PARITY OR PARODY? PART 1

The Women’s Lib movement made great strides in the 1970’s, expanding women’s access to a broader array of career choices. Now, in the 21st century, we can point to multitudes of women who have achieved workplace parity with men, stepping in as company executives, managers and business owners. It is no longer unusual for men to report to women, a relatively rare phenomena pre-women’s lib. Though we are approaching parity in some areas, with the level of parity varying within industries, geographic areas, etc., great strides have been made towards achieving parity.

Unfortunately, when it comes to equal pay for equal work, we see parody, not parity. Women’s salaries are a “poor imitation” of men’s, when working in comparable positions. This same “parody of gender parity” — or poor imitation of equality — is evident in education, history books and so much more.

What about theater? A number of studies reveal that women remain underrepresented in theater, not just in the United States, but across the world, and women are conspicuously missing from the recognized ranks of “classic theatre” playwrights. Rita Anderson, an award-winning Texas playwright, shared some interesting statistics in a recent article posted on tcgcircle.com. As of 2014, “women playwrights only experience 17% representation.” That’s actually a decrease of 4% since 1990.

Stay tuned to see what off the WALL Theater has in store this season to address “the parody of parity” in Pittsburgh Theater!

off the WALL Performing Arts Center | a Pittsburgh Theater
25 West Main, Carnegie, PA 15106 | 6 miles from downtown Pittsburgh