Arts Views with Thabani H Moyo
MITAMBO International Theatre Festival (MITF) roared into life this week. The third edition of the festival kicked off with a Symposium titled ‘Survival of the Artist: Women Centre Stage.’
The symposium brought meaningful conversation from the panelists who were made of Marie-Laure/Soukain, Edith Weutonga, Albert Nyathi and Sibongile Phiri from Zambia. The moderator was Melody Zambuko.
The panelists converged on an agreement that women artistes are not yet on centre stage and the reason for the current situations vary. Soukain noted that the current Covid-19 lockdown situation demands that artistes be present in digital spaces and currently these spaces are dominated by male artistes. This is a sign that female artistes need to be empowered on utilising digital spaces.
Edith Weutonga noted that Covid-19 lockdowns have exposed challenges faced by female artistes and one of the greatest challenges is access to resources.
Lack of resources has affected female artistes as most of them are failing to access digital spaces. Online performances have been dominated by male artistes during live stream shows. It will appear as if those providing streaming platforms are deliberately shutting out female artistes.
Weutonga went further to submit that there is a need for men to be empowered on women’s issues so as to help them realise how much they are trampling on their female counterparts. Men could be stepping on women due to ignorance.
“There is a need for a deliberate approach to put women on centre stage. Men need to be trained on how to support women,’ she said.
Sibongile Phiri called for a deeper interrogation of the problem. For the problem stems from historical factors. Women have never been given free spaces to find themselves. Women have always been forced to perceive themselves through patriarchal lenses. The construct of society has left women bruised and failing to have a positive outlook of who they are. Phiri women need help to change the way they think about themselves.
It is the norm for society to look at women as sexual objects and hence they turn to give back what society expects of them instead of portraying themselves as worthy.
Albert Nyathi concurred with her female colleagues that women are trivialised and prejudiced in the creative sector. He acknowledged that female artists in most cases end up abandoning their careers in the arts because of pressure from male family members, especially husbands.
The panelists also agreed that men have a sense of entitlement and privilege. This has seen women struggling to access resources to assist them develop their careers.
Men turn to other female artists. This approach means that less value is put on female artistes. There is a need to change the mind-set, Male and female artistes need to understand that they are more alike than different. There is a need to blur the boundaries that society has created around males and females. The systemic and structural erasing of female artistes need to be challenged.
In conclusion, women in arts in different fields must be empowered. Leadership, activism and mentoring must lead to more constructive collaborations and understanding between male and female artistes.
