SGAE and CIMA sign an agreement to support women in the audiovisual sector

The General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE) and the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA) have signed a collaboration agreement that makes the organization of the meeting possible In fight for the obvious: without equality there is no democracy which will take place in Santander from June 23 to 25, 2022.

With the aim of giving visibility to women creators of film and television in Spain, the initiative will take a tour of the history of CIMA, the achievements achieved for women in audiovisual and the present and future strategies developed by the association to achieve effective and real gender equality in this sector.

Around 80 professionals from the sector from all over Spain will attend the meeting, including Inés París, Patricia Ferreira, Chus Gutiérrez, Cristina Andreu, Virginia Yagüe and Silvia Pérez de Pablos, institutional director of Audiovisual at the SGAE Foundation.

The program includes thematic round tables, discussion spaces and the presentation of the CIMA 2021 Annual Report, among other actions. All scheduled activities will take place at the Mario Camus Cantabria Regional Film Archive. In addition to the collaboration of SGAE, the congress has the support of the Government of Cantabria.

The agreement has been signed by Cristina Andrew, president of CIMA, and Antonio Onetti, president of SGAE. Elizabeth Lopez, director of the Audiovisual Division of SGAE and Silvia Pérez de Pablos, institutional director of Audiovisual of the SGAE Foundation have also participated in the event.

Cristina Andreu, president of CIMA, wanted to highlight the support of SGAE in this initiative: "One of our objectives as an association is decentralization, that is, deploying actions in different territories, such as in this case Santander. Therefore, we value very positively the collaboration of SGAE with whom we have been working for years and we hope for a long time."

The president of the General Society of Authors and Publishers, Antonio Onetti, has stressed that the defense of equal rights for women in the cultural industry is one of the basic principles on which the mission of SGAE is based. "The Board of Directors of the entity has endorsed the commitment to equal opportunities between women and men in culture. Our actions are aimed at actively promoting the participation and visibility of female authors and editors," explained Onetti.

The woman in the audiovisual

The SGAE Foundation prepared the report in 2020 Authors in Audiovisual, Music and Performing Arts. A study on professional development from a gender perspective in which the gender gap within the field of authorship was analyzed with statistical and economic data.

The data revealed the existing inequalities between sexes in the cultural sector and showed that women's participation is still very far from what would be desirable in terms of parity and equality.

The study investigated the entry barriers with which female authorship faces: in addition to the reluctance of the family environment (in practice, they receive less support to consider this professional alternative as valid: 76.5% of men compared to 58.7% of women), there is little confidence in the woman's own possibilities (60.7% of men had great confidence in their possibilities at the beginning of their career, compared to only 46.3% of women) and the difficulty in conciliation labor (33.5% of female creators between 55 and 65 years old are not able to return to work once they finish their work at home, compared to a rate of 14.5% for men in the same age group).

Finally, highlight that the SGAE It has a predominantly female staff in which a total of 57% of its professionals are women. The entity has implemented a plan to guarantee real and effective equality of opportunities between its workers that facilitates the reconciliation of work, personal and family life.