Originally published in Dscribe.
‘Men and white people’ dominate the line up at the 32nd Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with female comics making up less than a quarter of the performers.
The festival has been growing rapidly in Melbourne, increasing from 556 shows in 2017 to 620 this year. However, only 133 shows include or are led by women.
New Zealand writer and comedian, Alice Snedden, has worked in comedy for years and is performing in the festival for the third time this year. Her show is called ‘Self-Titled’.
Ms Snedden considers herself lucky to have had an overall positive experience within the industry but notes the under-representation of women extends to people of colour and minorities. She says that comedy line-ups mostly consist of “men and white people.”
According to the festival’s website, there are currently just seven female performers considered to be ‘veterans of the festival’. These women make up less than a quarter of all long-standing performers.
Representatives from the festival were approached for a response, but declined to comment.
21-Year old and recent Deakin graduate, Charisa Bossinakis, is performing in the festival for the first time this year with her show titled Boss.
Ms Bossinakis is relatively new to comedy, dipping her toes in the Melbourne scene for just over a year. Her experience is on a first-impressions basis.
Being a young female performer, Ms Bossinakis says she is a minority within the industry.
She says there is still the belief that it’s “unattractive” for women to be funny and that comedy is “very much a boy’s club.”
“It can be a bit confronting especially when you’re at gigs and you’re not only one of the young ones, but usually male to female ratio is quite significant,” she says.
Ms Bossinakis’ show explores the life of many young Australian women and the pressure they feel as they are coming to understand themselves, pointing out gendered stereotypes and a culture of “slut-shaming” on modern dating apps like Tinder.
When reflecting on the future of her career, Ms Bossinakis says discrimination based on pay and her gender is an undeniable reality.
“As a woman, it’d be naïve of me to think that it’s an issue I won’t face one day,” she says.
Ms Snedden says that the gender pay gap exists within the industry largely due to the lack of “financial transparency.”
The ambiguity surrounding pay leaves female performers unaware of discrimination, which Ms Snedden says makes it difficult to correct.
“I once found out that a writer on my team was being paid more than me and when I asked why, the basic response was, ‘because that’s what he asked for’,” she says.