CIAM Joins Discussions on Gender Equality in the Arts at the Uruguay House of Representatives and at UNESCO in Paris
The International Council of Music Creators (CIAM) was in Latin America last week to join a round table held at the Uruguay Chamber of Representatives; the lower house of the country’s General Assembly. Participating in this discussion were CIAM president Lorenzo Ferrero; former WIPO vice-president Carlos Ballesteros; songwriters Ana Prada and Teresa Parodi (also the former Culture Minister of Argentina); and the president of the Chamber, José Carlos Mahía.
Following a lively panel discussion, participants concluded that the fair remuneration of creators ensured by authors right and copyright regulation has particular importance for women creators. While current laws undoubtedly need to be updated to address the issues of equitable payment brought about by the digital age, they are still the most effective way to ensure that women creators can retain their creative independence while having the same opportunities for success as their male counterparts.
The previous day, similar questions and concerns had been echoed in Paris where representatives from the CISAC creators team and the International Artists Organisation joined French government ministers, UN officials and renown women creators at a UNESCO-hosted round table event titled “The Courage to Create: Gender Equality and the Arts“. The event took place at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters and was part of the HeForShe Arts Week launched by UN Women within its International Women’s Day commemoration.
One of the three panels featured songwriter, musician and general secretary of the International Artists Organisation, Suzanne Combo, who has regularly collaborated with the International Council of Music Authors (CIAM). Ms. Combo was invited by the panel’s moderator, TV journalist Audrey Pulvar, to discuss the topic “Courage and creativity: what freedom of artistic expression for women?”
Ms. Combo explained how the industry can often make it difficult for women to embrace a career as an artist. Female creators often face sexism in every aspect of their clothing, voice and performance which results in forced insecurities and a loss of self-confidence. This is exacerbated by the huge majority of power that men hold in the industry; not just in decision making positions but also in technical roles surrounding the recording and production of music.
Addressing this issue is also the objective of the woman@CISAC initiative which aims to fill those gaps in the world of collective management of authors’ rights and contribute to build new policy recommendations at international levels.
CIAM Comment
“Amongst the collective management world, the boards, the composers and the instrumental music environment, I have seen a serious under-representation of women and so these are great and necessary initiatives. Often men wish for more women but we fail to pick up the challenge. We need role models in every aspect to create a new definition of how we can take charge and put ourselves on the frontline. Not to copy the male way, but to find our own. In Scandinavia, we attack this as a gender gap that starts early in life and have established courses for girls only where they compose and play music and are taught by highly respected female artists. It’s very successful. Only later do we bring in the boys so they can network because we found that If we bring them in too early, they take over and leave the girls singing choir again.”
