Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2019 - 26

0%

93%

10%

20%

30%

93%

40%

90%

Respondents
Survey
Respondents
86%

85%by Age Range
Respondents Reporting Discrimination

byAge
AgeRange
Group
by

Respondents Reporting Discrimination by Age Range
100%

51-60
4%

78%

96%

93%

93%

70%

18-30

90%
85%

41-5-

31-40

41-5011%

82%

61+

18-30

31-40

Mental Health Concerns

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

Lack of Parenting Support

|

SUMMER 2019

51-60

41-50

9%
9%

51-60 4%

18-30
52%

31-40
31%

Survey Respondents
by Age Range

wage Survey
and be grateful
for the opportuniRespondents
ty." She
in the field for 5 years
byworked
Age Range
before leaving due to a lack of support
61+dissatisfaction
for parents and
general
51-60
4%
with work/life balance.2%
More than half (57%) of respondents who are parents also reported
41-5experiencing
a pay gap. "I worked as
11%
the charge scenic artist at a regional
theatre and was told that I could no
longer receive raises because, accord18-30
ing to my31-40
production manager
'he had
52%
31%
men with families to support,'" one respondent commented. Another said, "I
switched from a professional theatre
company to academic theatre because
the amount of money I was making was so incredibly low that a parttime adjunct position was a step up.
The less qualified male who replaced
me was offered literally four times as
much as I had been making, and health
insurance."
Notably, even though the number
of women responding to the survey
decreases by age bracket, the percentage of those experiencing discrimination stays fairly constant. The data also
seems to parallel
Freestone's survey,
Change of Career
insofar as there simply appear to be
Lack of Promotion Opportunities
fewer
women working in the industry
as
the Workplace
age bracket
increases. Even if
Negative
Environment
this result is the function of a response
Family Obligations
bias, the data
suggests that discrimination against women in the techniGender-based Discrimination
cal theatre industry is not decreasing
as women age. Indeed,
it appears that
Pay Gap

26 |

51-60

86%

78%

70%

82%

61+
2%

61+

2%
61+

41-511%

women are choosing to leave the industry instead.
31-40the Field18-30
Abandoning
52%
31%

This study sought not only to unearth
the current struggles of women in technical theatre, but to confirm if women
are leaving the industry at a faster rate,
and why and for what reasons. Overall, 266 women reported leaving the
industry, citing various types of discrimination and negative workplace
environments, and a lack of support
for parenting and family obligations.
Furthermore, almost half (46%) of the
114 respondents who said that they

were a parent or guardian have left the
industry. The logistical struggles were
many, the support lacking, and the environment wasn't feasible for bringing
a young child to the workplace if necessary. Support for families in the technical theatre industry is sorely lacking.
The survey included questions
about howChange
respondents
balanced reof Career
sponsibilities to family and children
Lack oftheir
Promotion
Opportunities design and prowith
theatrical
duction
careers. A sound designer and
Negative Workplace Environment
technician in her 40s commented, "I
Family
feel like I'm
onObligations
the precipice of where
women quit the industry. It's not a
Gender-based Discrimination
single
thing that does it. It's that all
the little things add up and, in the end,
Pay Gap

9%

Lack of Parenting Support

18%

Negative Workplace Environment

18%

Family Obligations

18%

14%
12%

0%

8%

12%

Pay Gap

Mental Health Concerns
18%

9%

Pay Gap

18%
Lack of Parenting Support

9%

Gender-based
Discrimination

Other Discrimination
0%

15%

14%

Gender-based Discrimination
25%
18%

25%
3%

Other Discrimination

Lack of Promotion Opportunities

12%

9%

Mental Health Concerns

Reasons Cited for Leaving the Industry
Change of Career

14%

3%
8%

15%

Negative
Workplace
23%

Left the
Industry

0%

30%

18%

35%
Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2019

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