As a playwright first (although I did direct for the first time this year) I was most interested in this comment by Robyn Goodman:
I used to sign my entire name to my plays but have taken to using my initials because I'm convinced that many readers of play selection committees believe that a female, writing about female characters, is writing a "chick" play (not as snappy as a "chick flick" but anyway...) which is not of universal interest.
Perhaps we should be asking why female playwrights are still marginalized and why their plays are considered to be gender specific while men's plays are considered to be universal. Or maybe we should ask why, when women are the predominant ticket buyers, there is only one female first-string critic in New York.
Another problem in the theatre (and movies, animation, radio, television) is that although there are more female actors than male, more roles, and better roles are written for males.
Living in a Patriarchy is a very bad deal for the majority of human beings. So much so that the majority isn't even recognized as the majority, at 51% of the population, and female concerns are considered a special interest.
This must stop.