As Spiegel reports, the jury of the Berlin Theatertreffen has scrapped the women’s quota for directors. Critics condemn the decision as wrong and reactionary. The jury’s reasoning implies that female directors were unfairly hyped for years—an accusation that retroactively devalues women’s work in theater.
The Theatertreffen, one of the most important German-language theater festivals, had introduced the quota to compensate for the underrepresentation of female directors. Now the jury is returning to a selection without gender requirements. The exact reasons for the move are unknown, but the jury’s wording has sparked outrage in the theater scene.
Cultural figures and associations criticize that abolishing the quota sends a fatal signal. Instead of acknowledging structural inequalities, it suggests that women were only invited because of the quota—a claim that questions the artistic merit of many female directors.
Source: www.spiegel.de
