Arts and Creative Industries – What we already know

What we already know

GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE CREATIVE ARTS

(PDF version can be accessed here)

1. Executive Summary

Using the definition set out in the Scottish Government’s Creative Industries Growth Sector, the paper will explore potential areas of gender inequalities within Scotland’s Creative Arts.

Within the Creative Industries workforce, there are several areas of difference between men and women. For instance, men comprise two-thirds of the workforce, and women occupy a larger portion of part-time positions. Despite similar levels of qualifications between men and women in the sector, men occupy a greater proportion of senior and professional positions within the sector and a greater proportion of self-employed positions.

There are examples of gender inequality in the earnings of the sector. In the Arts, Recreation and Entertainment sector the average male worker will earn more than the average female, as is also the case in the Digital sector.

Unlike the composition of the Creative Industries labour market, creative and arts subjects at university and college tended to have more women than men enrolled within them. Software engineering, Computer games, Music and Architecture are in the minority of creative industries courses that have an overrepresentation of male enrolments, whereas female students are more likely to study subjects such as Art, Design, Drama and Marketing.

Existing research has highlighted that woman remain underrepresented within the Creative Industries and its sub-sectors and are often in lower level positions. Work within the sector can be freelance and unpredictable, making it difficult for women with caring responsibilities to find secure work within the industry. There is also evidence that women face additional discrimination and economic barriers to progression within the sector.

Key Figures

  • In the Creative Industries, women account for around one third of the workforce and 60% of part-time positions.
  • 42% of men working in the sector are in Professional Occupations, compared with 25% of women. Around two-thirds of senior managerial positions are held by men and two-thirds of the Administrative / Secretarial positions are held by women.
  • Using the Arts, recreation and entertainment sector as a proxy, the full-time median gender pay gap was 4.1% in 2019. This was below the average for Scotland overall and was one of the smallest full-time gender pay gaps of any sector.
  • In the Digital Industries sub-sector, the gender balance of the workforce has higher concentrations of men, with almost eight out of 10 jobs are being done by men, and the full-time median gender pay gap was 16.3% in 2019.
  • For creative and arts subjects in university, 53% of enrolments identifying as female.
  • In the Creative Arts and Design subject classification, five years after graduation the average male graduate earned £21,500, £300 more than the average female graduate.

2. Introduction

2.1  Scope

This evidence paper provides a snapshot of gender characteristics within the workforce of Scotland’s Creative Industries Growth Sector, to illuminate potential areas of gender inequalities within Scotland’s Creative Arts.  It also provides a snapshot of Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) enrolments within courses linked to the Creative Arts, to provide a snapshot of gender characteristics within potential pathways into the sector.

The paper uses existing labour market data from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).  It also draws on HE and FE enrolment data.  The focus is primarily on gender characteristics, though some evidence is also provided on areas of intersectionality such as age and ethnicity.  Examples of recent evidence on gender inequalities in the creative and arts sector for Scotland and across the UK is also included.

The focus of the paper has been primarily on the workforce within Scotland’s Creative Industries, and in HE and FE courses linked to Creative Arts.  However, there is also detailed data available on characteristics of those attending cultural events in Scotland, and participating within Scotland, including by characteristics of participants and attendees. The Scottish Household Survey (2019) report on culture and heritage[1] found:

  • More women than men reported having attended or visited a cultural event or place in the preceding 12 months, with 83 per cent of women having attended or visited a cultural event or place compared to 79 per cent of men;
  • More women than men reported having participated in a cultural activity in the preceding 12 months, with 80 per cent of women having participated in a cultural activity in the preceding 12 months compared with 70 per cent of men, though this varied by activity.

Further data on gender dimensions of cultural attendance and participation, including by specific cultural activity are included in the report, which is available at: Scottish Household Survey: Culture and Heritage.

The terms ‘women’ and ‘men’ used within the report refers to those who have self-identified as being either female or male in the data collected. Some data sources such as the Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) use the term ‘sex’ in their data collections, however the report prefers to use the terminology ‘gender’. This is because the majority of the data sources uses self-reported surveys where respondents can input their gender identification and do not require documentation of the sex assigned at birth e.g. APS and ASHE.

2.2 Definition of the ‘Creative Industries’ Sector

When categorizing activity within creative or artistic sectors of the economy, several differing approaches that can be adopted[2]. Where possible, this paper will follow the approach used by the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework for the National Indicator on People Working in Arts and Culture. This uses a measurement based on the Scottish Government’s Growth Sector definition of the ‘Creative Industries’.  This definition includes 16 separate sub-sectors, which encompass a wider range of activities that align with the Creative Arts within Scotland.  Table 1 sets out the sub-sectors encompassed by the Creative Industries Growth Sector definition, and examples of the activities they contain:

Table 1: Creative Industries Sub-sectors and their Activities / Professions

Sub-sector Activities / profession examples
Music e.g. sound recording, manufacturing musical instruments
Film and Video e.g. video recording, film production and distribution
Radio and TV e.g. radio broadcasting, TV programme production and distribution
Photography e.g. photographers
Computer Games e.g. computer game developer and publisher
Visual Art e.g. painters, sculptors
Architecture e.g. architects
Crafts And Antiques e.g. manufacture of furniture, jewellery, ornaments
Fashion And Textiles e.g. independent clothing manufacturers
Design e.g. graphic designer
Advertising e.g. creative marketing
Performance Arts e.g. theatre, opera, circus
Cultural Heritage e.g. libraries, archives
Writing And Publishing e.g. authors, journalists, book publishers
Software/Electronic Publishing e.g. software developer, computer programmer
Cultural Education e.g. dance studios, drama schools, piano tutors

The activities within these sub-sectors are based around sets of specific Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes that are provided for reference in Annex A.

Definition used within the Workforce section

The Creative Industries Growth Sector definition is used to measure the workforce characteristics of the Creative and Arts Sector. This encompasses many of the areas and activities that would be considered as part of the sector.

One area that is not included within the Creative Industries Growth Sector definition is activities related to museums and galleries, which many see as a key area of Creative Arts in Scotland.  In order to investigate potential gender differences in Scotland’s Creative Arts more fully, the workforce section of the paper also presents data based on the SIC code that incorporates museums (SIC 91: Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities) where possible.

Definition used within the Earnings section

Due to data limitations, it is not possible to use the Creative Industries growth sector definition within the section of the paper that discusses earnings of the Creative and Arts sector. Therefore, the broad industrial classification of the ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ sector is used as a proxy and separate earnings analysis is also presented for the Digital Industries. The Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector covers a number of the activities included within the Creative Industries definition, such as elements of the Performance, Visual Art and Heritage sub-sectors. However, it excludes the Audio-Visual, Books and Press, and Cultural Education domains of the Creative Industries, as well as creative manufacturing and retail activities. Given these gaps in the coverage, the earnings analysis may not fully reflect those of the Creative Industries as a whole.

Definition used within the Education section

The Creative Industries growth sector definition is used to map the subjects relevant to the Creative and Arts sector. At university level, 18 subject classifications were identified and at college level there were two subject super-classifications used. The subjects provide good coverage of the Creative Industries and its sub-sectors. However, this does not cover the full range of educational experiences and backgrounds that those that go on to work within the Creative Industries sector in Scotland will possess.  Similarly, graduates in the subjects identified as aligning with the Creative Industries may subsequently go on to work in other areas of the Scottish economy.

2.3 Economic Characteristics of the Creative Industries Growth Sector

This section provides an overview of the key economic characteristics of the sector, outlining the size and geography of the sector’s business base, the number of jobs and its economic impact. These are based on the growth sector definition of the Creative Industries described above. An overview of overall Creative Industries sector is provided below[3]:

Size of sector

In March 2020, there were 15,730 registered private enterprises operating in the Creative Industries growth sector, representing 8.8% of all registered business in Scotland. In 2020, 97.9% of Scottish Creative Industries registered enterprises were small (0-49 employees), accounting for 54.2% of employment in this sector, whilst large enterprises (250+ employees) accounted for 0.6% of registered enterprises but 27.9% of employment.[4]

Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Creative Industries growth sector totaled £4,626.7 million in 2018, a real terms decrease of 8.3% over the latest year. However, over the longer term, the sector has been growing, with GVA increasing in real terms by 48.3% since 2010.[5]

According to the latest Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), in 2019 there were 90,000 jobs within the Growth Sector defined Creative Industries sector, accounting for 3.5% of employment in Scotland. Two-thirds of these jobs were within Digital Industries and Visual Art domains. The number of jobs in the Creative Industries sector increased by 13,000 between 2017 and 2019.  Table 2 sets out trends in employment in several domains of the Creative Industries in recent years.

Table 2: Employment in the Creative Industries, Scotland, 2015 – 2019

Creative domains Employment
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Creative Industries Visual Art 22,675 24,635 24,240 26,740 28,060
Performance 4,800 6,600 4,550 4,600 4,950
Audio-Visual 7,695 11,595 10,710 8,185 9,525
Books and Press 9,300 9,500 8,240 9,500 9,400
Heritage 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 4,000
Digital Industries 24,200 27,350 25,300 33,500 32,900
Creative Education 500 500 600 600 800
Creative Industries 73,000 84,000 77,000 87,000 90,000
Source: Scottish Government, ONS (Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES))Note: Employment includes employees plus the number of working owners who receive drawings or a share of the profits but are not paid via PAYE.  However, the employment estimate does not include those that are self-employed operating below the VAT threshold with no employees i.e. the smallest sole proprietors and partnerships.

In 2019, employment in the Creative Industries was highest in Glasgow City (22,140) and City of Edinburgh (19,075), which comprised 24.6% and 21.2% of employment in this sector, respectively.

Earnings of sector

According to the growth sector database, median weekly full-time earnings across the Scottish Creative Industries growth sector stood at £625.60 in 2020, which was higher than the Scottish average at £592.70. Between 2019 and 2020, earnings in the Creative Industries growth sector increased by 5.0%:

3. Workforce of the Creative and Arts Sector

3.1 Data Description

This section will set out the composition of the Creative Industries labour market and explore examples of gender inequality within it. The creative industry workforce will be examined by gender, including disaggregating between gender and age, occupation, qualification level, working patterns and self-employment. Where possible, overall sector breakdowns provided are based on the Creative Industries Growth Sector definition detailed in section 2.2. Where sample sizes allow, information will be provided for the seven domains that form the Creative Industries and the fields that are included within each domain are provided in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Domains and Sub-Sectors of the Creative Industries Growth sector

Visual Art Performance Audio-Visual Books & Press Heritage Digital Industries Cultural Education
Advertising Performing arts Music Writing and Publishing Libraries and archives Software / electronic publishing Cultural Education
Architecture Photography
Visual art Film and video
Crafts and Antiques Computer Games
Fashion and textiles Radio and TV
Design

BRES is the primary source of employee jobs by sector used by the Scottish Government.  However, as BRES does not contain data on the characteristics of the workforce in each sector, this analysis is based on the Annual Population Survey.

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a self-reported household survey that can provide more granular details on the composition (e.g. gender, working patterns) of the workforce in the creative industries. The APS will provide different estimates for employment than the official source BRES as it has a better coverage of: self-employed workers in smaller sized businesses[6] (e.g. freelancers); and of those working in second jobs within the sector. Disaggregations from the APS are provided in the following section[7].

Level and rates provided are based on self-reported estimates from the APS; therefore they are subject to sampling error. Confidence intervals that give an indication of the margin of error surrounding each estimates are taken into account. Estimates with small sample sizes and higher margins of error are either shaded grey or are not disclosed within the tables provided in the sections below.

3.2 Gender and Employment

In 2019, women comprised a smaller portion (35.8%) of the Creative Industries workforce than men (64.2%). Women therefore comprised a smaller portion of the workforce in this sector than in the Scottish economy overall in 2019 (48.8%).[8]

In 2019, the Books and Press, Audio-Visual and Visual Art sub-sectors were all estimated to have a higher concentration of women than average for the Creative Industries as a whole.

Visual Art had the highest share of the Creative Industries workforce. Digital industries was the sub-sector with the second highest number of jobs and it also is the sub-sector with the lowest proportion of women. In 2019, 79.3% of the workforce in digital industries were estimated to be men and only 20.7% were women; this is well above the average for the Creative Industries sector. Table 4 sets out the male and female workforce in the Creative Industries and several sub-sectors:

Table 4: Proportion of Creative Industries workforce by gender and sub-sector, Scotland, 2018 -2019

2018 2019
Male Female Male Female
Level % Level % Level % Level %
Creative Industries 85,000 67.0 41,800 33.0 82,000 64.2 45,800 35.8
Visual Art 28,200 71.0 11,500 29.0 28,200 61.9 17,400 38.1
Performance 3,800 46.6 4,400 53.4 3,300 67.7 1,600 32.3
Audio-Visual 13,300 66.0 6,900 34.0 8,200 55.3 6,600 44.7
Books and Press 10,000 61.4 6,300 38.6 10,600 53.9 9,100 46.1
Heritage * * * * 1,400 38.4 2,300 61.6
Digital Industries 29,100 78.6 7,900 21.4 29,200 79.3 7,600 20.7
Cultural Education * * 1,800 77.9 1,100 45.6 1,300 54.4
Source: Annual Population Survey (ONS)* Estimates are unreliable or disclosive due to small sample sizes.

Estimates shaded grey are based on a small sample size. This may result in less precise estimates, which should be used with caution.

Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability.

In addition to the Creative Industries activities set out above, women were overrepresented in the workforce within ‘SIC 91: Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities’, which mostly sits outside of the Creative Industries growth sector definition but in addition covers museums, zoos, botanic gardens and historical sites; with 62.7% share of all employment in the sector.

3.3 Gender and Age

Overall, there is a lower share of women in the Creative Industries workforce compared to the Scottish economy overall. However, there is a greater share of the female workforce in the Creative Industries aged 25 – 34 when compared to the male workforce, a difference of 5.6 percentage points. In the Creative Industries there was a notably larger share of women aged 25 – 34 employed than in the Scottish economy overall (23%).  The share of men and women aged 35 – 49 in the Creative Industries workforce is similar to their equivalents in the Scottish economy overall (32%), while both are under-represented compared against the Scottish economy overall in the 50 – 64 age category (29% for men, and 30% for women).

The male creative industry workforce has a higher share of the 16 – 24 age group and the 65+ age group than women, while the share of men in the creative industries workforce is also higher than for the Scottish economy overall (4%). Table 5 sets out the age profile of the male and female workforce in the Creative Industries.

Table 5: Creative industry workforce by age and gender, Scotland, 2019

 

2019

 Proportion of total creative industry workforce   Creative Industry Proportion of age group
Male Female Male Female
(%) (%) (%) (%)
All ages 100.0 100.0 64.2 35.8
16-24 8.8 5.3 74.8 25.2
25-34 26.8 32.4 59.7 40.3
35-49 32.4 32.3 64.3 35.7
50-64 25.8 27.1 63.0 37.0
65+ 6.2 2.9 79.2 20.8
Source: Annual Population Survey (ONS)Note: Estimates shaded grey are based on a small sample size. This may result in less precise estimates, which should be used with caution.

Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability.

3.4 Gender and Working patterns

A larger share of women working in the Creative Industries work part-time than men. In 2019, 34.9% of women worked part-time compared to 14.1% of men, a difference of 20.8 percentage points. In 2018, the difference was even greater with 46.2% of women working part-time compared to 14.9% for men.

Women also had a higher share of the part-time workforce, with 58% of those working part-time in the sector being women in 2019.

In 2019, in the Scottish economy overall, 40.1% of women worked part-time and 10.8% of men aged 16-64 worked part-time, a difference of 29.3 percentage points. This suggests that the share of women working part-time in the Creative Industries is lower than in the Scottish economy overall, but still lower than the share of men working part-time in the sector. Table 6 sets out the working patterns of the male and female workforce in the Creative Industries:

Table 6: Proportion of creative industry workforce by gender and working pattern, Scotland, 2018-2019

Proportion of total creative workforce   Proportion of each working pattern
Male Female   Male Female
2018 (%) (%)   (%) (%)
Total Creative Workforce 100.0 100.0   67.0 33.0
Full-time 85.1 53.8   76.3 23.7
Part-time 14.9 46.2   39.5 60.5
2019 (%) (%)   (%) (%)
Total Creative Workforce 100.0 100.0 64.2 35.8
Full-time 85.9 65.1   70.3 29.7
Part-time 14.1 34.9   42.0 58.0
Source: Annual Population Survey (ONS)Note: Estimates at sub-sector level not provided as based on low sample sizes and lower reliability. Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability from year to year.

Most estimates of working patterns at sub-sector level are impacted by reliability issues due to small sample sizes. However, the proportions working full-time in the Digital Industries sub-sector domain is possible and the results are above the Creative Industries average for both women and men. In the Digital Industries, 70.6% of women and 91.1% of men worked full-time in 2019.

3.5 Gender and Self-employment

The Creative Industries is a sector with high rates of self-employment, which may be explained by a higher prevalence of free-lancing and project-based work.  Around 31% of those working in the Creative Industries are self-employed, compared with around 12.4% of those aged 16+ working in the Scottish economy overall.

In 2019, 29.4% of women working in the sector are self-employed. This is lower than share of self-employment within the male workforce were 32.4% are self-employed, a difference of 3.0 percentage points. Both of these are well above the average for Scotland as a whole, where 15.6% of men are self-employed and 9.0% of women are self-employed. Table 7 provides an overview of self-employment in the Creative Industries:

Table 7: Self-employment by gender, Scotland, 2019

2019  total workforce (incl. self-employed) self-employed Employees and other
male female male female male female
Creative Industries Count 82,000 45,800 26,600 13,500 55,400 32,300
% of workforce by gender 64.2% 35.8% 32.4% 29.4% 67.6% 70.6%
Source: Annual Population Survey (ONS)

Again, small sample sizes make it difficult to produce reliable estimates for all sub-sectors however they are available for Visual Art and Digital Industries.

There is even greater prevalence of self-employment in the Visual Art sub-sector. In this sub-sector in 2019, 45.7% of men in employment were self-employed and for women it was 42.3%.

In Digital Industries, the overall share of self-employment in the workforce was 17.2%, which is still above the average for economy overall but substantially below the average for the creative sector.

3.6  Gender and Occupational level

Occupational levels are likely to play a role in employability and earnings in the Creative Industries labour market, with those in senior positions likely to earn more.

Overall, around 9.4% of the Creative Industries workers are in senior level occupational positions (e.g. Managers, Directors and Senior officials), similar to the average for the Scottish economy overall (9.3%). However, there is almost double the proportion of the workforce in the Creative Industries in Professional Occupations (35.2%) than in the Scottish economy overall. In the Creative Industries, 30.5% of workers were in Associate Professional / Technical occupations, which was higher than the average for the Scottish economy overall (13.7%).

In 2019, in the Creative Industries, there are slightly more men in the Creative Industries workforce in senior managerial positions than women, a difference of 1.5 percentage points. For Professional Occupations the difference is more notable, with 41.9% of the male workforce in these occupations, compared with 24.9% of the female workforce, a difference of 17 percentage points. While these are both higher than the equivalents for the Scottish economy overall (19.3% and 23.2% for men and women respectively), the gender disparity is substantially larger in the Creative Industries than in the Scottish economy overall.

Compared to men, women are more likely to be in Associate Professional / Technical roles (38.3%), with the share of women in these occupations within the Creative Industries being greater than the equivalent share for the Scottish economy overall (12.8%).

Men also occupy two-thirds of senior managerial occupations within the sector and around three-quarters of the Professional Occupations. Administrative / Secretarial is the only occupation in which women in the sector have a greater share than men, occupying two-thirds of these roles. Table 8 sets out the occupational levels of the male and female workforce in the Creative Industries:

Table 8: Creative industry workforce by occupational level & gender, Scotland, 2019

2019 SOC Proportion of total creative workforce1   Proportion of total occupational level
Male Female   Male Female
(%) (%) (%) (%)
All   100.0 100.0 – –
Managers, Directors and Senior Officials 1 9.9 8.4 67% 33%
Professional Occupations 2 41.9 24.9 76% 24%
Associate Professional/ Technical 3 25.8 38.3 54% 46%
Administrative/Secretarial 4 4.1 14.0 33% 67%
Skilled Trades 5 12.0 5.7 77% 23%
Other Occupations2 6 to 9 6.3 8.6 56% 44%
 Source: Annual Population Survey (ONS)
 Note: Occupational Levels are based on Standard Occupational Codes (SOC) 2010
1Total estimates include responses where occupational level is not known. These are excluded from workforce proportion calculations.
2‘Other’ includes ‘Caring, Leisure and Other Services’, ‘Sales/Customer Service’, ‘Process, Plant and Machine Operatives’, ‘Elementary Occupations’.
Estimates shaded grey are based on a small sample size. This may result in less precise estimates, which should be used with caution.
Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability.

3.7 Gender and Qualification level

There is a strong link between educational attainment and employability. The Creative Industries workforce as a whole appears to be highly educated. Qualification levels of the sector are similar for men and women across the sector, with only a few percentage point difference across the various qualification categories. Qualifications of the Creative Industries workforce are provided in Table 9 below:

Table 9: Creative industry workforce by highest qualification held and gender, Scotland, 2018-2019

Proportion of total creative workforce1
2018 2019
Male Female Male Female
(%) (%) (%) (%)
All1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Degree or higher 57.0 52.4 58.5 58.2
HNC/HND or equivalent 16.8 14.7 15.6 13.1
Higher/A-level or equivalent 15.0 15.1 15.0 16.7
Credit Standard or lower2 11.2 17.7 10.9 12.1
 Source: Annual Population Survey (ONS)1. Total estimates include responses where occupational skill level is not known. These are excluded from workforce proportion calculations.

2. Includes ‘Other qualifications’ and ‘No qualifications’.

Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability from year to year.

3.8 Summary of Workforce Evidence

Within the Creative Industries workforce, there are clear differences between women and men. Women account for about a third of the workforce and are far more likely to be working part-time. In the Digital Industries, the gender balance of the workforce has higher concentrations of men, with almost eight out of 10 jobs are being done by men.

The sector’s labour force is highly educated and highest qualification levels are similar for men and women. Despite this, men are more likely to be in management and professional occupations within the sector compared to women, and compared against the equivalent share in the Scottish economy overall. In terms of age, women in the workforce have a higher concentration of workers aged 25 – 34 than men in the workforce, and men have a higher share of the 65+ age group.

Self-employment in the sector is more common than in the economy overall, which is likely due to the larger prevalence of freelance and contract work available. Women also have a lower self-employment rate than men in the sector.

With these gender differences of the workforce in mind, the following section will explore if the earnings received from this labour also show signs of being different for men and women.

4. Earnings of the Creative and Arts Sector

This section will examine earnings within the creative and arts sector and highlight any examples of gender imbalances such as the gender pay gap.

However, there are limitations when disaggregating earnings data for the Creative Industries growth sector by gender. This is because a proportion is applied to particular SIC codes identified in Annex A (e.g. manufacture of textiles) to reflect that not all activities within certain industry sectors and sub-sectors are identifiable as creative industries. Median earnings can only be based on the entire sector and not parts of sectors, which works against accurate disaggregation of earnings characteristics within the sector.

In order to address this issue, the broad industrial classification of the ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ sector is used as a proxy as this covers some of the activities included within the Creative Industries definition such as elements of the Performance, Visual Art and Heritage domains, while separate earnings analysis are also presented for the Digital Industries.

However, there are limitations in using this the Arts, Recreation and Entertainment sector as a proxy for earnings for the Creative Industries as a whole, as these exclude the Audio-Visual, Books and Press, and Cultural Education domains, and also exclude creative manufacturing and retail activities. In addition, Arts, Entertainment and Recreation contains additional gambling and sports related activities and also covers museums and historical sites.

4.1 The Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap is the difference in average hourly earnings between men and women, expressed as a percentage of men’s average hourly earnings. The gender pay gap compares all earners, including those doing different kinds of work and generally uses the median earner for comparison.

In 2020, the median full-time gender pay gap in Scotland was 3.0%, a decrease of 4.2 percentage points from 7.2% in 2019[9].This means that if the male and female populations of full-time workers were each lined up in order of their hourly pay, the man in the middle of the male population would be earning 3.0% more per hour than the woman in the middle of the female population in 2020.

In the Arts, entertainment and recreation, the median full-time gender pay gap was 4.1% in 2019 and 1.1% in 2020. In 2019, this was below the national average by 3.1 p.p. and in 2020, it was below by 2.9 p.p. Since 2017, the full-time gender pay gap has been narrowing in the favour of women.

In 2019[10], out of all the sectors, Arts, Entertainment and Recreation had the joint 4th lowest median full-time gender pay gap with only Transportation and storage; Accommodation and food services and Administrative and support services being lower.

The median overall gender pay gap was 4.8% in 2019 and the median part-time gender pay gap was -2.8%. For context, for the economy overall, the median overall gender pay gap in 2019 was 14.3%, and the part-time pay gap was -8.6%. The negative part-time gender pay gap can partly be explained by the fact that a higher proportion of part-time jobs held by men than those held by women are done by young people aged 16-24 who generally earn lower wages. Table 10 illustrates the median hourly pay and the gender pay gap within the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector:

 Table 10: Arts, Entertainment and Recreation: Median hourly pay (excluding overtime) (£) : 2015 – 2019

Workplace based 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Overall
Male (All) 9.38 10.33 10.25 9.94 10.70
Female (All) 8.73 9.13 8.95 9.29 10.19
Gender Pay gap 6.9% 11.6% 12.7% 6.5% 4.8%
Full-time
Male (FT) 10.41 11.12 10.99 10.74 11.70
Female (FT) 9.89 9.36 9.59 10.22 11.22
Gender Pay gap 5.0% 15.8% 12.7% 4.8% 4.1%
Part-time
Male (PT) 8.26 8.47 8.69 8.76 9.54
Female (PT) 7.89 9.00 8.49 8.75 9.81
Gender Pay gap 4.5% -6.3% 2.3% 0.1% -2.8%
 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), ONS.Note: For employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

Shaded figures represent a smaller degree of certainty of the estimate with a coefficient of variation (CV) that is between 10% – 20%.

 In the Digital Industries, hourly rates of pay for full-time male workers are 93% higher than those for Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector, and 55% higher for full-time women. It is worth noting that given the smaller size of the Digital Industries sector, there is a lesser degree of certainty to the earnings estimates of the Digital Industries.

The median full-time gender pay gap in the Digital Industries was 16.3% in 2019. This is a larger gap than in Arts, Entertainment and Recreation and for the Scottish economy overall. Only the broad industrial classification sectors of ‘Financial and insurance’ and ‘Profession, scientific and technical’ had a wider full-time gender pay gap in 2019.

4.2 Hours worked

Overall earnings will also depend on the number of hours worked as well as the hourly rate. As revealed in working patterns section above, men are more likely to working full-time in the Creative Industries and a higher proportion of women work part-time. Using the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation as a proxy, a gender comparison for the median number of basic hours that are worked (excluding overtime) for each working pattern is provided. In 2019, full-time male workers average 37.0 hours a week and for females it is 36.1 hours. For part-time male workers it is 16.0 hours and for females it is less at 14.5 hours. Table 11 sets out the median basic weekly hours of the workforce of the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector:

Table 11: Arts, Entertainment and Recreation: Median basic weekly hours (excludes overtime) : 2018-2019

Workplace based 2018 2019
Overall
All Male 35.0 35.0
All Female 21.0 25.0
Full-time
Male FT 37.0 37.0
Female FT 36.6 36.1
Part-time
Male PT 16.0 16.0
Female PT 15.0 14.5
 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), ONSNote: For employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

Shaded figures represent a smaller degree of certainty of the estimate with a coefficient of variation (CV) this is between 10% – 20%.

4.3 Annual earnings

 Using the above hourly rates and hours worked it is possible to compare the differences in annual gross pay between women and men. In 2019, the overall gross annual pay for full-time male workers was £23,300 and for full-time female workers was £20,954, a difference of £2,346. Table 12 sets out the median gross annual pay of the workforce of the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector:

Table 12: Arts, Entertainment and Recreation: Median gross annual pay (£) (nominal): 2015 – 2019

Workplace based 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Overall
Male (All) 18,755 20,088 19,111 18,211 20,053
Female (All)  x 10,864 13,429 13,434 13,544
Full-time
Male (FT) 20,713 21,982 22,429 21,282 23,300
Female (FT) 19,097 17,669 18,630 19,947 20,954
Part-time
Male (PT)  x  x  x  x  x
Female (PT)  x 8,682 7,240  x 7,644
 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), ONS.For employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

Shaded figures represent a smaller degree of certainty of the estimate with a coefficient of variation (CV) that is between 10% – 20%.

‘x’ indicates that the estimates are unreliable or unavailable.

4.4 Summary of Earnings Evidence

To examine the gender pay gap in the creative and arts sector, an alternative definition of the sector was needed, as it was not possible to accurately disaggregate earnings data for the Creative Industries growth sector by gender. Using the Arts, recreation and entertainment sector as a proxy, the full-time median gender pay gap was 4.1% in 2019. This was below the average for Scotland overall and was one of the smallest full-time gender pay gaps of any sector.

Arts, recreation and entertainment did not include Digital Industries within its coverage. In Digital Industries, earnings were notably higher and the full-time median gender pay gap was 16.3% in 2019, which was one of the highest of any sector.

In terms of hours worked, the average full-time and part-time male worker was estimated to work more hours than the average full-time and part-time female worker. As a result of higher rates of pay and more hours worked, men in the sector were more likely to have higher annual earnings than women.

5. Education Relevant to the Creative and Arts Sector

This section examines a snapshot of gender differences in creative and arts related Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) subjects and explore how gender interplays with ethnicity and examines gender differences in graduate earnings. It will provide a similar overview for college subjects, in particular in the areas of Performing arts and Arts and crafts related subjects. Finally, it will highlight if these gender imbalances also exist for those taking part in creative and cultural skill based modern apprenticeships.

Before exploring creative and arts subjects, it is worth stating that overall women are more likely than men to participate in education[11]. Before the pandemic, for 16 – 19 year olds in Scotland, females were 7.4 percentage points more likely than males to be participating in higher education.[12]

5.1 University

University is a pathway that many choose to help develop the skills required to enter into their desired career. To understand gender differences within the context of creative skills, a mapping exercise was performed to identify the subject codes that best match with the 16 sub-sectors that make up the Creative Industries sector. At university level, 18 subject classifications[13] were identified: Architecture, Art, Cinematics and Photography, Computer Games and Animation, Create arts and Design (non-specific), Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, Dance, Design Studies, Drama, Heritage Studies, Journalism, Marketing, Music, Others in Creative Arts and Design, Performing Arts (non-specific), Publishing and Software Engineering.

There is an overview of how these subjects each map with the Creative Industries domains and sub-sectors in Table 13 below. The subjects provide almost full coverage of the Creative Industries and its sub-sectors, with only Fashion and Radio and TV not having a directly related course available. In addition, there will also be many university graduates working in the sector, with degrees in subjects that are not directly related to the domains of the Creative Industries.

For each subject, Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) data from academic year 2019-20 was used to provide a one year snapshot of the number of Scottish domiciled enrolments[14] and full-time qualifiers[15] in each subject by gender.

Table 13: Mapping creative university subjects to the Creative Industries sub-sectors

Creative Industries sub-sectors University subjects
Visual Art Advertising Visual Art Marketing
Architecture Architecture
Visual art Art
Crafts and Antiques Others in Creative Arts and Design
Fashion and textiles Design Studies
Design Create arts and Design (non-specific)
Performance Performing arts Performance Dance

Drama

Performing Arts (non-specific)
Audio-Visual Music Audio-Visual Music
Photography Cinematics and Photography
Film and video
Computer Games Computer Games and Animation
Radio and TV  –
Books and Press Writing and Publishing Books and Press Creative Writing

Journalism
Heritage Libraries and archives Heritage Heritage studies
Digital Industries Software/electronic publishing Digital Industries Publishing and Software Engineering
Cultural Education Cultural Education Cultural Education Cultural studies

All Creative University Subjects by gender

Across all 18 subject classifications, there were a total of 14,960 enrolments with 7,920 (53%) identifying as ‘female’ and 6,905 (46%) as ‘male’. The highest number of enrolments overall were in the subjects of Design Studies (2,915), Software Engineering (1,610) and Music (1,565).

When comparing enrolments for those studying full-time and those studying part-time, there were slightly higher proportions of women studying part-time. 53% of full-time enrolments identified as female and 47% identified as male which was similar to the split for part-time students which was 54% female and 46% male. Table 14 provides the number of Scottish domiciled enrolments in Creative and Arts subjects by gender:

Table 14: Scottish domiciled enrolments to Creative and Arts Subjects at Scottish Universities in 2019/20 – classed by level, mode, and gender

Subject Gender Total by gender Gender split (%) Postgraduate Undergraduate
Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time
Overall Total All 14,960 1,130 480 12,000 1,350
Female 7,920 53.4% 625 255 6,360 680
Male 6,905 46.6% 500 220 5,615 570
Entrants 5,735 790 195 3,875 880
Female 2,960 52.7% 450 105 1,960 450
Male 2,660 47.3% 335 85 1,905 330
Non-entrants 9,220 340 285 8,125 470
Female 4,960 53.9% 175 150 4,400 230
Male 4,245 46.1% 165 130 3,710 240
Source: HESA student data and HECOS, SG analysis. Academic year 2019/20

Note: Numbers rounded to nearest 5. Sums may therefore not equal totals.

All numbers represent enrolment counts. Please note that one student could be enrolled in multiple subjects.

Overall totals include counts of students where “Sex = Other”. Please note that the cohort of non-binary students is very small (subject totals below 5) except for Art and Creative Writing (total of 50, respectively).

Those identifying as female were also more likely than their male counterparts to gain a qualification from their course. Of the 3,900 full-time qualifiers in 2019-20, 56% identified as female and 44% as male. At postgraduate level, this proportion was higher with 58% of postgraduate qualifiers identifying as female.

Gender and Subject level (university)

For two of the subjects, there was a notable overrepresentation of men. These were:

  • Software Engineering with 86% male and 14% female and
  • Computer Games and Animation with 77% male and 23% female.

Interestingly, in terms of those who earned a qualification at postgraduate level in Computer Games and Animation, there are slightly more female (15) than male qualifiers (10) even though at undergraduate level it is predominantly male.

For Music and Architecture, there were slightly more men but the difference was closer – for Architecture (55% / 45%) and Music (53.5% / 46.5%). In Journalism and Cinematics and Photography, there is also a fairly even split however both have slightly more female enrolments – for Journalism it is 52% / 48% in favour of females and for Cinematics and Photography it is 54% / 56%.

For the remaining 12 subjects, there are notably more women than men enrolled and all have a gender split of 65% or more in favour of women. Art was the subject with the highest proportion of female enrolments (75%), followed by Design Studies (71%), Drama (69%), Cultural Studies (65%), Creative Writing (65%) and Marketing (65%). The remainder all had less than 100 enrolments and these smaller numbers may over emphasise the proportions of the gender split, these include: Dance, Create arts and Design (non-specific), Heritage Studies, Others in Creative Arts and Design, Performing Arts (non-specific) and Publishing.

Gender and Ethnicity (University)

Of the 7,920 Scottish domiciled enrolments in 2019-20 identifying as female in creative and arts subjects, 90% also identify their ethnicity as White and 10% identify as minority ethnic.

Two subjects had substantially lower proportions of minority ethnic female enrolments – these were Music (3%) and Drama (4%).

There were five subjects containing more than 100 enrolments with higher than average (for all creative and arts subjects) proportions of minority ethnic women, including:

  • Creative Writing (21%);
  • Architecture (16%);
  • Art (13%);
  • Marketing (11%);
  • Software Engineering (11%).

Both Creative Writing and Art have particularly interesting results when comparing ethnicity for female entrants and non-entrants. In Creative Writing, 30% of the 270 female first-year entrants were minority ethnic compared to only 4% of the 130 non-entrants. Similarly, in Art, 22% of the 455 female first-year entrants were minority ethnic compared to only 5% of the 555 non-entrants.

Earnings after graduating University

Table 15 below shows the median total earnings for graduates from Scottish Institutions five years after graduation split by subject area and gender. It shows that male graduates in 2012/13 were earning £29,900 in 2018/19 compared to £27,400 for female graduates, a difference of £2,500 per year.

In the Creative Arts and Design subject classification, this difference is less stark with male graduates earning £21,500 and female graduates £21,200, a difference of £300. There are similar differences when comparing the lower and upper quartiles earnings for this subject classification.

Table 15: Distributions of total earnings of graduates* by subject area, five year after graduation (lower quartile, median and upper quartile), male and female, Scotland, FY 2018/19

Subject Female Male Both
Earnings 2018-19 Earnings 2018-19 Earnings 2018-19
Lower Quartile (Bottom 25%) Median Upper Quartile (Top 75%) Lower Quartile (Bottom 25%) Median Upper Quartile (Top 75%) Lower Quartile (Bottom 25%) Median Upper Quartile (Top 75%)
Creative Arts and Design 14,600 21,200 27,400 15,000 21,500 27,700 14,600 21,200 27,700
All subjects 20,400 27,400 33,200 22,600 29,900 40,200 21,200 28,500 35,800
Source: LEO data (SG analysis)*UK domiciled First-degree qualifiers from Scottish Institutions in 2012/13.

Hours worked are not taken into account. Earnings rounded to nearest £100.

5.2 College

At college, it is possible to undertake both further education (FE) and higher education (HE) level courses relevant to the creative sector. FE covers credits and qualifications gained at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework[16] (SCQF) levels 1 to 6 and HE covers levels 7 to 12.

To examine gender inequality within these courses, a mapping exercise was performed to identify the subjects that best reflected the 16 sub-sectors that make up the Creative Industries sector. Subject classification is based on the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) FES superclass hierarchy[17] and the two subject superclasses of greatest relevance to the Creative Industries were: ‘Arts and Crafts’ and ‘Performing Arts’. The subjects within each subject superclass are listed in Table 16 below. These provide good coverage of the Visual-Art, Performing Arts and Heritage domains of the growth sector defined Creative Industries. However, they do not directly cover the Digital Industries and Books and Press domains and also fails to cover some aspects of the Audio-Visual domain such as film, computer games, photography and radio / television.

Table 16: Subject key for Arts and Crafts and Performing Arts superclass

Arts and Crafts Performing Arts
Art Studies Performing Arts (general)
Art Techniques/Practical Art Dance
Design (non-industrial) Theatre and Dramatic Arts
Museum/Gallery/Conservation Skills & Studies Theatre Production
Arts and Crafts Leisure/Combined Music Studies
Decorative Crafts Music of Special Kinds/Cultures
Decorative Metal Crafts/Jewellery Music Performance/Playing
Fashion/Textiles/Clothing (craft) Musical Instrument Making/Repair
Fabric Crafts/Soft Furnishing Music Technology/Production
Wood Cane and Furniture Crafts
Glass/Ceramics/Stone Crafts

Gender and Creative College Subject Superclasses

SFC data from academic year 2019-20 was used to count the number of Scottish domiciled enrolments[18] in each respective college subject across HE and FE by gender, as shown in Table 17 below. For Arts and Crafts classified courses, there were 6,635 enrolments, 70% of these identify as female or other and 28% as male. For Performing Arts courses, there were 16,663 enrolments, 58% of these identify as female and 38% as male. For both superclasses, compared to men there are higher proportions of those identifying as female studying part-time than full-time in both HE and FE.

 Table 17: Scottish domiciled enrolments in Creative Arts Subjects at Scottish colleges in 2019/20 – classed by subject superclass, level, mode, and gender

Superclasses Gender Total by superclass Higher Education Further Education
Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time
Arts and Crafts Female 4,652 1,672 201 1,034 1,745
Male 1,844 711 45 539 549
Total by subject* 6,635 2,432 256 1,603 2,344
Performing Arts Female 9,742 3,688 277 1,734 4,043
Male 6,398 2,523 105 1,521 2,249
Total by subject 16,663 6,340 402 3,355 6,566
Source: Infact SFC student data, SG analysis.  Most recent data is from the academic year 2019/20.Note: All numbers represent enrolment counts. Please note that one student could be enrolled in multiple subjects. Other and those where gender is unknown included in total.

 Table 18: Proportion of enrolments by gender in Creative Arts Subjects at Scottish colleges in 2019/20 by subject superclass, level and mode

Superclasses Gender Total by superclass Higher Education Further Education
Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time
Arts and Crafts Female 70.1% 68.8% 78.5% 64.5% 74.4%
Male 27.8% 29.2% 17.6% 33.6% 23.4%
Total by subject 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Performing Arts Female 58.5% 58.2% 68.9% 51.7% 61.6%
Male 38.4% 39.8% 26.1% 45.3% 34.3%
Total by subject 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Source: Infact SFC student data, SG analysis.  Most recent data is from the academic year 2019/20.

Note: Please note that one student could be enrolled in multiple subjects. Other and those where gender is unknown included in total

Gender and Subject Level (College)

Of the subjects that form the Arts and Crafts superclass classification, the highest number of enrolments were within Music Performance/Playing (1,020), Performing Arts (general) (935), Theatre and Dramatic Arts (892) and Dance (809). Within these subjects there is an overrepresentation of women, with only Decorative Crafts having more men enrolled (63%) than women (37%). Fashion/Textiles/Clothing was the subject with the largest overrepresentation of women (87%). Glass/Ceramics/Stone Crafts and Decorative Metal Crafts/Jewellery also had proportions of women above 80%, at 84% and 81% respectively.

Of the subjects that form the Performing Arts superclass classification, the highest number of enrolments were within Art Techniques/Practical Art (1,893), Art Studies (1,868), Fashion/Textiles/Clothing (955) and Design (921). Within Performing Arts there is an overrepresentation of women in:

  • Dance (86% female)
  • Theatre Production (66%)
  • Theatre, Dramatic Arts (58%)
  • Performing Arts (general) (56%)
  • Music of Special Kinds/Cultures (56%).[19]

For the subjects related directly to music, there is an overrepresentation of men including Musical Instrument Making/Repair (81% male), Music Technology/Production (71%), Music Performance/Playing (64%) and Music Studies (60%).

Gender and Ethnicity (College)

Across both HE and FE at college, of the 7,520 Scottish domiciled enrolments in 2019-20 identifying as female in both creative arts super-classifications, 84% also identify their ethnicity as White and 16% identify as minority ethnic. At HE level, there are slightly lower proportions of minority ethnic females, with 88% identifying as white and 12% as minority ethnic. At FE level, it is 82% identifying as white and 18% as minority ethnic.

Across both HE and FE, two subjects had notably lower proportions of minority ethnic female enrolments – these were Fabric Crafts/Soft Furnishing (7%) and Theatre and Dramatic Arts (10%). There were two subjects containing more than 100 female enrolments with higher than average proportions of minority ethnic females including: Performing Arts (general) (33%) and Music technology/Production (27%).

The ethnic split of the subject of the Performing Arts is important when observing the differences at FE and HE level. Of the 175 enrolments in Performing Arts identifying as female and minority ethnic, 170 studied at FE level and only 5 at HE. As a result, for Scottish domiciled females studying the subject at FE level 40% identify as minority ethnic and 60% as white whereas at HE level it is 5% minority ethnic and 95% white. There are only 35 females studying Decorative Arts, however over half identified as minority ethnic (57%) which is well above average however there are only small numbers involved so should be treated with caution. Table 19 sets out the ethnicity of the female Scottish domiciled enrolled in each Creative Arts college subject:

Table 19: Female Scottish domiciled students in Creative Arts Subjects at Scottish colleges in 2019/20 – classed subject and ethnicity

Subject Total by subject White Minority ethnic
Arts & Crafts
Art Studies 1,335 1,140 85% 195 15%
Art Techniques/Practical Art 1,315 1,175 89% 140 11%
Design (non-industrial) 570 475 83% 95 17%
Museum/Gallery/Conservation Skills and Studies 5 5 100% – 0%
Arts and Crafts Leisure/Combined 65 40 62% 25 38%
Decorative Crafts 35 15 43% 20 57%
Decorative Metal Crafts/Jewellery 300 250 83% 50 17%
Fashion/Textiles/Clothing (craft) 870 705 81% 165 19%
Fabric Crafts/Soft Furnishing 145 135 93% 10 7%
Wood Cane and Furniture Crafts 25 20 80% 5 20%
Glass/Ceramics/Stone Crafts 195 170 87% 25 13%
Performing Arts
Performing Arts (general) 525 350 67% 175 33%
Dance 725 645 89% 80 11%
Theatre and Dramatic Arts 545 490 90% 55 10%
Theatre Production 145 125 86% 20 14%
Music Studies 165 140 85% 25 15%
Music of Specific Kinds/Cultures 25 25 100% – 0%
Music Performance/Playing 355 310 87% 45 13%
Musical Instrument Making/Repair 40 30 75% 10 25%
Music Technology / Production 130 95 73% 35 27%
Overall Total 7,520 6,340 84% 1,180 16%
Source: Infact SFC student data, SG analysis.  Most recent data is from the academic year 2019/20.Note: All numbers represent enrolment counts. Please note that one student could be enrolled in multiple subjects. Other and those where gender is unknown included in total. Numbers rounded to nearest 5. Sums may therefore not equal totals.

5.3 Modern Apprenticeships

In Scotland, creative and cultural skills can also be developed through Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) which combine paid employment and training (for those aged over 16) to achieve industry qualifications at the level required for the job. Within the MA frameworks, there are several in place to help build these within the occupational grouping of Creative and Cultural skills. The gender split for these over the last 3 fiscal years is provided in Table 20 below.

Overall, MA starts within the occupational grouping for Creative and Cultural skills is less than 1% of the total number of MA starts over the last 3 fiscal years. The gender split within the pre-pandemic years for this occupational grouping is fairly even and only in 2019-20 are there more males than females. Whereas, across all occupational groupings, MA starts are predominantly male.

Table 20: Modern Apprenticeship starts by gender & Occupational grouping, 2018-19 to 2021-21

  2018-19 2019-20 2020-21*
No. of Starts No. of Starts No. of Starts
Occupational Grouping Female Male Total Female Male Total Female Male Total
Creative & Cultural skills MA starts 69 65 134 79 82 161 34 18 52
% of total 51% 49% 49% 51% 65% 35%
All occupational groupings MA starts 10,489 16,781 27,270 11,226 16,649 27,875 7,415 11,240 18,655
% of total 38% 62% 40% 60% 40% 60%
Source: Skills Development Scotland (SDS)

* Throughout 2020/21, the Covid-19 pandemic fundamentally affected the context in which MAs are delivered. This is particularly true for sectors including tourism, hospitality and retail where, under normal circumstances, take up of apprenticeships would be higher.

5.4 Summary of Pathway evidence

Contrastingly to the composition of the Creative Industries labour market, for creative and arts subjects overall, there are more enrolments identifying as female than male. There are similar splits for these across undergraduate and postgraduate courses and for those studying full-time or part-time. There are also more women leaving with qualifications and this is especially true at postgraduate level. Software engineering and Computer games are in the minority of courses that have a notable overrepresentation of men. Music and Architecture also have more men however the gender gap is closer. Women are more likely to study subjects such as Art, Design, Drama and Marketing. In terms of ethnicity, the subjects with the lowest shares of minority ethnic women were Music and Drama. Earnings for graduates in creative and arts subjects five years after graduation were below the average graduate earnings however the gender gap in earnings was more equitable.

There are similar results for college courses. For creative and arts related subjects at college, there are more women enrolled than men across both Arts and Crafts and Performing Arts classifications at both FE and HE level. Compared to men, there are higher proportions of those identifying as female studying part-time than full-time in both HE and FE. In Performing Arts, music related courses are one of the few more likely to have a higher concentration of men enrolled. There are also higher proportions of ethnic minority women studying creative and arts subjects at FE level than HE level.

There was a relatively low number of creative and cultural skill related modern apprenticeships and for these the gender split was fairly even.

Over the past few years, there generally has been more women than men studying creative related courses at both college and university. This appears inconsistent with the current composition of the creative workforce that is generally more male dominated.

6. Summary of Recent Research

There are a range of studies that have been undertaken into gender inequalities in the arts and creative sector in recent years, including by bodies such as Creative Scotland, Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre, UNESCO, Ofcom and the OECD. Much of the material looks at the UK as a whole rather than Scotland specifically although some do refer to the devolved administrations separately.  This section provides a summary of key messages from a non-exhaustive selection of recent studies, including studies on Scotland, the UK and international comparisons

In general, the studies below suggest that woman remain underrepresented within the Creative Industries and its sub-sectors and are often in lower level positions. Work in the sector is often project-based, freelance and unpredictable, which makes it difficult for women with caring responsibilities to find secure and flexible work within the industry. They also face other barriers such as discrimination, economic hurdles and geographical mobility.

Scotland

For example, a Creative Scotland (2017a)[20] survey on diversity in the arts sector revealed many important characteristics about artists working in the sector including that a large proportion work freelance (41%), a third work part-time, 71% were degree educated and only 40% said that their main job was as an artist or performer, with a portfolio of roles needed for financial viability. Men are more likely than women to have higher earnings, work in senior roles and have an international reach to their work, whereas women were more likely to work part-time and be the primary carer of children.

The survey also asked about barriers to career progression, 44% of women indicated that gender was a barrier compared to only 12% of men. Some also reported specific examples of sexism and discrimination within their workplaces. Women and part-time workers were more likely to cite economic hurdles, such as low pay and the prevalence of unpaid internships, as major barriers for entry and progression in the arts sector. For those with childcare responsibilities, the cost of childcare was often cited as a barrier as well as the difficulty in trying to arrange childcare around the sporadic working patterns of the sector which can involve working long and late days.

However, in the creative and arts sector, the pandemic has created fewer opportunities and key sector stakeholders are concerned about how this will impact workforce diversity.[21]

Creative Scotland (2017b)[22] also produced a review of equality, diversity and inclusion within Scotland’s Screen sector. They discuss evidence showing more equal gender parity in colleges, universities and talent development programmes, however this is not reflected at the professional level – particularly in leadership roles e.g. writers, directors and producers. They also note several barriers to achieving a successful career in the industry, especially for parents and carers. These include economic, social biases and also geographic barriers for those outside the central belt.

UK

The 2020 report from the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (2020a)[23] looked at class, participation and job quality in the UK creative industries. Within the report there is an overview of various pieces of research that discuss inequality within the sector. They find that women, minority ethnic groups, those with a disability, and those with low level skills from working-class backgrounds tend to face the biggest barriers when entering creative occupations. Furthermore, those that are able to enter into the sector from these groups, find it particularly difficult to progress.

Another 2020 report from Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (2020b)[24] provides further insight into the gender distribution in the UK Creative Industries on an occupational basis. The highest male-concentrated occupations include ICT-related occupations such as Programmers and Software Development professionals (89%); but also Craft related occupations such as Furniture makers and craft woodworkers (92%), and Architects (75%). There is a higher concentration of women in occupations such as Dancers and choreographers (87%); Archivists and curators (67%); Librarians (66%); Authors and translators (63%) and Marketing professionals (60%).

A recent report (2020)[25] collated research on gender inequality in UK theatre from a number of stakeholders from the sector. It points to evidence that women are vastly under-represented in the theatre industry with the majority of directors, technical staff, Olivier award winners[26] and critics being men. The report suggested that almost 80% of women with parenting or caring responsibilities are forced to turn down work.  It also made reference to the shortage of female leadership in theatre, film and TV. Ofcom’s report (2019)[27] of diversity in UK TV industry likewise highlighted the lower share of women in senior management roles.

The national portfolio of Arts Council England’s helps fund arts organisations, museums and libraries across England. Half of the workforce covered by this portfolio in 2019/20 were women and they also accounted for 61% of managers and 57% of specialist staff[28]. Across the most senior strategic decisions makers in the portfolio, women make up 66% of CEOs, 42% of artistic directors and 42% of chairs.

International

The OECD produced a report (2017)[29] exploring the root causes of gender equality in the digital economy across the world. In the digital industry, women are more likely to encounter barriers such as affordability, discrimination and are less likely to get access to the necessary education and technical skills.

A study focused specifically on cultural employment conducted by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2017)[30] found that in 2017 of 72 countries studied, on average, 47% of workers in cultural and Creative Industries are women. They also share the message that this work is often freelance, part-time, project-based, or insecure; which can have a major impact on creating manageable working conditions for women working in the creative sector.

Recent research (Eikhof, 2020)[31] discusses some of the drivers of inequality in the cultural workforce and the impact that the pandemic is likely to have on these. One of the main drivers mentioned is the current undiversified composition of decision makers in the recruitment system who may entrench further bias when deciding who to hire or promote. Other drivers include discriminatory working cultures and the exclusionary practices of the typical project-based business model which often expect antisocial hours, geographical mobility and unpaid work. These are likely to disproportionally impact those with: caring responsibilities, lower incomes and less influential networks. The pandemic is likely to exacerbate these drivers of inequality that lie within the cultural economy business model.

7. Conclusion

The Creative Industries covers a diverse range of activities from architecture to advertising and from music to software design. Self-employment and freelance work is common within the industry and the workforce is highly educated and skilled.

Within the Creative Industries workforce and its sub-sectors, there are clear differences between men and women. Men account for almost two-thirds of the workforce and women are far more likely to be working part-time. In the Digital Industries, the gender imbalance of the workforce is even greater with almost eight out of 10 jobs are being done by men. Despite sharing similar qualifications, men are more likely to be in higher occupation levels within the sector and are also more likely to be self-employed.

These differences appear to have an impact on earnings. In the Arts, recreation and entertainment sector the average male worker will earn more than the average female and this gap was even greater in the Digital sector.

An exploration of the creative subjects and apprenticeships was also provided to uncover if gender differences first develop in these skill pathways. Contrastingly to the composition of the Creative Industries labour market, creative and arts subjects tended to have more enrolments identifying as female than male. Software engineering, Computer games and animation, Music and Architecture are in the minority of courses that have an overrepresentation of male enrolments. Women are more to study subjects such as Art, Design, Drama and Marketing. There are similar results for college courses with music related courses more likely to have a higher concentration of men. There was a relatively low number of creative and cultural skill related modern apprenticeships and for these the gender split was fairly even.

A review of the existing literature in this area was provided to give further insight into the drivers of gender inequality within the sector. The research highlighted that women remain underrepresented within the Creative Industries and it’s sub-sectors and are often in lower level positions. The work is often freelance and irregular, which makes it difficult for women with caring responsibilities to find secure and flexible work within the industry. Women also face difficulties with discrimination, economic barriers and geographical mobility.

8.  Annex

This section will provide further details on the activities that define the Creative Industries within the Scottish Government growth sector database. [32] The sub-sectors that make up the Creative Industries are each comprised of a set of individual Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes which are listed below:

Cultural
Domains		 Scottish Creative & Cultural Industries SIC 2007
Visual Art 1. Advertising SIC 73.11: Advertising agencies
SIC 73.12: Media representation
2. Architecture SIC 71.11: Architectural activities
3. Visual art SIC 90.03: Artistic creation (70%)
SIC 47.78/1: Retail sale in commercial art galleries
4. Crafts and Antiques SIC 31.09: Manufacture of other furniture
SIC 16.29: Manufacture of other wood products (30%)
SIC 32.12 Manufacture of jewellery and related products
SIC 32.13: Manufacture of imitation jewellery and related articles
SIC 23.41 Manufacture of ceramic household and ornamental articles (35%)
SIC 23.49 Manufacture of other ceramic products (35%)
SIC 23.13 Manufacture of hollow glass (15%)
SIC 23.19 Manufacture of other glass (15%)
SIC 47.79/1: Retail sale of antiques and antique books
SIC 95.24: Repair of furniture and home furnishings
5. Fashion and textiles SIC 13: Manufacture of textiles (25%)
SIC 14: Manufacture of wearing apparel (20%)
SIC 15: Manufacture of leather and related products (20%)
SIC 74.1: Specialised design activities (25%)
6. Design SIC 71.12/1: Engineering design activities for industrial process and production
SIC 74.1: Specialised design activities (75%)
Performance 7. Performing arts SIC 90.01: Performing arts
SIC 90.02: Support activities to performing arts
SIC 90.04: Operation of arts facilities
SIC 78.10/1: Motion picture, television and other theatrical casting
Audio-Visual 8. Music SIC 59.2: Sound recording and music publishing activities
SIC 18.20/1: Reproduction of sound recording
SIC 32.2: Manufacture of musical instruments
9. Photography SIC 74.20/1: Portrait photographic activities
SIC 74.20/2: Other specialist photography (not including portrait photography)
SIC 74.20/9: Other photographic activities (not including portrait and other specialist photography and film processing) n.e.c.
10. Film and video SIC 18.20/2: Reproduction of video recording
SIC 59.11/1: Motion picture production activities
SIC 59.11/2: Video production activities
SIC 59.12: Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities (25%)
SIC 59.13/1: Motion picture distribution activities
SIC 59.13/2: Video distribution activities
SIC 59.14: Motion picture projection activities
11. Computer Games SIC 58.21: Publishing of computer games
SIC 62.01/1: Ready-made interactive leisure and entertainment software development
12. Radio and TV SIC 59.11/3: Television programme production activities
SIC 59.13/3: Television programme distribution activities
SIC 59.12: Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities (75%)
SIC 60.1: Radio broadcasting
SIC 60.2: Television programming and broadcasting activities
Books and Press 13. Writing and Publishing SIC 90.03: Artistic creation (30%)
SIC 58.11: Book publishing
SIC 58.13: Publishing of newspapers
SIC 58.14: Publishing of journals and periodicals
SIC 58.19: Other publishing activities
SIC 18.11: Printing of newspapers
SIC 18.129: Other printing (not labels)
SIC 18.13: Pre press and media services
SIC 63.91: News agency activities
Heritage 14. Libraries and archives SIC 91.01: Libraries and archive activities
Digital Industries 15. Software/electronic publishing SIC 58.29 Other software publishing
SIC 62.01/2: Business and domestic software development
SIC 62.02: Computer consultancy activities
Cultural Education 16. Cultural education SIC 85.52: Cultural Education

[1] Scottish Household Survey (2019) Scottish household survey 2019: culture and heritage – report, Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/2019-scottish-household-survey-culture-heritage-report/pages/1/

[2] For instance, a summary of different and overlapping definitions of creative industries and cultural activities used by DCMS is provided at:  DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates Methodology – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[3] Scottish Government, Growth Sector database – Creative Industries: Growth sector statistics – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

[5] Real terms calculated based on 2019 prices using HMT GDP Deflators, Quarterly accounts, June 21, Available at: GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP June 2021 (Quarterly National Accounts) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[6] Businesses operating below the VAT threshold.

[7] Please note that these proportions should not be applied to the job counts from BRES as these are two separate sources measuring slightly different metrics. For further details on the differences between the two sources, see the following guidance note.

[8] Scottish Government analysis, Annual Population Survey (2020), Scotland’s Labour Market: People Places and Regions – background tables – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

[9] Scottish Government analysis, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, (2020). Available at: Annual survey of hours and earnings: 2020 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

[10] The 2020 figures may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and furlough support schemes therefore, to make fair comparisons between sectors, 2019 figures are preferred.

[11] Education includes school, further education (colleges) and higher education (colleges and universities).

[12] SDS (2020), Annual participation Measure, 2020 Annual Participation Measure 25th August 2020) (skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk)

[13] Subject classification based on the HECOS hierarchy (CAH03). More information on HECOS is available from the HESA website: The Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) | HESA

[14] Please note that one student could be enrolled in multiple subjects.

[15] Students who earn a qualification at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

[16] For further details see: Interactive Framework | Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (scqf.org.uk)

[17] Subject classification based on the FES superclass hierarchy. More information is available from the SFC guidance 2020-21 (code list F): FES 1 Guidance notes 2020-21 (sfc.ac.uk)

[18] Please note that one student could be enrolled in multiple subject.

[19] It should be noted that there are only a small number of enrolments (45) in Music of Special Kinds/Cultures which may over emphasis the scale of the proportions.

[20] Creative Scotland (2017a) ‘Understanding Diversity in the Arts Survey Summary Report’, Available at: Arts-and-Diversity-Survey-Summary.pdf (creativescotland.com)

[21] SDS (2021) ‘Sectoral Skills Assessment: Creative Industries’, Available at: PowerPoint Presentation (skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk)

[22] Creative Scotland (2017b) ‘A Review of Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion in Scotland’s Screen Sector’, Available at: Equality-Matters-Screen-EDI-Review-FINAL.pdf (creativescotland.com)

[23] Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (2020a) ‘Getting in and getting on: Class, participation and job quality in the UK Creative Industries’, Available at: Getting in and getting on: Class, participation and job quality in the UK creative industries (pec.ac.uk)

[24] Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (2020b) ‘Workplace perspectives: skill needs, mismatches and development in the Creative Industries’, Available at: The-PEC-and-Work-Advance-Creative-Skills-Monitor.pdf

[25] Sphinx Theatre et al. (2020) Women in Theatre Forum Report, Available at: Women-in-Theatre-Forum-Report-2020.pdf (universitywomeninthearts.com)

[26] Olivier Awards recognise excellence in professional theatre.

[27] Ofcom (2019) ‘Diversity and equal opportunities in television’, Available at: Diversity and equal opportunities in television (ofcom.org.uk)

[28] Arts Council England (2020) ‘Equality, Diversity and the Creative Case’, Available at: Equality_Diversity_and_the_Creative_Case_A_Data_Report__201920.pdf (artscouncil.org.uk)

[29] OECD (2018) ‘Bridging the digital gender divide’, Available at: bridging-the-digital-gender-divide.pdf (oecd.org)

[30] UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2017), “Precarious situation for women working in the field of culture”, available at: 375706eng.pdf (unesco.org)

[31] Eikhof, Doris Ruth (2020) ‘COVID-19, inclusion and workforce diversity in the cultural economy: what now, what next?’, Cultural Trends, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2020.1802202

[32] Scottish Government, Growth Sector database – Creative Industries: Growth sector statistics – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)