The Venice Film Festival is finally taking tangible steps toward gender equality. The festival signed the 5050×2020 Pledge yesterday, in spite of Artistic Director Alberto Barbera previously vowing, “If we impose quotas or gender equality needs, I will quit.” Together with Dissenso Comune and Women in Film, TV & Media Italia, the festival will speak publicly about signing the Pledge at an event on Friday, August 31.

Already signed by Cannes, Annecy, Locarno, and Sarajevo, the 5050×2020 Pledge is way to hold fests accountable as they work towards full gender parity. By signing the document, festival signatories promise to gather stats according to the filmmakers’ gender, identify the fest members who select films to screen, and develop a schedule to achieve equality on the festival board.

Venice’s agreement to sign the Pledge comes in the wake of pushback against the dismal number of women directors included in this year’s festival. Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale” is the only woman-helmed film that will screen in Competition.

In response to the severe gender gap and to Barbera’s baffling defense of Venice’s curation process, in which he claimed “If we start viewing with quotes or percentages in mind, I think the first to be hurt will be women filmmakers,” the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA) published an open letter calling for the fest to take the Pledge. Addressed to Barbera and fest prez Paolo Baratta, the letter recounts Venice’s history of shutting out women and its repeated suggestions that including female filmmakers will dilute the festival’s overall “quality.”

The Venice Film Festival kicks off today and will run through September 8.