Friday, September 18, 2009
Sexism Watch: Steinberg Playwright Awards
Women & Hollywood: "It’s not enough to have clear statistics about how women are discriminated in theatre, but now a new award — The Steinberg Playwright Awards — given to “emerging” playwrights has decided that there is no woman good enough to qualify as emerging."
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11 comments:
I definitely feel that women are often discriminated against as playwrights and directors, but at the same time I am not okay with nominating awards based off of political correctness. Was there a woman who deserved to be nominated? It's possible. I don't know who was out there or who should be nominated, and this article would have been wise to give me that information. The fact of the matter is, a woman shouldn't be nominated for something just because she's a woman. This is just the same as being angry no people of a different race were nominated. The best plays should be nominated - end of story. Now I don't know if there were some fantastic plays that should have been nominated or not. But it is very weak to say that a woman should be nominated just for the sake of having a woman nominated.
I think Mary says it best, that a woman shouldnt be nominated just for the sake of having a woman nominated. This is ridiculous, throwing a fit because a woman wasnt in the running, is childish and immature. Now Im not sure if there were women playwrights who were overlooked, and if so that is unfortunate. However, if they are truly significant writers than they might be considered or win next time. To say that the trust is being sexist because they didnt pick any women just really bothers me because this is only the first year for this award. The FIRST YEAR, how can you jump to the conclusion that women are getting shafted when three people have only been picked EVER, for this award? I just feel that this was written in haste and like Mary said very weak, to say a woman should be nominated just to nominate her.
It's very interesting to me to look at the treatment of women across careers. People like to think in the business world women have overcome all discrimination. While this is not completely true women have come a long way in work force. So its interesting to compare how women are treated in theatre across the areas. In class the other day we were discussing how there are a lot more female stage managers these days. There are also more female directors, designers, ect. Even though it seems like theatre has progressed a lot there are still careers, such as playwrights and sound designers, where women have to fight for equality.
While I do agree with Mary, women should not simply be nominated just because of their gender. However, it is somewhat hard to believe that there were no women who would have qualified for the honor. I am anxious to see how this award pans out over the years, especially as more and more women get into theater. I also hope that next year they don't simply pick all women because of the bad press they have received from the first year. It may take a couple of years for the award to find a good balance and for the board to figure out what exactly they are looking for.
I understand that woman in theatre are sometimes discriminated against, especially directors, but let's get down to the facts. Was a woman playwright worthy this year? I cannot stand these "feminist" activist who believe that the world is only equal when a woman is winning. The award becomes meaningless if they nominated women just for the sake of nominating women for diversity. This award is about content. It's not a university looking for a larger female population or more ethnically diverse student body and are just giving away scholarships based on those superficial reasons. Not to mention, the playwright pool is largely men so it is not surprising that men were nominated. Women are a small fish in a big pond and when one is nomiated for the Steinberg Platwright Award they are going to know they earned it and not a default nomination based on sex. Isn't that more satisfying as a professional?
oThis article is very poor at saying any info that is relevant to the award. they dont give any info about the make up of the play righting postulation. i dont know much about that but there may be a lot more men weighting plays then women wighting plays. it would be nice if they explained the award more and how they give it out and what are the criteria. so i think this writher has not given any good info in this article so here might not any reason for reading this beside to get people mad at this award giving organization.
This article is yet another example of the question "Would including someone of a different gender of race be affirmative action or reverse discrimination?". While I agree with Sonia and Mary that no woman should be nominated on the basis of her gender alone it's hard for me to believe that out of the all the plays being published, produced, and preformed, there are no noteworthy contributions made by women. Over the years many noteworthy female authors have taken pen names to avoid being discriminated against, even unconsciously , by publishers. Even J.K. Rowling purportedly used her initials for this purpose though she was writing in the 21st century. It seems the organization might have looked a little harder, though perhaps they might have arrived at the same conclusion.
I don't know how to judge this article. On the one hand, yes, female playwrights are discriminated against. On the other hand, people get so up-in-arms about sexism these days, that often the whistle blowers are making a big deal about nothing. If this is the first time it's happened, maybe it's not sexism, maybe it's just different criteria. But if this happens every year, that points more towards sexism. If this is just the first time, then it's probably just overzealous political correctness. Especially considering that there were women on the board who decided this. There shouldn't be token spots given just to fill the "minority" and "gender" roles.
There should definitely be at least on women playwright who is good enough. However, i must say that in some occasions it is just a coincidence that they all happened to be of one gender, race, organization, etc. Sure people get mad when just one movie sweeps up more than half of the awards at the Oscars but, if it honestly is the best in those categories, then give credit where credit is due. I however, not being a woman, cannot imagine how this feels for women.
Excuse me? I am not opposed to having awards that are specifically designed for men, but I don't understand how they can honestly say that women cannot be “emerging.” I don't think that a women should get the award because she is a women, but in three years it seems very suspicious that no women rose above the men. I would really like to do some more research into this, maybe there really wasn't a women who qualified? I just hope that the board isn't discriminating against women.
I agree with Robert in that this article provides very little information about these awards other than the fact that a woman has not been nominated. The fact is, in the three years that this award has been in practice, the winners have been men. This doesn't necessarily give us the ability to say that they are sexist, it just means that men have happened to receive the award. I would have to agree that if this trend continued for quite some time then perhaps women were being discriminated against, but for now I think this article is generating premature anger.
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