Emma Thompson is calling on leading broadcasters and theatres to reach a completely equal gender representation across their content by 2020. Joined by other actors including Denise Gough and Olivia Colman, Thompson says the move is “the most important initiative in our culture”, The Stage reports.
“It is absolutely vital that all persons in this industry help this group of women to bring about change that has to happen if any of our generation are going to be able to hold up our heads and say we actually did something instead of ignoring it”, Thompson declared, before urging people to “please, get involved”.
The campaign is led by Equal Representation for Actresses (ERA 50:50), which was created in 2015 to raise awareness about the inequality women face onscreen and onstage. It is backed by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Equity and Spotlight, and has been openly praised by London mayor Sadiq Khan. The mayor said it is: “unacceptable that gender can still determine your opportunities in life”.
He added that achieving gender parity is a key goal of his. “I will be working with every sector to redouble our efforts in the fight for gender equality, and doing all we can to remove any barriers to women’s success so that everybody can unlock their full potential”.
