Dispelling the Myth of Equality: A Report on the Status of Women in Canadian Theatre

Abstract

In 2003, the Women’s Caucus of the Playwrights Guild of Canada partnered with Nightwood Theatre to support a new study on the status of women in Canadian theatre. The discouraging findings of preliminary investigations, the passionate responses encountered at community events, the added involvement of organizations like the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and the support of the Canada Council for the Arts led to the launch, in the following year, of Equity in Canadian Theatre: The Women’s Initiative. Modelling its efforts on Rina Fraticelli’s landmark report, “The Status of Women in the Canadian Theatre” (1982), the Initiative developed a two-fold mandate: to assess the status of women in Canadian theatre and to create social action plans to help eliminate remaining obstacles. To gather the necessary information, in the summer of 2005, the Initiative sent a survey on employment and production practices to Canadian theatres, the results of which form the backbone of the research study, posted on line in the final report, “Adding It Up: The Status of Women in Canadian Theatre” (2006).1