On July 9th, Minister of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan TD launched Gender Equality in Practice in Irish Theatre at the Lir National Academy of Dramatic Arts at Trinity College, Dublin.

The gender equality policies of 10 theatre companies have been crafted to encompass the individual workings and requirements of the ten organisations and to acknowledge that it is vital that women’s voices are allowed are heard on stage, across the cultural sector and across society as a whole. This is a joint promise to address and rebalance the gender equality deficiencies within Irish theatre and the documents launched today include the following policy commitments;

1. Gender blind readings for plays
2. Unconscious bias training for all staff
3. Achieve equality of gender of board members
4. 50% of a new play commissions to be allocated to women writers
5. Gender blind casting
6. Addition of Dignity at Work clauses to employees charter
7. Re-examination of the female canon 
8. Work with third level institution to encourage gender parity in areas that do not reflect equality of gender.
9. To achieve gender balance in programming within a 5 year period.

This work is the culmination of the process that started with the Waking the Feminists movement in 2015. The 10 organisations involved in this sectoral collaboration are The Abbey Theatre, Cork Midsummer Festival, The Corn Exchange, Druid Theatre, The Everyman, Dublin Theatre Festival, Fishamble: The New Play Company, The Gate Theatre, The Lir Academy, Rough Magic Theatre Company. Information on the policies can be found on the individual company websites or at http://www.wakingthefeminists.org/

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has expressed its abhorrence of the massacre of innocent Palestinian protestors in Gaza today (May 14).

Speaking on behalf of the Congress Global Solidarity Committee, David Joyce said: “Our thoughts are with the dead and injured and their families. Up to 52 people were killed, according to numbers from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, including five children under 18 years of age.

“They were murdered by Israeli forces as they protested the opening of the United States’ embassy in Jerusalem.“In addition almost 2000 people were injured – more than 900 of those with live ammunition. This is a shameless violation of international law and the Israeli authorities show no signs that they intend to rein in such excessive force.

“Today’s shootings are a continuation of killings that have taken place since the Great Return March started on March 30, with more than 100 Palestinians now dead & over 13,000 wounded by Israeli occupation forces,” Mr Joyce said.

He called on the Irish Government to strongly condemn the Israeli actions and lead the way in both the EU and the UN, in calling for an independent investigation and to hold the Israeli Government to account.

“The fact that today’s events occurred with the eyes of the world on Jerusalem shows the contempt that Israel has for the international community and the impunity with which it violates international law.

“The Congress Global Solidarity Committee demands that today’s events must also lead to renewed international pressure on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza and end Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“The suggestion that Ireland should follow the example of the US and move its embassy to Jerusalem should also be treated with the contempt it deserves.

“Today’s events show the need for more action by Ireland in its own right and Congress now calls on all political parties in the Oireachtas to support the urgent passing of Senator Frances Black’s Occupied Territories Bill,” Mr Joyce concluded.

Check out this video from the Resistance Choir in support of the national demonstration calling for an end to #housingcrisis.
Join us on #April7th ‬
1pm Parnell Square – #LetOrganise ‬

Congratulations to our friends in the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance Australia for all their hard work campaigning for a yes to marriage equality in Australia. Love conquers all!

The International Federation of Actors (FIA) Executive Committee unanimously approved a Declaration on sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the entertainment and media industries on 26th October 2017. The Declaration, authored and sponsored by the American performers union Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), recognizes the rights of all performers to a safe and harassment-free working environment and urges the industry to work in good faith with unions and performer organisations to develop a long-term strategy to achieve discrimination, harassment and retaliation-free work environments. Read the declaration

Bullying and harassment is never acceptable.
On Friday 10th November, Irish Equity ran a successful Dignity at Work Seminar in partnership with Screen Producers Ireland, Screen Training Ireland, the broadcasting Authority and The Lab. [Read more…]

Irish Equity has criticised, as not going far enough, the announcement by Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys, that board members and senior staff in arts organisations are to take part in special workshops on sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace.  

Irish Equity Organiser, Karan O Loughlin, said: “Reminding organisations of their responsibilities is always welcome but any initiative to tackle the problem of bullying and sexual harassment in the arts needs to have teeth. We are specifically calling on the Minister to create a direct relationship between funding and good practice. Arts organisations applying for funding should have to demonstrate that they are operating good practice in this area as part of the application procedure.

“We note with interest that the Minister has invited the heads of eight leading theatres, including the Abbey and Gate, to meet with her and the Arts Council next week to seek ‘ways to create a change in culture for the arts’. Before this meeting happens, those eight organisations need to be asked to demonstrate how they handle these issues currently, what procedures and policies they have in place and whether these practices and policies are up to standard.”

She added: “If unacceptable behavior is to be driven out of the sector there must be consequences for those who do not adopt proper procedures. Access to funding must be in question if organisations are not operating to the best standard on this matter.”