Gender Bias in Theater

Recent research shows that there is gender bias in the playwriting arena. "There is discrimination against female playwrights in the theatre community," said Emily Glassberg Sands, who initiated this new research. Research also finds a shortage of good scripts written by women.

Sands, a Princeton economics student, conducted three separate studies on gender bias in theatre. The first examined the playwrights themselves. Results revealed that there were twice as many male playwrights as female playwrights, and that men produced more plays.

The second study looked at artistic directors and literary managers. Sand sent identical scripts to artistic directors and literary managers nationwide to determine if there was a difference in the number of ratings submitted with men's names vs. women. Yes, results of the study found that women's scripts received lower ratings.

The third study was Broadway. It was found that women write less than one in eight Broadway shows.

For more information to include more results of this study, please visit The New York Times and see the full article on "Rethinking Gender Bias in Theater" at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/theater/24play.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1279973420-wZ9DIaN5kKF/nMqiFeXOpQ.