It’s Women’s History Month, and I’m loving celebrating the accomplishments of women. As I learn about the incredible work of so many inspiring women, I can’t help but think about all the work of women that goes unnoticed, unpaid and uncelebrated.
The phrase for this kind of work is Invisible Labor, which is, simply, is all the extra sh*t you’re expected to do in addition to all the sh*t you normally do, and you don’t get recognized or paid for it. Nearly everyone experiences the burden of Invisible Labor, but some carry more weight than others.
Women bear endless amounts of Invisible Labor in every aspect of their lives, one of the most prevalent examples being the expectation that women will complete housework and childcare in addition to their careers, while their male partners only have to focus on work. While this does immediately benefit men, no one wins in the long run.
The infantilization of men, which the discussion of could fill an entirely different article, hurts them and women, because it keeps men from self-sufficiency and crushes women with the responsibility of others. Women in every industry take on Invisible Labor, face unique challenges and musical theatre is no different.
Women are expected to show up hours before their male castmates to do their hair and makeup, and then do the men’s when they arrive. Or, they are told to show up with their hair and makeup already done so all of the time and attention can be given to helping the men. Women are expected to not only be self-sufficient and knowledgeable but also fully capable of teaching others or doing the work for them
Women have to buy specific and expensive undergarments, shoes, makeup, and other items while male actors get to show up with what they already own. Why? Not only do women make less money than men, items marketed towards women cost more than their identical counterparts marketed toward men. Even in community theatre, where no one is making money, women are still contributing more emotionally, physically, and financially. In addition to giving up their time to complete Invisible Labor, women are also being asked to give up their money to support others.
Women are expected to relinquish their privacy while maintaining modesty, being asked to change in front of whomever while men get their own time and space. Men are given assistance, female assistants, to help them change their hair or makeup or costumes, while women are packed like sardines in a dark hallway to fend for themselves at every step, and when they finish their own work, they are to find a man to help. Anyone can watch a woman change, because she is expected to do so wherever, whenever, and however, she can to best serve the show and is then punished for allowing men to see her change. Women are exploited for their labor and their bodies, put on display when convenient then pushed to the shadows to work.
It is normalized that women know how to assist with all aspects of technical theatre, including building, painting, costume construction, and other elements, while the men involved are only expected to know how to complete traditionally masculine tasks. Women are pushed constantly to break gender stereotypes and learn to do “men’s jobs” but the same is never suggested in reverse. One has to wonder if this is because women’s tasks, femininity, and women, are seen as less than and demeaning, and if the idea of Invisible Labor would even exist if society viewed traditionally women’s work AS work.
Women consistently have to pick up the slack male actors drop, including playing roles written for men and learning the vocal and dance parts of men in addition to their own. Men today are never asked to play women’s roles, despite having done so for thousands of years after excluding women from the activity. Women, even when playing men, still perform the Invisible Labor of women. This isn’t to say that men never play the roles of women, they do so frequently. But while women play men’s roles because someone has to do it, men play women’s roles to make fun of women and still get to ignore all the other duties of womanhood in musical theatre.
Women have to BE better than men. They’re constantly put up against each other to compete for everything and are always working to be better. Men are never asked to put in the same amount of effort, they are handed roles and excused from responsibility and accountability because they are a commodity. Theatre is one of the only places where men are the minority, and yet they are still given the advantages of the majority.
So now, an open letter to men of musical theatre:
How have you contributed to the saddling of women with Invisible Labor? Have you ever considered all of the work women have done to support your own success? Do you sit by and watch the struggle of women and not speak up? How can you claim to view women as your equals, peers, castmates when you utilize them like servants? Why are you satisfied with not contributing to the full extent of your abilities? Who is benefitting from the exploitation of women, to be frank, it isn’t you? You are being looked down on, babied and repressed at the expense of women. The Invisible Labor of women in musical theatre isn’t solely a women’s issue, it’s a result of societal and systematic oppression that is upheld every time you pick up a script. Your ignorance can no longer be bliss; you must work to provide women with the support of a partner, not the reliance of a child. You can do better; you must do better.