France aims to break male domination of cultural sector

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France's culture minister wants to see women heading up half of the country's major cultural institutions within five years.

To hammer home her message, Francoise Nyssen named the first woman to head one of France's seven national centers for musical creation, which are dedicated to creating new musical works.

She set out her goal on Tuesday when she launched a campaign to counter male domination of classical music.

Women currently make up only three percent of the country's conductors.

"The figures oblige us (to do something)," said Nyssen in a speech at the Aix-en-Provence classical music festival, pointing out that little more than one in 10 stages were run by women and an even smaller proportion of working composers were female.

And she warned venues and festivals to increase their use of female performers and composers by up to 10 percent a year or see their subsidies cut.

Operas and theaters where women already account for between a quarter and 40 percent of senior management were set less stringent standards, but were still urged to up representation by at least five percent.

Close gender gap

Nyssen also asked Laurence Equilbey, the woman head of the choir Accentus, to overhaul the training system for young singers.

The conductor will also put together a common choral repertoire for children in schools.

Nyssen said that she was also setting aside 500,000 euros (585,000 US dollars) to try to close the gender pay gap in her own ministry.

With women accounting for only a tiny fraction of the winners of France's main annual music awards, she urged female artists to be given greater visibility in the programming of concerts and shows.

The minister has also been a vocal supporter of upping the number of female film directors, creating a fund with Sweden to support women filmmakers.

Source(s): AFP