Abstract
Low levels of female representation are found when it comes to technical roles within the performing arts industry despite improved numbers in the overall female representation within the industry across different occupational categories. The latter has been confined mostly to administrative support units. In the core of the business, which is the technical business unit, the female staff complement is noticeably low. Employment in the core functions of the performing arts entities is therefore still predominantly male.
Extant literature demonstrates that the underrepresentation of females within the industry is partly the result of the history of South Africa and that of the industry. It further shows that female underrepresentation in high-skilled roles and management positions is not exclusively a South African challenge, as this continues to be experienced in other nations as well. Approaches such as the social dominance theory, patriarchy theory, and feminist theory were used to conceptualise the research phenomena and interrogate the findings in this study.
The research adopted a qualitative case study approach, using interviews conducted with 17 participants of a performing arts entity in the Western Cape, South Africa. Semi-structured interview questionnaires were employed to this end. The sample of participants included the management team and employees in the technical business unit. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data collected, which engendered themes and sub-themes, while the latter were substantiated by using verbatim quotes as gleaned from the interview participants.
The research findings indicated that there was an unequal representation of females in technical roles within the entity. Whilst the female numbers were low in technical roles and none in the management positions in the technical business unit, the study highlighted that the presence of females enhanced teamwork and brought diverse views to the team. This improved team performance. The barriers to female representation as found by the study included the nature of work, career trajectory and growth, and work-life balance. Leadership was viewed to be important
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when it came to driving the required change. Furthermore, COVID-19 had an impact on female representation, as vacant posts could no longer be filled. However, some lessons could be learnt from the pandemic that would create an environment conducive for female participation in the workplace, enabling the entity to attract and retain them.
The study established policy recommendations for the industry, including flexible-hour strategies, childcare facilities, profiling of excelling female technicians role models who will also act as mentors and coaches, formalisation of career paths for technicians, and a review of the arts education curriculum to include stagecraft, among others.