The status quo, where male experience dominates British theatre, will continue as long as the unelected quango, the Arts Council, refuses to challenge this sexual apartheid. For decades the Arts Council has dumped gender equality into a category called “diversity”. Its publications on equality perpetuate the trope that women are “other”, suggesting that the majority is a minority. As a result, the female narrative on the English stage is judged as less representative of the human experience. Equal representation of women in all levels of theatre, and all subsidised art forms, is crucial. It needs to happen now. It should be remembered that female taxpayers, and audiences, are paying for work in which their complex lives and experiences rarely appear.
Dr Julia Pascal
Playwright and theatre director
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