Gender Equality and Dignity Policy
The Gate Theatre partners with nine of Ireland’s leading theatres and organisations in the “Gender Equality in Practice in Irish Theatre” working group to address and rebalance the gender equality deficiencies within Irish theatre.
We have policies to ensure that gender equality is front of mind, implemented and normalised. Our Gender Equality and Dignity Policy, below, outlines our commitments.
OVERVIEW
Artist-led visionary thinking has guided the Gate Theatre since its foundation in 1928. The theatre we make is always in conversation with the world today and our responsibility is to reflect on our stage the rich diversity of the society around us. We celebrate diversity and freedom of expression and our aim is to lead a cultural conversation in our pursuit of excellence – deepening local, national and international relationships across generations, cultures and disciplines.
The Dublin of today, indeed the Ireland of today, is one that demands accountability, fairness and equality. In recent years a new awareness and energy has been created around the arts in this country, shaped by movements like Waking The Feminists in Ireland and by a ground-swell of support and shifting of consciousness across the industry globally.
At the Gate, we critically and carefully assess our roles as an employer, a forward-thinking leader in the arts community, a producing house and a public theatre space. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure that both our policies and the ways in which we work reflect our commitment to being an open, inclusive, fair and transparent organisation.
We believe that equality and diversity in the workplace not only benefits individual employees but enables us to better reflect the world around us, enhances our connection with our audiences, deepens our links to the community within which we work and contributes immeasurably to the success of our organisation as a whole.
We are committed to treating people fairly, valuing diversity and ensuring equality of opportunity in all areas of our work. In order to achieve this, we seek to proactively recognise and remove barriers which people from all backgrounds may face in their efforts to engage with the Gate on any level. Below, we have outlined our commitment to ensure gender equality and greater diversity across the theatre.
This policy sits within the Gate Theatre’s Employees Handbook and is reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the law, best practice and other relevant factors.
OUR COMMITMENT
In order to move toward gender equality and greater diversity across the organisation, we commit to:
1.Ensuring gender equality and increased diversity among Gate staff across departments
Without prejudice to fair offers of employment, when full or part-time positions become available at the Gate, we seek to encourage a diverse range of applicants. While we are committed to honouring existing contracts of employment, our aim is to ensure gender equality and increased diversity in all areas of the organisation.
This will be achieved by broadening the channels through which positions are publicised and clearly defining job specifications, candidate requirements and terms of employment.
It is the job of the Executive Director to monitor and report on gender equality and diversity in the workplace.
2. Reflecting gender equality across our artistic programming
We are dedicated to ensuring gender equality across our artistic programme and we will work to ensure that male and female creatives and crew are afforded equal opportunities in Gate productions, specifically in the roles of directors, composers, designers, lighting designers, costume designers, sound designers, choreographers, actors and musicians.
We commit to gender equality in the new work commissioning process. In addition, we commit to increasing gender equality in the traditionally male-dominated canon through commissioning female playwrights to re-imagine and respond to this work through adaptations, translations, etc. Both of these commitments are contingent on working with our funders in an effort to secure the resources necessary to facilitate this work.
It is the job of the Artistic Director and the Executive Director to monitor this in programme planning, working towards realising this objective.
3. Removing the barriers that may limit a diverse and balanced talent pool
We recognise that in order to be able to fulfil the commitments we are making with regard to gender balance and the promotion of diversity in the Gate, we need to assemble a diverse and balanced workforce. This is dependent on the availability of talented individuals to fill these roles.
We are committed to working with our partners in the arts and education sectors to raise awareness of the career opportunities on offer in theatre and to eliminate real and perceived barriers to work in this field.
This will be achieved by holding annual reviews with educational institutions and other arts organisations to find ways of encouraging applications from under-represented sectors.
4. Equal pay
Staff will be remunerated according to agreed pay scales and the experience level of the individual, without exception and regardless of gender, marital status, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age or any other potentially discriminating factor.
5. A balanced Board
By the end of 2019, we commit to gender balance on the Board of the Gate Theatre. Gender equality will be scheduled as a Board agenda item on a quarterly basis. Since April 2024, the Board has consisted of 4 women, including the Chair, and 3 men.
6. Embedding the principles of gender equality and diversity in the Gate Theatre
Gender equality and diversity will be embedded in our Strategic Plan. These principles have already been embedded into a number of the organisation’s key documents, including the Employees Handbook, and will continue to form a key part of our strategic aims.
7. Transparency in all that we do
We will publish figures regularly and report back on our progress in relation to the above commitments.
8. Benchmarking
| 2006-15 | 2017-18 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Female Directors | 8% | 80% | 55% | 86% | 75% | 63% | 33% |
| Female Associate/Assistant Directors | n/a | n/a | 40% | 100% | 0/5 | 38% | 83% |
| Female Writers | 6% | 33% | 18% | 50% | 25% | 38% | 33% |
| Female Set Designers | 26% | 44% | 36% | 33% | 50% | 50% | 67% |
| Female Lighting Designers | 13% | 33% | 20% | 43% | 50% | 63% | 33% |
| Female Sound Designers | 1% | 44% | 45% | 20% | 50% | 38% | 17% |
| Female Costume Designers | 60% | 56% | 56% | 100% | 75% | 75% | 83% |
| Female Associate/Assistant Designers | n/a | n/a | 75% | 100% | n/a | 13% | 33% |
| Female Cast | 40% | 40% | 51%* | 44% | 57% | 39% | 59% |
| The cast figure is based on all projected casting for the full year of 2020. Not all roles had been filled before Covid-19 shutdown. |
| 2017-18 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| No of Plays Performed | 10 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 6 |
| No of Premiers & New Writing | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| No of Creatives Employed | 59 | 61 | 55 | 22 | 54 | 52 |
| Gate Debuts (Actors & Creatives) | 68 | 57* | 11 | 6 | 70 | 48 |
| Gate Debuts (Actors Only) | 41 | 31 | 14 | 4 | 38 | 19 |
| No of Accessible Performances | 10 | 6 | 7 |
| The figures are based on all projected casting for the full year of 2020. Not all productions were realised due to the Covid-19 pandemic. |
This policy is available to download in PDF here