Windsor Fringe rejects director for being a woman
A woman was turned down for a drama directing job by festival organisers who said "a male was better" for the role.
Femi Fagunwa applied to a call-out by the Windsor Fringe Festival to take on plays submitted by amateur playwrights for a drama award.
Ms Fagunwa received an e-mail saying her gender ruled her out of the job.
In a statement the Windsor Fringe said it "apologised for the error in judgment of the e-mail content".
Ms Fagunwa had applied to direct a 30-minute one-act play for the fringe festival's 13th Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing.
She said: "I was really shocked. I could take not being given it because I was not qualified, or that there was someone better, but they used my gender as a reason not to choose me.
"There was nothing to misunderstand - those are the words they wrote; they wrote that a male was better."
Festival chairman Dr Mike Denny and head of drama awards Ann Trewartha said in a joint statement: "The Windsor Fringe would like to apologise for the unacceptable contents of an e-mail sent to one of our applicant directors for the drama award.
"We deeply regret any offence caused by the contents of the email."