Women in Animation (WIA) has followed through on president Margaret Dean’s promise to create and sign a pledge against sexual harassment in the animation industry. According to a press release, WIA joined forces with several indie studios to draft the Animation Studio Anti-Harassment Pledge, also known as ASAP, which emphasizes that “there is no tolerance for harassment in the workplace.”
WIA and several studios such as Bento Box Entertainment and GKIDS have already taken the pledge. This means the studio’s president or owner has agreed to sign ASAP and will require all of their employees to co-sign it.
The pledge, which can be downloaded from WIA’s website, calls for “safe and equitable work environments free of discrimination and harassment.” It asserts: “We will not tolerate discrimination and any form of unlawful harassment, including but not limited to sexual harassment. We understand that we all have a responsibility to ensure that each of our studios is safe for all employees and independent contractors.”
ASAP defines harassment as “unwanted conduct on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. which has the purpose or effect of either violating the claimant’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for them.”
In February Dean spoke about the pledge and revealed WIA had been participating in meetings with independent studios, urging them to commit to fighting workplace harassment. The pledge “documents the position of the studio heads and the expectations for a code of behavior for their employees,” she explained. “Each new employee will need to agree to and sign the pledge. And when employees move to another indie studio, the same document will be waiting for them.”
Now that ASAP has been brought to fruition, Dean and her team are eager for it to be utilized by larger studios. “To extend this pledge to the entire animation industry, we will share it with all studios to encourage them to adopt it or some form of it, expanding the web of safety even further,” she commented.
“WIA is proud to be part of the kind of change that will have a lasting effect on how women and non-conforming people are treated in our business,” added WIA treasurer Brendan Burch, who also owns studio Six Point Harness. “I sincerely hope all studio owners, large and small, are aligned in these efforts.”
WIA, which helps advance women’s careers in the field of animation, has been vocal in the fight against sexual harassment. Shortly after the Harvey Weinstein revelations WIA began sharing resources for harassment victims online and setting up meetings with legal experts. The organization also introduced the Roar Art Project, which allows individuals to express their experiences of gender discrimination via art or animation.
All of the studios that have taken the ASAP pledge so far are below, courtesy of WIA.
OddBot, Inc.
Six Point Harness
Titmouse
Bento Box Entertainment
CounterPunch Studios
Duncan Studio
Incessant Rain Animation Studios
Renegade Animation
Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
Tonko House
Wild Canary Animation
Cinesite Animation
House of Moves
GKIDS
