CBC/Radio-Canada Builds on Commitment to Gender Parity with Women in Production Action Plan

Canada's public broadcaster is strengthening its commitment to ensure more leadership roles for women in the Canadian film and television industry.

OTTAWA, Oct. 1, 2019 /CNW/ - CBC/Radio-Canada is strengthening its commitment to ensure more leadership roles for women in the Canadian film and television industry with an action plan to support gender parity in production. The plan follows the CRTC Women in Production Summit in December 2018, which called for broadcasters to address the lack of gender parity in key creative positions.

CBC/Radio-Canada is proud to have already surpassed its goal of gender parity across its commissioned programs. During the 2018/19 broadcast year across all original English and French scripted and unscripted shows on all broadcast and streaming platforms, the public broadcaster supported 62% female-led projects where the majority of the key creative roles of producer, director, writer and showrunner were held by women.

"Not only is CBC/Radio-Canada committed to maintaining its leadership role in gender parity but also to building momentum in the representation of women in key creative positions from under-represented groups, including visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities and others," said Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada. "It is also important to consider the unique experiences of people across these groups. The concept of Intersectionality is critical to advancing the conversation about gender and diversity, and ensuring there is space for everyone at the public broadcaster."

The CBC/Radio-Canada Women in Production Action Plan provides a framework for a range of initiatives to be developed, including:

• Enhanced Measurement
• CBC/Radio-Canada will continue to measure gender parity and improve measurement tools in partnership with independent producers.
• More Industry Opportunities
• CBC/Radio-Canada will facilitate mentorship opportunities and increase collaboration in the industry, including sharing more information and best practices with a range of stakeholders.
• Recognizing Success
• CBC/Radio-Canada will highlight the profiles and achievements of women in the production industry.
• Targeted Development
• CBC/Radio-Canada recognizes specific gaps in the advancement of under-represented women in key creative roles, and will target development opportunities such as internships and job shadowing for these groups.
• Additional Initiatives
• CBC/Radio-Canada will develop initiatives to expand gender parity beyond production roles, such as supporting Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) including Women In Tech.

On December 13, 2018, Catherine Tait participated in a CRTC summit of the presidents of Canada's largest public and private-sector broadcasters to discuss lasting solutions to ensure more women play leading roles in the Canadian film and television production industry. The CRTC Women in Production Summit resulted in broadcasters pledging to address the lack of gender parity in key creative positions related to commissioned programming in the Canadian television industry, and work on voluntary action plans to address this important issue.

On September 25, CBC/Radio Canada was recognized with a Platinum certification for gender parity—the highest level possible—by Women in Governance, a not-for-profit organization that supports women in their leadership development and career advancement. 48.7 percent of CBC/Radio-Canada's employees are women, more than any other organization of the same size or larger in the Canadian media industry.

At the Banff World Media Festival in June 2019, CBC/Radio-Canada announced a commitment to diversity across all French and English commissioned programs.

Read more on diversity and inclusion at CBC/Radio-Canada.

About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada's trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.

SOURCE CBC/Radio-Canada

Leon Mar, Director, Media Relations and Issues Management | Corporate Spokesperson, 647 616-5768, [email protected] | [email protected]