The European social partners in the Live Performance sector – PEARLE*, FIA, FIM and UNI MEI – are working on a joint project “Gender Equality on and off the stage: A Mapping Project of the European Live Performance Sector”.
Our joint work on gender equality started as exchanges in the Live Performance Social Dialogue Committee, on issues such as diversity, discrimination, and equal opportunities. At the beginning of 2020, the European social partners launched this joint EU project to take a systematic look at the situation in the sector.
The project aims to deliver a detailed overview of the gender equality situation in the Live Performance sector across the EU, highlighting best practice and forming the basis for future work of the European social partners on this topic. The project will map and collect the relevant publications and data available, such as the most relevant legal and policy initiatives, social partner initiatives and agreements, and civil society actions and artistic movements dedicated to the issue of gender equality in the Live Performance sector.
Desk-research and a survey have already been implemented, and in the next phase we will focus on study visits to a selection of countries. The objective of the study visits will, by talking with key stakeholders in the sector, to collect more detailed information and to fill in gaps in the data.
For the autumn of 2021 we are planning a series of gender equality workshops, covering topics such as equal access to decision-making and leadership positions, sexual harassment and gender-based violence, and the impacts of COVID-19 on gender equality. These workshops are currently foreseen to be virtual and will be open to all affiliates.
This is a useful first step for the European social partners in joint work on gender equality, and one that will give us an overview on the status of gender equality in the live performance sector. Our hope is to follow up with further joint activities that will be targeted and respond to the needs of the sector, as identified through this project.
Affiliates are welcome to contribute to this mapping, by sharing information from their countries. For questions and for sending of information, please contact hanna.harvima@uniglobalunion.org.
