The UK performing arts industry is “inhospitable to parents” and lags far behind other industries in supporting women having children, according to research.
The report, titled “The Motherhood Grief,” criticizes the industry for failing to consider how it could adapt to better accommodate parents, with the result that many, particularly women, drop out of school.
Its author, playwright Jennifer Tuckett, said: “Caring responsibilities were one of the main issues affecting women’s artistic careers.
“We were surprised to find issues such as schedules being sent the night before and the impact this has on parents, and we urge both arts organizations and policy makers to look for new models that support both women and men to achieve success in the workplace and at home.”
Actress Gemma Arterton, who took part in the research, said “long working hours, lack of flexibility and the need to travel without support” were familiar themes for women and mothers in the industry.
Possible solutions included initial meetings to discuss needs, early submission of schedules, increased flexibility and specific projects to help parents return to the workplace, Tuckett added.
The report, which is the result of a Women in Theater research project supported by Equity and the Writers Guild of Great Britain, among others, was based on focus groups and questionnaires from 10 senior industry professionals, all of whom felt there was a need for the arts to improve the way it supports mothers and fathers.
Their aim was to identify the issues and form the basis for further research under the umbrella of two new organisations, Women in Arts and Women in Theatre, which will also run mentoring programs and networking events.
A spokesperson for Arts Council England said it had been building on work by establishing a task and completion group last July to address the needs of women across the cultural sector, including glass ceilings, harassment and caring responsibilities.
She said: “We want to champion good practice and identify tools and interventions that support women at work.”
Women involved in the research highlighted a culture of “long, late hours” and working in the night-time economy as a barrier, and felt there was a shortage of female creative directors and editors. Some believed their contacts had offered them less work, while others said their careers had suffered because they no longer had the time and energy to chat and self-promote.
One woman said she had found it “increasingly difficult to get into the room” at castings after having a child, with the result that her CV “has gaps that make me undesirable and now I have left those lists” because “the industry works with the last job you did”.
Another woman said the arts were “far behind other industries” and “stuck in systems of doing things that haven’t been considered, and are done that way because it’s always been that way,” including schedules that are only sent out at the last minute and no budget for job sharing even though this is common for child actors on stage.
One participant said that in a West End show she worked on there was no flexibility to change the start time of rehearsals from 10:00 to 10:30 to allow parents who lived further away to drop their children off at school.
Another said: “Tours are off-limits to most mothers and many women can’t sign up for eight shows a week.” There is often an expectation that “everything will be dropped to deal with an emergency,” he added.
Arterton, who starred in Quantum of Solace and St Trinian’s, said: “Motherhood has deepened my instincts and strengthened me as an artist. It sharpens your intuition, expands your emotional range and gives you a deep understanding of caring, collaboration and resilience. Creative projects are richer, more thoughtful and more impactful when mothers are involved in shaping them.
“I have witnessed many incredible women struggle to combine motherhood and work in the arts in terms of long working hours, lack of flexibility and the need to travel without support for them.
“If we want women and mothers to maintain long, prosperous careers in the creative industries, we need informed action, structural support and accountability.”
