Illustrations: © Yasmine Gateau
The social partners of the EU Social Dialogue Committee in the Audiovisual sector – commercial and public broadcasters, producers, and trade unions representing journalists, cast and crew – have been cooperating to promote gender equality in film, radio and television for many years already.
After the adoption of a Framework of Actions in 2011, the social partners with the support of the European Union, launched a mapping exercise in 2018 to collect information and identify the actions still needed to keep pushing for gender equality and diversity. In 2018-2020, the coordination of the partnership and the research were led by EURO MEI, the Media, Entertainment & Arts sector of UNI Europa.
The lessons learned from the consultation exercise were published in May 2020 in the form of a Good Practice Handbook available in English, French, German and Spanish.
The Handbook gives an overview of some of the available statistics on the presence of women in the European audiovisual sector. It also highlights initiatives taken by industry stakeholders in different European countries and at different places in the creative value chain to promote the presence of women and other underrepresented groups on screen and on air, as well as in the audiovisual workforce.
To present the Good Practice Handbook and hear from professionals on the ground, the European social partners organised on Tuesday 23 June 2020 an online seminar.
During the exchanges between representatives from public and commercial broadcasters, producers and unions of journalists, actors and technicians, and attended by over 100 participants from across Europe and beyond, many of the challenges still facing the sector to achieve equality between women and men and diversify profiles on and offscreen were adressed.
A key conclusion was that “what you do not see does not exist” and that relgularly producing gender statistics was indispensable to achieve any progress. The importance of fully commiting organisations and their leaderships, and of informing and involving each and every worker was also recognised as crucial to combat efficiently inequalities and discrimination in the long run. Developing the right policies and tools, changing daily practices and regularly monitoring progress were other key actions identified as essential for continuing to promoted change in the sector.
Watch the full webinar:
Further information:
Visit the Equality Diversity The Good Practice Handbook and its executive summary, in its different linguistic versions, can be downladed at www.equalitydiversityinavsector.eu
