Friday, July 05, 2019
How to Solve Design’s Diversity Problem
AMERICAN THEATRE: After lighting designer Porsche McGovern gave birth to her daughter Lucy, her phone stopped ringing. She’d known for a long time that there weren’t many women in her chosen profession, and she was starting to see why. When she called some of her theatre contacts to ask why they weren’t hiring her anymore, many said they assumed that motherhood had made her unavailable.
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3 comments:
A lighting designer can be any race, gender. I feel like they were wrong for not allowing her to get the job because you should not want someone to design for you. If you stop calling someone just because they are pregnant or had a baby doesn’t mean you should stop them from working. Motherhood is a sign of family-ship but it doesn’t mean they aren’t able to work. They still should be able to find work in order to supply their family. I understand that this company wants full dedication but designer have many other gig or lives outside of work. That should not make the company assume that they are unavailable just because they have a family or etc. I don’t like the way they did Porsche wrong, she was only trying to help her family live their best life. I feel like they should have let her worked because she could've wowed them.
Discrimination against people who have given birth is rampant through our society and an example of the long-lasting patriarchal standards that impact all aspects of daily life. I think that it is essential, especially in theater to have a diverse variety of backgrounds because at its heart theater is an artform of storytelling. This applies to both to people both on stage and off. Often when I work on shows I am the only girl and also only the only "non white" person (although I am half white) which demonstrates that a lack of diversity is born early on. Everyone should be given an equal opportunity of employment no matter background as long as they have sufficient experience and qualification. I feel that if everyone comes from a similar background important contributions to the production are lost making a diverse cast and crew essential for an in depth understanding of the show which, ultimately is a metaphor for the larger world.
The comment above is Kaisa's. I forgot to put my name
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