WIFT-AT Supports Greater Transparency and Equity for gender diverse in the Screen Industry
Our mission at Women in Film and Television Atlantic (WIFT-AT) is to advance, connect, and inspire all women and gender diverse people working within the Atlantic Canadian screen industry. We fully support the push toward a level of collaboration that will create safe work environments within all facets of the business.
One of our core values has always been enabling women and gender diverse people to have the power to create change within the industry. We have been working toward this shared goal since WIFT-AT’s inception in 2009, by offering programming, events, and networking opportunities designed to allow people of diverse genders to collaborate within a supportive, creative, and safe environment. In keeping with this, we stand in solidarity with other WIFT groups and industry organizations, both within Canada and internationally, committed to addressing the need to correct the gender imbalance we see both in front of and behind the camera.
Equally important to WIFT-AT is to empower both survivors and those who may be vulnerable, to feel safe and respected. We are actively taking steps toward creating programming that addresses these significant concerns.
In January 2018, WIFT-AT is offered its first workshop designed to help women and gender diverse people in screen-based media to identify and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
We are consulting with experts including clinical psychologists and personal safety/self-defense instructors as well as folks working within the industry in order to create an effective and proactive workshop free of charge. This will be just the first step in working with the industry to offer more workshops like these, with the ultimate goal of changing the culture from the ground up, and from the top down.
As a largely volunteer-based group throughout the Atlantic provinces, we have always championed the power of sharing knowledge in order to affect change. Going forward, we will be listening to and learning from the ways in which other groups, organizations, and institutions work to address and prevent sexual harassment.
WIFT-AT deeply cares about helping women and gender diverse people have their voices heard. We will keep working toward creating a climate which will help overcome the silencing of victims and move us toward a shared understanding among all genders that the workplace is an environment of respect, transparency and equality for all; no alternative will be tolerated.