Why Should We Take Up Space?

Fighting the façade of ‘progressive’ paragons on gender equality

With the emergence of the #metoo movement and the continuation of the gender pay gap, gender discrimination is unsurprising in 2019. However, individuals belonging to notoriously progressive fields like academia and the arts, often consider themselves too enlightened to be responsible for the persistence of gender inequality in their own field, much less wider society.

Unfortunately, the progressive label acts as a convenient mask for the reality and persistence of gender inequity in both the arts and academia. For vulnerable groups in these fields, this is well-known and their unjust treatment is expected. Some gender inequality manifests in extreme forms, as #metoo demonstrates. By this point, the stories are all too familiar. People in positions of power, primarily men, used their influence to coerce or force vulnerable individuals, particularly women, into physically and emotionally uncomfortable situations. Then the former proceeds to use their positions to mask their wrongdoing, or others, as a result of their position, fail to hold the guilty party responsible. 

Recently, public pressure forced the Metropolitan Opera to cut ties with Placido Domingo, a world-renowned opera singer who faces allegations of sexual harassment from twenty women with whom he worked. This comes as the Met, the largest performing arts organization in the country, recovers from yet another high-level, alleged predator. Just last year, James Levine, a conductor who worked at the Met for over forty years and ran the young artists program, was accused of sexual abuse and harassment.

In the dance world, evidence of male principal dancers sharing photos, videos, and explicit texts of and about female dancers rocked the New York City Ballet, and shockingly, the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union to which NYCB dancers belong, successfully advocated for the reinstatement of two of the three men after they were terminated from the company. 

These heinous instances of female abuse and discrimination are one aspect of the larger gender tax problem. The gender tax, the additional emotional and mental stress with which women grapple, is an ever-present aspect of women’s lives regardless of their field. It includes personal considerations like balancing family life or business concerns such as being treated the same as male colleagues by peers or superiors. Obviously, unwelcome sexual or romantic attention and harassment can be a clear physical, emotional, and mental stress, but behavior as minor as “mansplaining” affects how women do their jobs. 

Although individuals like Domingo, Levine, and the three NYCB principals are apart of the problem, the institutions that turn a blind eye, belatedly address, and even support them are as much to blame. The primary obstacle in pushing progressive fields to progress is the continued dearth of women in leadership roles who could radically alter the culture that enables gender inequity. 

Fortunately, the gap between female and male executive directors in the top dance companies within the U.S. is closing along with the wage gap between them; unfortunately, the gender disparity between male and female artistic directors, not to mention their wages, remains significant. In 2017, female artistic directors earned 68 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earned, according to the Dance Data Project. It is not only an issue of who holds leadership roles, but how they are valued by companies. Industry wide, women in creative roles are far undervalued compared to men, and without holding leadership roles or receiving just support, women are unable to adequately set a new tone from an institutional perspective. 

Further, the individuals shaping the art on display are far and away male. In the 2019-2020 season alone 79 percent of full-length and mixed repertory works will be choreographed by men (DDP). In a field well-known for its femininity and where a majority of its artists are women, women need to have more control over the messages that they are relaying.   

Artists and intellectuals push boundaries and as a result lead society into the future, but they are failing in their status as progressive paragons so long as they maintain a patriarchal structure, limiting women’s voices and leadership. Women are taking center stage, and it is time for the industry to give them the applause that they deserve. 

Written and Researched by Delaney King