Labour Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is being urged to amend existing diversity monitoring to include age in the UK.
Nicky Clark‘s Acting Your Age Campaign (AYAC) has today released a film calling for the amendment to mandatory monitoring, which it says is a major challenge to women over 45 in UK broadcasting.
A list of British actresses including Julie Graham, Hermione Norris, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Sarah Parish, Amanda Redman, Juliet Stevenson and Indira Varma have backed the call and appear in the film, along with actors such as John Simms, Adrian Dunbar and Martin Clunes.
Campaigner and former actress Clark said the film is an “open letter” to Nandy, claiming that without women’s age representation being monitored, it cannot be measured and the real picture behind equality in the industry “is vague to the point of obfuscation and can’t be challenged and ultimately changed.”
Journalist and actress Clark launched the AYAC in 2018 after an attempt to restart her career aged 50. She says the industry is inherently prejudice against women over 45, with an assumption they are in semi-retirement by this age, while men can expect careers long into their later years.
“All women deserve a complete career which only ends when they choose, not when the industry determines them to be past it,’” said Clark.
We’ve reached out to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for comment.