Initiated by WIFT Nordic (Women in Film and Television), the pledge for gender parity and inclusion was signed Monday by officials from Sweden’s Carl, Denmark’s CPH:DOX, Oslo Pix in Norway, Tampere from Finland and Northern Wave in Iceland.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
The Gender Equality Pledge Signed by Five Nordic Festivals
Initiated by WIFT Nordic (Women in Film and Television), the pledge for gender parity and inclusion was signed Monday by officials from Sweden’s Carl, Denmark’s CPH:DOX, Oslo Pix in Norway, Tampere from Finland and Northern Wave in Iceland.
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3 comments:
This article caught my eye as I am always interested in how the MeToo movement affects and how organizations implement equity. I am not surprised that this pledge is about staffing equally and not necessarily giving women equal pay or benefits compared to their male counterparts. However, after some rudimentary research, I saw that Nordic countries such as Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland all have the smallest gender pay gap internationally, which made me understand why the pledge is for equal staffing and not necessarily requiring equal pay. However, when I think about the equity of the pledge, are there other things that the pledge should guarantee. From the same article, I found that there is a significant amount of paid time off/maternity or paternity leave. Is this nationally or needs to be guaranteed? If it needs to be guaranteed by an employer is what also needs to be put in the pledge to be an equitable pledge. Now I understand the programming pay might not be an issue but this pledge does talk about also having equality in the staff. Here is the link to the other article I referenced: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/nordic-countries-women-equality-gender-pay-gap-2018/.
I was drawn to this article as I am a firm believer of female representation in artistic industries, especially those of film and television. I think it's especially interesting that the pledge that was signed not only includes women on-screen, but those working behind the scenes in creative and staff positions. The article explains how rather than arbitrarily imposing a quota on the festival's members, it re-structured the way of thinking to heighten the importance of selection quality (to emphasize quality over a subconscious gender preference). Women bring important perspectives, experiences, and stories to the table and should have an equal seat at that table. I hope there comes a day when numbers and gender don't necessarily matter--that people get opportunities because of their ability and creativity.
I am always happy to see agreements like this, especially when a good portion of the officials from the companies participating are also women. I am always a little worried when agreements like this are signed but it is an all-male panel that both created and signed the agreement. In this case, I think that this is a great step for ensuring that women are represented both on-screen and off, as the behind the scenes folks are often not as visible and diversity and inclusion in those areas can easily go unchecked. I am also really happy to see an article about an agreement happening outside of the US, as most of the agreements I've seen, at least on this blog, so far have been about the theatre or film industry here. I am excited to see more international news about diversity and inclusion, and while there is still a long way to go, even small steps are still steps in the right direction.
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