Training for female scriptwriters (TAS 300/2021, issued on 16 February 2022)
The Ombudsman for Equality has examined whether the Concepting Fiction Series training intended for female scriptwriters is permitted under the Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986, Equality Act). Men are not allowed to take part in the training in question.
The training is provided as part of a project under the Sustainable Growth and Employment 2014–2020 programme funded by the European Social Fund and Finland's structural funds. The purpose of the project is to promote the employment of female professionals in the industry. The project action plan includes the following subjects aimed at female audiovisual professionals
- mentoring
- tools for developing professionalism and employment
- unconscious bias training for decision-makers of all genders in the industry
- equality research on the industry
- a statistics development project for the industry and
- communications on the project and its results.
The training organised under the project does not provide a degree and is not open to undergraduate students.
In the training organiser's view, the training constitutes a temporary, positive action based on a plan and which is for the purpose of promoting effective gender equality, as referred to in section 9, paragraph 4 of the Equality Act. The positive action seeks to promote gender equality by improving the status of women in working life. The report also refers to the European goal of promoting gender equality in the audiovisual industry, meaning the visibility of female professionals and women in the media.
Assessment of the case
If, for example, an educational institution wants to favour the minority gender in student selection, it must be assessed whether this conduct constitutes discrimination against applicants of the other gender or promotion of gender equality under the Equality Act.
Positive actions taken under section 9, paragraph 4 of the Equality Act must be temporary and based on a plan. A positive action meeting these criteria shall not be deemed to constitute discrimination based on gender, even though the conduct as such could meet the definition of discrimination under the Equality Act. In the interpretation of the Equality Act, it has been established that a 'positive action' must be based on the less favourable position of the other gender, and not solely on underrepresentation in a given group.
The Ombudsman for Equality assesses the equality of the audiovisual industry on the basis of the statistics compiled by Yle and the Finnish Film Foundation on the allocation of public funding earmarked for scriptwriters between women and men. It appears that the allocation of public funding varies from year to year, and that freelancer-based employment relationships are common in the audiovisual industry. Therefore, the statistics can also vary dramatically from one year to the next.
The Ombudsman for Equality considers it important that the audiovisual industry work to promote gender equality in the industry. The project implemented in 2019–2022 is based on statistics of the gender distribution in the audiovisual industry up to 2018. On the aforementioned grounds, the Ombudsman for Equality states that the professional development oriented training offered to female scriptwriters under the on-going project can be considered to constitute a temporary positive action based on a plan, which seeks to fulfil the purposes of the Equality Act. Therefore, limiting the fiction series concepting training to female applicants only does not constitute discrimination under the Equality Act. However, the discriminatory conduct must be discontinued once the objectives of equal opportunities and equal treatment have been achieved or the conduct could otherwise turn into discrimination.
02.05.2022
