**European public theatres and perceived inequalities related to sexual orientation. What about LGB workers in the "queerest art"?**
Sarah Wattelet (1), Anne Fromont (1,2,3), Emma Sarter (1) & Annalisa Casini (1,2)
(1) Université catholique de Louvain, Psychological Sciences Research Institute
(2) Université catholique de Louvain, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche Travail, État et Société
(3) Université libre de Bruxelles, Ecole de Santé publique
**Abstract**
Alisa Solomon (2002) calls it "the queerest art": the theatre is generally considered a "safe space" for LGB workers. Indeed, the professional world comprised in our patriarchal system discriminates these workers because of their sexual orientation which disturbs the surrounding heteronormativity.
In order to assess the potential inequalities between heterosexual workers and their non-heterosexual counterparts in theatres despite their presumed fairness, we studied the perceptions of inequality of theatre members among 33 public theatres in 22 European countries. We also investigated the possible link between these perceptions and the strength of patriarchal culture. 296 participants - 29% of whom defined themselves as non-heterosexual - answered our online questionnaire.
Many variables were assessed for the purposes of a wider study, including work precariousness and perceived discrimination in interpersonal (i.e. mixed or unmixed colleagues meeting in their free time) and organisational (i.e. experiencing the discomfort of discrimination) terms. As independent variables, the United Nations national Gender Inequality Index (GII) and the patriarchal organisational culture (PatOC, Shaffer et al., 2000) were taken into account.
Following t-tests and multiple regression analyses, no significant differences were found between non-heterosexual and heterosexual workers, except for the variety of roles played. In addition, we observed independent associations between GII on one hand and PatOC on the other and most of our dependent variables. We will eventually discuss the implications of this study for generalized equality at the societal level.
