Employment opportunities for actresses tend to peter out after they reach the age of 40, a new report has found.
Many actresses who participated in the study complained about the lack of roles "between young thing and granny".
'Age, Gender and Performer Employment in Europe' was released today by the International Federation of Actors (FIA). Ireland currently holds FIA's secretariat position.
Speaking at the launch of the report in Liberty Hall, Dublin, the actress Kathleen Barrington said challenging roles for women started to "dribble away" as they got older. Ms Barrington said actresses stopped being perceived as "sexy" at around the age of 33 or 34, while men continued to be cast in such roles until they were about 60.
She complained that few writers gave women the lead role, casting them instead the position of sidekick or romantic interest. "One glorious exception is Brian Friel. He writes marvellous plays for women of all ages," she said.
Padraig Murray, president of Siptu’s Equity group said "gender non-specific roles" should be given to women. "The study shows the same investment goes into training male and female performers, but through the lack of adequate portrayal of women and their roles in society, their work opportunities begin to peter out after 40," he said.
"Art can and must change our perception of each other rather than reinforce the status quo," he added.
The report found that men have longer careers as professional performers than women. While women constitute two-thirds of performers under the age of 30, this ratio is reversed among performers over 50.
Both men and women saw age as a disadvantage in getting acting work. However men, unlike women, did not see their gender as a disadvantage when it came to employment.
The study also found that most performers earn very little from their work. Five per cent of both male and female performers earned nothing from performing in 2006-7. A greater proportion of women were in the lowest income group and a smaller proportion was in the highest income group.
The research was carried out by means of an online questionnaire, evaluated by Warwick University's industrial relations unit, which is part of the European Industrial Relations Unit. Results were consistent across Europe.
Des Courtney of Siptu pointed out that one performer revealed that a casting brief had stipulated "no dogs please". This was a reference to the appearance of the actresses in the production. Mr Courtney said he did not believe that the theatre-going public would object to "gender non-specific roles" going to women. This would address an imbalance rather than discriminate against men, he said.
