The second sex?

Women are sorely under-represented and underpaid across the creative and cultural industries, according to a damning new report by industry body Skillset. The study documents an alarming 20% pay gap between men and women working in film, cinema, exhibitions, animation, publishing, television, radio and computer games. The data confirms a trend recorded in Arts Council England’s (ACE) 2008/09 equality report, which analyses its regularly funded arts organisations, and reiterates findings presented in the Cultural Leadership Programme’s (CLP) 2008 report on women working in the cultural sector.

 Estimates from ACE’s report suggest that just 25% of theatres are run by female artistic directors, and the total value of grants awarded to female applicants was £19.8m, versus £25m awarded to men. Although the Skillset report shows a slight increase in overall representation of women – from 38% in 2006 to 42% in 2009 – the percentages fell in 16 of the 20 listed areas for which data are available for 2006 and 2009.
The Skillset report shows that women earn on average £4k less per year, despite 93% of female employees holding a degree compared to 78% of men. The CLP report found that women tend to be younger than their male counterparts, and Skillset shows that nearly two thirds (64%) of men in the creative media industries are 35 or over compared with 51% of women. Kate Kinninmont, CEO of Women in Film & TV, told AP that “ageism is an issue for everyone in our industry… but as all the research shows, it is a greater problem for women. It’s unfair, it’s illegal and we should all work together to get rid of it.”