying to change this.
COLLABORATION - We are excited by the brilliant work that can be created when women from diverse cultures engage in artistic collaboration, and aim to serve as a community in which potential collaborators of all backgrounds can meet, exchange ideas, and form creative alliances.
CONVERSATION - We are committed to having the hard conversations.  There is no forward motion when we refuse to ask tough questions about ourselves, our work, our advantages and disadvantages, and our relationships to each other.  We realize that we cannot espouse bravery in our creation if we evade in it our communication.

The group will meet quarterly to discuss ongoing and specific equity issues, and to bond as women in theatre.  We are beginning in Toronto and at present, the intent is for it to be a Toronto-based initiative.  However, it would be interesting and encouraging to see it eventually take root in other communities.  TPP will host conversations and share information through its Facebook page and group, which will be launched later this week.  Let's hear about those shows with predominantly female, multicultural casts!  Let's hear about those plays being written and directed by all women, but particularly women of colour.  We will also be a hub for mentorship, where young women just entering or already in theatre school can find artists to share knowledge and offer support.  More details coming soon!

Like so many initiatives, The PALETTE Premise will inevitably be shaped in large part by those who share in its vision and choose to become involved.  There is no shortage of incredible women creating theatre in this city.  It is my hope that several of you will soon be part of this endeavour.

One brush stroke a time...

Tanisha Taitt
Theatremaker