Changing Landscapes:

Women’s Employment in the Cultural Sector in the UK

UK Report for ‘Women in Arts and Media Professions: EuropeanComparisons’, ERICArts, Bonn, funded by the European

Commission Directorate General V and the Arts Council ofEngland

Gillian Swanson, Trevor Jones and Andy Feisti

i Research assistance was conducted by Jo Haynes and Rhianon Bayliss.

© Copyright the authors

September 1999

CONTENTS

Part One: Summary Analysis and Recommendations..….Gillian Swanson

Part Two: Statistical Overview and Recommendatins…Trevor Jones and Andy Feist

Appendix One: Manchester Music Industry Case Study…Katie Milestone and Nicky Richards

Part One: Summary Analysis and Recommendations

Gillian Swanson

1.0 CULTURE AND THE CULTURAL INDUSTRIES: POLICY DIRECTIONSAND POLICY GAPS

1.1 ARTS AND MEDIA PROFESSIONS WITHIN THE CULTURALINDUSTRIES

The arts and media sectors have conventionally beenseparated as distinct components in the domain of culture.The arts and the media have different institutionalhistories and arrangements, are represented and governed bydifferent organisations, and have separate fundingarrangements, revenue streams, and distribution networks.Their labour forces have divergent training paths andworking arrangements between the two sectors differsubstantially. However, recent moves towards developingnewly comprehensive policy frameworks have enabled us toaddress arts and media professions in a common frame: thecultural industries. This strategy allows us to include therange of fine arts and craftsalongside the applied arts ofthe newer cultural industries such as advertising, designand fashion, as well as those sectors which wouldtraditionally be perceived as ‘industries’, such as music,media and publishing. With the move to new informationtechnologies this makes especially good sense. For thereare few areas of the arts and media professions which arenot being in some way adapted to digital technologies - interms of required skills sets, working conditions, and themeans of production and dissemination - and influenced bytheir intersection with the rapidly emerging new mediaindustries.

In the context of a concentration on the range of culturalindustries, then, it makes little sense to separate off the

traditional, or ‘elite’ arts, from other areas of thecultural sector. With changes in institutionalarrangements, particularly the decline of state funding andthe expansion of broadcasting delivery, there is a lessdistinct boundary between the subsidised and commercialsectors. Importantly, this has led to a greater focus onthe ‘commercial’ operations of the traditional ‘fine’ arts,allowing cultural industry development support for thoseparts of the value chain that have not hitherto been wellprovided for by arts funding bodies, such as marketing.Equally, bringing the cultural industries together withinone policy remit allows one of the most importantobservations in ‘recasting’ the arts and media sectorswithin a collective framework: that there is a significantoverlap in skills and personnel between those working in thepublicly funded and commercial sectors, and between thetraditional and applied arts and the commercially orientedarts and media industries. Our view of workingarrangements, employment patterns, training and skillsprovision, and industry needs, must be informed by a newunderstanding of the permeability between sectors whichhave, until now, been addressed and treated as differententities within government policy frameworks.

1.2 NEW DIRECTIONS IN CULTURAL POLICY

Until recently, it has been national policies which haveuntil recently attended to the arts and the media in the UK,prioritising subsidy and regulation respectively. However,many forms of innovation in the cultural sector - generatingvigorous centres for fashion and design in metropolitancities, for example - have been led by local governments,which have responded to the economic and social benefits ofa strong profile of cultural activity and resources. Butwithout national co-ordination and a long-term vision and

strategy, the benefits of the knowledge gained by such‘testbeds’ will not be fully realised. A new framework thatlinks social benefits, wealth generation and the distinctive‘signature’ of cultural identity at local, regional andnational level is required. As Pratt argues, it is theresolution of these dimensions, which have so frequentlyfeatured as tensions in cultural policy development, thatcan be brought about by the formulation of an industrialstrategy for culture (Pratt, 1997: 11).

A new impetus has been given to this at the European level,as the cultural sector’s current record of growth makes itclear that it should be addressed as a significant industrysector and source of employment - above 34% between 1981 and1991 for all persons with a cultural job and 14% foremployment in the cultural sector, in the UK (EuropeanCommission, 1998). The European Commission Working PaperCulture, the Cultural Industries and Employment (1998) makes it clearthat in the light of the changing profile of work and sociallife the cultural sector offers significant opportunitiesfor gaining economic competitiveness and ensuring socialinclusiveness and a strong sense of identity and affiliationin the national economies of the European Union. It arguesthat to realise these opportunities, we need to attend tothe precise industrial dynamics of each component of thecultural sector.

This paper argues for a framework for systematic employment-related government intervention. It brings the culturalsector out of its ‘soft’ ghetto and places it at the heartof government industry and employment policy, looking at thepotential for the sector to create not only new jobs but torespond strategically to new kinds of working patterns andcareer lifecycles.

At national level, the UK government has signalled and putinto place a new framework for regionalising new initiativesin cultural development, giving strategic leadership throughrepresentation of the national Department of Culture, Mediaand Sport (DCMS) in all Government Regional Offices. Theprospect of local governments, regional offices and the DCMSworking towards a more comprehensive strategy for culturaldevelopment suggests the energy of local initiatives maylose its ad hoc and patchy nature and instead local bestpractice may be used to build towards a co-ordinatedindustry policy with national momentum. This new connectionbetween national government and local authorities is seen asa key element in creating local level participation (DCMS1998a).

The UK Government-commissioned Creative Industries Mapping Documentwas published in 1998 as a significant component of theDCMS’ focus on the industries making up the cultural sector(DCMS 1998b). It records relative sizes of revenue,employment and exports, as well as analysing the potentialfor growth and indentifying issues which need to beaddressed for growth to be effectively realised. Thedocument is certainly not inclusive or closely focussed inits analysis, but it provides a significant step forward indeveloping an embracing approach, identifying common issuesfor a range of industries which comprise the cultural sector- with significant implications for those professionals whowork within and across them. In this it provides areference point for national strategic leadership inproviding platforms for cultural industry development in thefuture.

1.3 PASSING TRAINS - ‘EQUITY’, ‘CULTURAL DIVERSITY’ AND‘INCLUSIVENESS’: PROBLEMS FOR MAINSTREAMING

The policy context described above bodes well for addressingthe profile and needs of the cultural industries, forbreaking down old polarisations which have held constituentparts of the sector apart, for helping the culturalindustries to realise their potential for growth, and forensuring that professionals working in the sector are givenappropriate attention in their need for relevant training,viable employment and sustainable and adaptive career paths.However, in what ways are equal opportunities’ frameworksembodied in new cultural policy frameworks, and how docurrent equity policies respond to the newly identifiedeconomic and social importance of the cultural sector?

As noted above, the European Commission paper Culture, theCultural Industries and Employment aligns cultural industry policywith national industry and employment objectives .Significantly, however, while three of its highlighted‘pillars’ are concerned with mainstream employment andindustry mechanisms - entrepreneurship, improvingemployability and encouraging adaptability of businesses andemployees - the fourth not only argues for the strengtheningof equal opportunity policies but also highlights women asits central component, as it aims to increase the employmentrates of women and calls for a ‘mainstreaming’ approach anda new policy for reconciling work and family life.

Within the UK context, however, it is less easy to see aconcerted interest in equity issues, or in addressing womenwithin the cultural sector at national level. Indicatively,while the Creative Industries Mapping Document identifies no issuerelating to the contribution of women as part of itsstrategy for working for growth or quality enhancement, andhas only the most gestural observations concerning women’semployment and patterns, the only social group addressed inthe DCMS 1998 Annual Report is that of young people. Researchconducted by the Arts Council in 1993, specifically focussed

on strategies to promote women’s involvement in the artssector has not been followed up, or replicated by otherbodies with national remit. While the ACE’s strategicpriority of ‘diversity and inclusion’ aims to include women,it now no longer has ‘women in arts’ as a designated area ofresponsibility and the most recent published documentsissued under the rubric of ‘cultural diversity’ arespecifically addressed towards black and asian arts. In thelight of a changing policy and industry developmentlandscape, it seems that a revisiting of this question is inorder, assessing the impact of previous models andconsidering those new frameworks which should be used forapproaching issues of gender.

With an apparent relaxing of a concern with women’scontribution to the cultural sector or their access toemployment and professional development pathways, a questionis raised concerning whether mainstreaming works equallyeffectively across the whole policy domain. Following thepresent Government’s launch of its Mainstreaming Initiativein May 1998, mainstreaming has been endorsed in the UK as anapproach to equity which ‘builds equality into policymaking’ by asking policy makers at all levels of governmentto identify the potential impact of their policy on womenand to ensure that policy decisions are informed by theinterests and views of women through consultative processes(Ruddock, 1998: 8-9). Of course, there are good reasons foravoiding the ‘ghettoising’ of ‘women’s policies’, which canact to reinforce those defecits they aim to combat and whichcan prevent women from being addressed within the mainstreamof policy formation, as they become targets of a narrowrange of measures, such as the provision of childcare.Also, they leave existing benchmarks of attainment andsuccess in place and fail to examine whether the policyprocess itself acts to marginalise women’s patterns andneeds (Swanson and Wise, 1998: 31-8). Some research

indicates that young women in particular avoid beingtargetted by equity programs as they find equalopportunities policies patronising and irrelevant (Richardsand Milestone, Appendix 1). Can mainstreaming help tocreate a new form of cultural policy which integrates theconcerns of women?

Certainly the critical areas identified by the cross-cuttinginterdepartmental brief of the Women’s Unit - which ischarged as acting as the mainstreaming ‘watchdog’ -interface with the cultural industries. While women’straining patterns and education levels and participation,especially in the area of new technologies, are of concernin tackling 'Education', the clear benefits of drawing uponthe resources women offer for developing buouyant andprosperous industries, are of concern in developing a strongand stable 'Economy'. A longstanding concern with the needfor greater participation in decision-making and managerialand production positions in the media is central to thequestion of how to assess and improve the contribution ofwomen to decision-making processes outlined in 'Working forWomen'. Clearly, also, the concern with young women’semployment options could create a focus on enhancingtraining and employment pathways into those areas of thecultural industries which particularly correspond to youngwomen’s cultures, such as fashion.

But in a world of limited resources the current prioritiesfor the Unit are likely to be the ‘harder’ issues of womenand violence, poverty, health, etc (see ‘summary ofgovernment measures to aid women’ www.womens-unit.gov.uk).The improvement of women’s involvement in public life,including their representation in the media, may be anobjective, but there has yet to be any measure identifiedthat would bring this to bear on current cultural policy orfunding commitments. The danger of resource-bound

realpolitik hierarchies in a mainstreaming policy context isthat in less noteworthy areas, the concern with women issimply allowed to drop away. Mainstreaming here continuesto promote an approach resting on crisis management ratherthan the more positive all-round enabling and facilitativerole which mainstreaming is designed to achieve. The issuesrelating to women arts and media professionals, in particular,may not be seen as a key concern in comparison to unemployedteenagers, women who are the subject of violence, womendeprived of their pension rights by divorce. Yet if morewomen are needed in decision-making roles and publicappointments, strategies for greater involvement in theseareas in the cultural sector should not confined to theirrepresentation on Regional Arts Boards or in public servicebroadcasting. These should be integrated in the holisticway that cultural policy itself is now being defined.

In any case, mainstreaming suggests we should look to thesectoral bodies responsible for progressing the culturalindustries for their approach to enhancing women’sparticipation. Inclusiveness is certainly on the UKcultural policy agenda: the four themes of the DCMS NewCultural Framework published in July 1998 include ‘thepromotion of access for the many not just the few’, the‘nurturing of educational opportunity’ and the ‘fostering ofthe creative industries’. These are clearly imaginative andproductive ways of framing government policy. But we needto examine how women are addressed specifically by thosegeneralised categories of access and opportunity, andmeasures for industry support.

The Policy Action Team 10’s report to the Social ExclusionUnit - which is focused on maximising the impact of spendingand policies on arts sport and leisure on poorneighbourhoods – states that ‘diversity should be recognisedas a profound strength, and a rich source of ideas and

practice which the whole cultural sector may draw upon’(1999: 41). However, it is ‘ethnic minority groups anddisabled people’ who are identified as particularlyvulnerable to social exclusion irrespective of geographiclocation, while women are only addressed as the targets ofsocial exclusion policy in the area of sport (Policy ActionTeam 10, 1999: 65). Women are clearly intended to bebeneficiaries of community arts programmes aimed at ‘people’from poor neighbourhoods but this kind of inclusive strategydoes not ensure that the programmes are directly aimed attheir particular needs. With a corresponding lack ofattention given to the precise patterns of theirparticipation in professionalised arts and media activities,this suggests that women fall out of sight of the policylens across the spectrum of community arts and creativeindustries.

The ‘inclusion’ of women in the arts being assumed, thereappears to be little motivation to consider how theyparticipate, which groups of women participate, at whatlevels, and with what outcomes and/or benefits to them, thecultural industries or the community as a whole. Yetironically the industrial strategy adopted by the DCMSsuggests that this sector will not be a specific focus forgeneral programs concerning women’s employment or trainingopportunities either.

This oversight is even evident in the advisory document AllOur Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education, in which the NationalAdvisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education(NACCCE) reports to the Secretary of State for Education andEmployment and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media andSport (NACCCE, 1999). The statement provides a dynamic andforward-looking integration of the principles of a creativeeducation (‘forms of education that develop young people’scapacities for original ideas and action’) and a cultural

education (‘forms of education that enable them to engagepositively with the growing complexity and diversity ofsocial values and ways of life’) into the core curriculum.Such a framework carries significant and long termimplications for a partnership between the DfEE and the DCMSwhich could reinvent educational principles and respond tonew working and new cultural realities. Yet there is nospecific attention given to the way such programs may beoriented to improving the performance of girls (who, as theWomen’s Unit policy document indicates, outperform boysuntil a drop-off in their teens), or of the particularlycompelling impact that social difference may have upongirls, or of the importance of equipping them forparticipation in those industries which are so obviouslypresently inhospitable to their creative involvement, suchas music.

A relationship needs to be articulated between equity,diversity and social exclusion policies, in ways that informthose new forms of attention being given to creativeindustries, community cultural planning, and employment andeducation platforms. Only then will women’s contribution tothe cultural life of the UK be fully realised, theirprofessional involvements be fully rewarded, and theiraffiliation with local, regional and national forms ofidentity be secured.

2.0 Profiling the arts and cultural industries

2.1 A PROBLEM OF CLASSIFICATION

One of the difficulties in profiling the arts and culturalindustries is the lack of consensus on what they include.In particular, of course, there has been some tensionbetween the concept of the arts as implying an individual

basis to creative work and an 'industry' framework whichincludes a value chain from conception to consumption. Anassociated difficulty exists in elaborating a unifiedframework for addressing 'culture', as it includesactivities which take place on an individual, private basisand those which take place on a public, collective basis,while the cultural industries also incorporates bothpublicly funded and commercial enterprises. Additionally,the definition of the sector varies within each country(Casey, 1999: 41)

The UK Government has identified 'creative industries' as anembracing term defined as 'those activities which have theirorigin in individual creativity, skill and talent and whichhave a potential for wealth and job creation through thegeneration and exploitation of intellectual property' (DCMS1998b: 3). This template refers to a sector includingadvertising, architecture, the art and antiques market,crafts, design, designer fashion, film, television andradio, music, software, publishing and the performing arts.While the creative industries in the UK employ more than 1.4million people, this includes many working in non-creativeoccupations, and there are additionally around 450,000creative people employed in other industries. In all, thetotal creative workforce – in and out of the creativeindustries - is estimated to be around 1.4 million which is5% of the total employed workforce (DCMS, 1998b: 8). Thiswould clearly increase if those working as freelance/self-employed or on short term contracts were also counted(Casey, 1999: 42). Since the creative industries generate£60bn in revenues, it has become an important sector in theUK's employment and industry profile, but the CreativeIndustries Task Force notes that a co-ordinated approach topromote their development still has to be formulated (DCMS1998b: 3).

The Standard Classifications of arts and culturaloccupations and industries used by those statistical sourcesconsulted for this report points to a different frameworkfor our examination of the 'arts and cultural industries',some of which include those occupations which might not betruly considered to fall within the 'arts and mediaprofessions' such as libraries, while statistics regardingmultimedia activities are not yet included in the LabourForce Survey and were not surveyed in the 1991 Census (Jonesand Feist, 1999: 3-6). This again points to further workthat needs to be done in working towards a unified sectoraldefinition.

The more inclusive framework adopted by this reportrecognises the implications of the increasing importance ofthe 'content industries' in the economy, and the need toincorporate those occupations which will be central indeveloping uses of new media (eg as librarians move towardsthe expanded range of activities known as 'knowledgemanagement', see TFPL Ltd, 1999) and those industries whichwill be at the forefront of content development (egmultimedia). Nevertheless there will always be some areasin which arts and cultural occupations will not beidentifiable as part of a discrete cultural industry sector,for example those which are integrated within the educationsector. The adoption of new media technologies within otherindustries, across such diverse contexts as manufacturing,law, tourism etc, will exacerbate the lack of match betweenarts and cultural occupations and the arts and culturalindustries.

One interesting aspect of the permeability of the culturalsector, however, is the possibility of developing morediverse and adaptive professional career packages, and ofcultural workers taking pathways into different industries:the involvement of artists in the education sector is well-

established, but a related pathway is emerging as mid-careereducationalists with creative skills move into the new mediaindustries (Swanson and Wise, 1999:63).

As a result, as several commentators have pointed out, thecultural sector is not only a source of employment andskills, but a site for skills training for those who may goon to work in other industries and occupations (EuropeanCommission, 1998: 14; Casey, 1999: 40; Mitchell, 1999: 11).Apart from those more specialised skills relating toparticular forms of practice, it is particularly worthnoting the multiskilling, mobility and flexibility ofworking practices in a less formalised professional profileand those entrepreneurial skills developed in the managementof freelance/self-employed work in the cultural sector(Mitchell, 1999: 14).

2.2 A PROBLEM OF DATA: REPORTING AND MONITORING

While problems arise from a lack of consensus concerning thedefinition of the arts and cultural sector there are alsodifficulties arising from the frameworks for statisticalclassification and methods of collating of statistical datawhich have implications for properly appraising the arts andcultural sector. In the different sections of the CreativeIndustries Task Force Cultural Industries Mapping Document, thereporting of income, employment, revenue and size differs,pointing to a lack of consistent reporting protocols whichhampers co-ordinated sectoral analysis. Similarly,statistical classifications need to be more carefullytailored to the flow of labour across private and publiclyfunded enterprises and activities, and across employment andself-employed freelance categories.

Whether a cause or a symptom of the absence of women as atarget group in cultural plicy formation at national level,

there is a chronic and pervasive lack of reporting ofgendered employment statistics in all areas except thebroadcast media industries. The patchiness of theappearance of gender in the profile of industries covered bythe Creative Industries Mapping Document is one sign of the lack ofwidespread or consistent reporting and monitoring protocols,making it impossible to compare women’s employment andcareer progression between industries and identify clearareas for equity policy to address. While the lack of anygender breakdown of staff in libraries at a national levelis only one example of the data and reporting gap relatingto women in the cultural professions, it is all the moresurprising not only because about three quarters oflibrarians are women, but also because this gap existsdespite a vigorous and exciting funded programme of researchinto new professional profiles and competencies, models ofmanagement and industry futures by national bodies such asthe Library and Information Commission and the LibraryAssociation, and the existence of a specialist nationalLibrary and Information Statistical Unit based atLoughborough University. This suggests that the value ofsuch statistical profiling and research into genderedemployment patterns has yet to be realised as part ofindustry profiling and planning processes.

Appropriate protocols regarding the reporting of employmentpatterns are crucial to effective policy mechanisms. Whilesome have attributed this lack to the mix of private andpublic enterprises within the arts and cultural industries,and a widespread pattern of freelance and self-employment,the success of the broadcasting sector in devising reportingmechanisms and the activities of appropriate agencies inmonitoring gender patterns (such as the BFI TelevisionIndustry tracking study, British Film Institute, 1999), andthe identification of recommendations targetting theindependent sector (Baehr, 1996) suggests this is a matter

of political will and assisting public agencies andmembership bodies to take the initiative - one which couldbe aligned with reporting other features concerning thecurrent framework of cultural diversity and socialinclusion.

Equally, the classifications for data from existingstatistical sources such as the Census, LFS, NES and LESshould be tailored to represent the particular featuresconcerning women's patterns of employment, as well as thosepractices pertaining to the arts and cultural industries.These features will be discussed in more detail below.

3.0 Industry and employment: changing patterns and policyopportunities

3.1 ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL FACTORS AS CRITICAL COMPONENTSOF EQUITY PLATFORMS

While equity platforms addressing women are oriented bysocial and cultural needs for inclusiveness, they are alsodriven by economic and industrial factors. Women comprisean important component of those resources which may bemarshalled to respond to global technological and industrialchanges, and as a growing proportion of the labour forcewill be critical in helping to adapt to changes in thepattern of work.

This dual orientation fits well with the UK government’scurrent education and employment strategy Living and WorkingTogether for the Future: A Strategic Framework to 2002 (DfEE, 1998: 4-5).In line with other current policy statements women do notfeature as a specified target group, except as one dimensionof the broadbased ‘inclusion and equality of opportunitiespolicies’ aimed at ‘helping people without a job into work’,

which identifies ‘fairplay for women’. However, the overallframing of the DfEE’s Departmental aim, ‘to give everyonethe chance, through education, training and work, to realisetheir full potential, and thus build an inclusive and fairsociety and a competitive economy’ offers opportunities forreinflecting equity policies so that they may address thesituation of women working throughout the arts and culturalindustries in more nuanced and relevant ways (DfEE, 1998:5).

The key link is to consider women as a resource in gaining greatercompetitiveness, as the more effective use of their input,skills and expertise can help to create more efficientindustries. Economic and industrial factors offer a criticaldimension to the framing of equity policy, alongside women’ssocial rights to equal treatment in the workplace and to developsuccessful and well-rewarded careers, and the cultural dimensionof creating inclusiveness and diversity.

What are the patterns of women working in the arts andcultural industries and how do they reflect wider changes inemployment and industry profiles? How do these featurespoint to a response that recognises both the social/culturaland economic/industrial factors involved in working toeliminate patterns of inequality in their participation?While a more detailed overview of working patterns isoffered by the statistical component of this report, thispaper will identify key elements in women's existingpatterns of work, occupation of senior roles, skillsformation and career development, alongside changes in theindustry practice or profile which present them withchallenges or opportunities. The platforms required forprogression in each area will be considered, as well as theneed for a policy response or further research.

In general, while there will be different emphases fordifferent sectors and job types, the policy measures andresearch needs identified to address women’s careers need tobe formulated in terms of:

(i) entry into and the development of pathways between,professional employment contexts in the arts andcultural sector;

(ii) career progression and the ability to ascend careerhierarchies;

(iii) sustainability of careers, considering the ageprofile of employment types and women returningfollowing childbirth or a break in career.

3.2 WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT: CHANGES IN LABOUR FORCEPARTICIPATION

As the statistical paper in this report shows, women aregrowing as a component of the labour force generally, andthe proportion of women in professional jobs will continueto grow. The UK does not have the best employment record todate:

In the UK, where mothers of young children are morelikely to work part-time, and men work the longestaverage hours in the European Union, the result isa fathering defecit at home and an equalopportunities defecit in the workplace (Hewitt,1995: 46).

However, we are dealing with a changing work environment.Growth will take place in ‘traditionally’ female jobs(including non-manual occupations, the service sector and inpart-time work) and there will be a particular increase inlabour force participation amongst women with children

(Jones and Feist, 1999: 37). These trends point to anincreasing feminisation of employment in those sectors whichare experiencing growth, which includes the arts andcultural industries sector. They also point to the need tocreate more family-friendly work environments and workingpatterns which allow greater balance between work and familyresponsibilities:

At their best, employers who really understand thatpeople are their chief competitive asset have begunto make the changes that will not only retainskilled and valued women employees after they havechildren, but will enable individual men and womento achieve the balance they increasingly seek intheir lives (Hewitt, 1995: 46).

This provides a compelling reason to ensure that there is

(i) adequate knowledge about the patterns of womenworking in the sector, through targettedsectoral and inter-sectoral research; and

(ii) a coherent set of policy objectives and measuresaimed at ensuring women are realising their fullpotential to contribute to this sector and thatconditions are hospitable to women’sparticipation, allowing them access toappropriate forms of training, employment andincome.

It will be important to match the patterns of women’sincreasing involvement in work with the characteristic andchanging features of employment in the arts and culturalindustries, so that we may better facilitate women’sinvolvement in this sector. The arts and cultural sector isitself expanding, with an increase of 34% between 1981 and

1991 for all persons with a cultural job and 14% foremployment in the cultural sectors, despite negligibleincrease in the total working population (Gallagher, 1998:2). Expansion is particularly strong in broadcasting,advertising, computer games and crafts. Women aremaintaining their proportion of this growing pool ofemployment, and even in the context of the decline of full-time jobs in broadcast media, as companies move to apublishing house ‘outsourcing’ model which depends onfreelance labour, women are managing to maintain theirproportion of full-time jobs (Gallagher, 1998: 9). It isvital to examine women’s work patterns and theirparticipation and progression in professional occupations,so that we may monitor the way women’s involvement is beingmanaged in this sector.

Developing appropriate industry policy designed to impact onwomen who are cultural workers is made more complicated bythe fact that 35% of creative jobs (in Europe) are inindustries outside the cultural sector (European Commission1998). This proportion is likely to increase in the contextof convergence, and as other industries continue to drawupon those creative skills which can be applied for contentdevelopment in the context of the expanding informationeconomy. However, this means that the arts and culturalsector is an important 'testbed' for developing new skillsand ways of working, as many of the conditions of work whichpertain in this sector are more advanced or widespreadversions of changes in employment and industry practiceswhich will gradually be felt beyond the sector.

The following features comprise significant issues for thesector. If these issues were effectively addressed, thecultural sector could lead the way in developing industryand employment measures aimed at women working within thisnew context - especially those which are aimed towards

adapting work patterns and skills to fashion sustainablecareers within a more fluid and less secure employmentsetting such as self-employment, which is growing as a workstatus in the economy as a whole. However, in general, theywill be discussed in terms of their particular applicationwithin the sector. Their implications for women will beconsidered and the extent to which they present obstacles tobe solved or opportunities to be taken will be examined.

3.3 PATTERNS OF INEQUALITY IN THE ARTS AND CULTURALSECTOR

While patterns across the industries comprising this sectorare heterogeneous, women are still underrepresented in thesector as a whole, though 'growth in female employment inthe cultural sector has been considerable in recent years'and women increased their representation over the decade1981-1991 in all the main occupational groups except formusicians (Jones and Feist, 1999: 38, 21). In certainoccupational groups - for example as musicians andphotographers - women are still poorly represented, at undera quarter of the workforce, and while they form a majorityin particular ‘feminised’ industries such as libraries, atover seventy per cent, they still find it difficult toprogress to positions of seniority (Jones and Feist, 1999:38, Poland, Curran and Owens, 1995). While these patternshave been noted for some time, new patterns of workimpacting upon the sector - and in some cases on women inparticular - mean that they should be addressed in ways thatacknowledge the flow of women’s labour across public andprivate sectors, ongoing employment and contract employment,freelance and self-employment.

IncomeIn general, income levels for women in the arts and culturalindustries are significantly lower than those of menalthough the degree of disparity differs across sectors,despite women having higher levels of qualification and inparticular, higher levels of higher artistic qualificationsacross all occupational categories (Jones and Feist, 1999:30-36, 25).

The clustering of women in lower level positions is clearlya factor influencing income levels. This is a pervasive andenduring pattern in the media industries, for example, butin the different case of the library sector, which retains amore formalised career hierarchy and has a majority offemale employees, women were still only half as likely towork in posts with higher income levels as men in a 1995study (Baehr, 1996: 53; Poland, Curran and Owens 1995:ii).ii . Women’s ability to attract as much work as men, andcharge as much for their work (in crafts industries, forexample) has also been questioned (Feist and Jones, 1999:34-35; DCMS, 1998: 32).

Women’s lower income levels have also been attributed totheir greater involvement in part-time work, their lower ageprofile and experience levels, or their clustering indifferent job types. Yet while these may all beinfluential, there seems to be a more endemic problem, forstudies which have controlled for these factors have foundthat after adjustment, the income levels of women are stillconsistently lower than those of men (British FilmInstitute, 1999: 21; Gallagher, 1998: 37, Woolf and Holly,1995: v, vii). In the media sector, differences are mostacute at the top and the bottom of the income scales: there

ii Only 9% of women, but 20% of men, were in posts earning over £27,000(Poland, Curran and Owens, 1995: ii).

are more women earning the lowest levels of income and veryfew earning the highest income levels (British FilmInstitute, 1999: 20; Woolf and Holly, 1995: 45). Mostalarmingly, considering these patterns of inequality, men’sincomes increased to a greater extent than the women’sincomes from 1994-8 in the television industry (British FilmInstitute, 1999: 20). This last pattern is not uniformacross sectors, however. Within the crafts industries, forexample, where women have historically earned much less thanmen, women’s incomes are increasing more rapidly than thoseof men (DCMS, 1998: 32).

Income levels have yet to be fully analysed in ways thatallow an assessment of the impact of the range of factorsinfluencing income differentials and the degree of variationacross sectors. One important dimension of incomedifferentials is the disparity in earnings betweentraditionally male and traditionally female occupationalareas: in the media sector for example, it was found thatthe occupational areas with women as a majority of theworkforce are the lowest paid: hence some investigation isneeded into the relative levels of pay across occupationalcategories (Woolf, Holly and Varlaam 1994: iv; Gallagher,1998: 37). This is particularly important in the light ofthe growing feminisation of the arts and cultural sector: asystematic audit of skills levels demanded by differentoccupational categories, cross referred with income levels,would form a useful template against which women’sinequality could be more accurately identified, monitoredand addressed, and a series of ameliorative measuresidentified. Further elaboration of these further patternsof inequality would require a closely focused and detailedapproach to assessing patterns of gender difference inemployment practice: Gallagher suggests, for example, thatone factor in earnings differentials could be the kinds ofassignment given to women and men in the same occupational

category, and the relative economic and professionalvaluation given to these (Gallagher, 1998: 37).

Another key factor is the impact of maternity leave, havingchildren or other family responsibilities on careerprogression. While the situation of freelances isparticularly notable in this respect (see below), even insectors which are characterised by more clearly identifiable‘ladders of progression’, the impact of their familyresponsibilities on women working is clearly significant.In the library sector 35% of women but no men had to stopworking as a result of childcare responsibilities and werefar more likely to consider hours fitting with domesticresponsibilities as their main criterion in planning theirfuture career, while women who had worked part-time or hadchildren were less likely to earn higher income levels thanmen, and nearly three times the proportion of women reportedthat having children had imposed career constraints inproportions three times higher than those of men (Poland,Curran and Owens, 1995: ii-iii).

Clearly, there is a need for ‘family friendly policies’ tobe integrated into the cultural sector, even in those areaswhich are characterised by high levels of female employmentand hence often thought to be more hospitable to theircareer progression and to offer more secure employment andincome levels. While women may do better in theseemployment contexts than in male dominated industries, suchas music, it seems that a greater number of women beingemployed in a sector does not fully constitute‘feminisation’ in the most positive sense of the word.

Clearly income levels are a priority equity issue for womenin the arts and cultural industries yet they are unevenlymapped in the recent DCMS Creative Industries Mapping Document andthey do not feature at all amongst the issues identified in

the development of the sector as they are not understood toimpact upon industry growth: yet lower income levels maypoint to an under-utilisation of the female workforce inthese sectors. If this is the case, adjusting industry andwork practices to enhance women’s contribution would lead togreater efficiency and carry potential for further growth.Further research is needed on patterns of women’s incomelevels and growth across sectors, the reasons for the levelsof disparity and the effect of these patterns on theretention of women as a component of the industries’ skilledworkforce. The difficulty of deriving a clear sectoralpicture of income levels, growth and gender disparity –especially one which includes the self-employed - may alsosuggest a need to devise different types of statisticalclassification which are correlated against employment andcareer features.

3.4 CHANGING PATTERNS, CHANGING CONDITIONS: ISSUES RELATINGTO WOMEN'S CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESSION

The increase in the proportion of small companies and smallto medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and the associatedincrease in outsourcing and freelance/self-employment orshort term contract work is one pattern which is developingparticularly strongly in the broadcast media sector, and isalready established as a key feature of new media industries(Baehr, 1996: I; Swanson and Wise, 1999: 52-3). Librariesare presently protected from this devolution by the extentof public sector involvement, as about 97% of librarians arepermanently employed, while the preponderance of largemultinational companies in the record industry leads to asimilar trend towards employment over contract/freelancework. Nevertheless, the move to contract andfreelance/self-employment as a pattern of working,particularly as a replacement for part-time work, willconstitute a significant characteristic of employment in the

next century, while the individual operating as a freelanceor sole-trader is already well established as a patternelsewhere in the arts and cultural sector. Similarly, theproliferation of small businesses – so prevalent in thecultural industries - which benefits from outsourcing fromlarger companies and the ‘streamlining’ of the publicsector, is becoming a more pervasive and influentialindustry type.

The prevalence of self-employment and small businesses

Patterns of self-employment and freelance work in thesector, which have always been high within the visual andperforming arts, are consolidating and increasing, and womenhave particularly high rates of freelance/self-employment inthis sector in comparison with the labour force generally.

Small businesses are proliferating in the context of theexpanding crafts and design industries, the strengthening ofthe music industry in domestic and overseas markets withindependent companies as their core, the 'cottage industry'profile of the film industry in the UK (DCMS, 1998), theincreasing outsourcing of television and radio production bybroadcasters to smaller independent companies (Gallagher,1998: 9), the move to low cost electronic publishing, andthe development of the new media industries which arecharacterised by business units of below 12 employees,practices of outsourcing and the use of contract staff(DCMS, 1998b: 7).

Several difficulties for employees flow from a culturalsector made up of small businesses, which are based on lowinvestment and short term funding, leading to a structuralinstability (Casey, 1998: 45). Adopting a freelance or self-employment status cultivates the versatility and

adaptability that equips women to work in new employmentcontexts and offers the flexibility which can be used tocreate a greater balance between work and home life. But itis likely to be based on working across a range of smallcompanies, which means that the structural instability ofsmall businesses and SMEs becomes translated into aninsecure employment context for those who work on afreelance and short-term contract basis, and conditions ofwork which replicate those of part-time and casual workers,such as the lack of pension entitlements, sick leave, healthcover and personal insurance, etc.

In general, employees in the arts and cultural industriesare highly qualified, highly mobile but have a high drop-outrate (Jones and Feist, 1999: 8). This suggests that theindustry is not able to provide the appropriate level ofemployment or income for a skilled workforce, and thatindividuals are not able to develop working conditions thatallow them to sustain careers within the arts and culturalsector.

As competition for highly-educated, skilled,responsible and flexible people again becomes moreintense, we will see more people becoming‘consumers’ of their own employment, seeking notsimply any job or even any reasonably well-paidjob, but work which offers the right hours, thebest opportunities for learning, the best chance ofmoving on to a fresh challenge. But the righthours for one person, at one stage of his or herlife, will be wrong for someone else; the trick foremployers is to match their own needs for differentcombinations of skills and people at differenthours of the day or different months of the year,to the different requirements of the people theyemploy (Hewitt, 1995: 46).

This suggests a sectoral response which would impact onwomen as a significant component of the arts and culturalworkforce. Cultural industry measures addressing these newpatterns should be constituted into a package designed to:

• create mobility for individual employees,including such measures as information provisionand networking programs with women’s needs andpatterns in mind, ongoing training to adapt to andidentify new employment opportunities, andenterprise development support to allowindividuals to move from freelance to self-employment, alongside other measures aimed atdeveloping ‘fair flexibility’ such as thedevelopment of tailored pension schemes and socialsecurity entitlements (Hewitt, 1995: 46);

• encourage wealth generation, sustainability andthe ability to identify and expand into newmarkets for small businesses within the culturalindustries, including partnerships, research anddevelopment (R&D) consortia and business networksto increase investment and maximisecompetitiveness while pooling resources.

These measures would not only allow greater buoyancy todevelop, allowing the sector to offer greater opportunitiesand decrease employees’ – and especially freelances’ -vulnerability to risk, but would allow women to build ontheir clear preference for flexible working practices fortheir own purposes, rather than allowing flexibility tobecome a synonym for a low paid and casualised workforce,with the availability of work being subject to the vagariesof industry requirements and fortune.

Women as self-employed/freelance workers

The balance of work and home responsibilities is a keyconsideration for women in the fashioning of arts/culturalcareers, frequently leading them to choose to work in afreelance/self-employed capacity. Women in the arts andcultural industries demonstrate the patterns of adaptabilitythat fit them for self-employment, demonstrate a‘disposition for sustainability’, and some research hasshown that they may be more inclined to develop a businessin the arts and cultural sector than to apply for artsfunding (Swanson and Wise, 1998). However, there is aquestion concerning how far women are able to fashion viablecareers with sustainable income levels and a flexibilitythat works for them rather than against their familyinterests.

As the statistical paper in this report shows, the incidenceof self-employment is much greater for women who havecultural occupations than for women in the labour forcegenerally, and even higher amongst all women working in thecultural industries. Women are far less likely to work aspart-time employees if they have cultural occupations thanin the labour force generally, and much more likely to workas self-employed without employees, and whereas smallnumbers of women work as self-employed with employees, thisis more likely if they have cultural occupations (Jones andFeist 1999: 15-16). Since men have negligible levels ofpart-time employment whether or not they have culturaloccupations, but are much less likely to work in full-timeemployment if they have cultural occupations, it appearsthat employment as a work status is less common in the artsand cultural sector.

Women working in the cultural industries are far more likelyto work part-time than men (Jones and Feist, 1999: 18).However, the correspondence of a decreased incidence ofpart-time employment and an increase in self-employmentwithout employees (ie freelance status) amongst women withcultural occupations suggests that freelance work may havereplaced part-time work as an option for women with domesticresponsibilities in the cultural sector. Women freelancesshould therefore become a key target alongside women part-time employees for the development and testing of measuresaimed at ensuring that women do not lose out in theemployment market as a result of their need to combine workwith other responsibilities. Much more needs to be knownabout both of these sets of women: their qualifications andskills levels, their training needs, their income levels andpreferred and actual working hours, their ages and theperiods of their working lives that they work part-time oras freelances, their interest in developing smallbusinesses, the flow between part-time employment andfreelance, obstacles to moving into full-time employment,the effect of the lack of entitlements given to full-timeemployees, etc. Sector-specific research would be essentialsince there has been significant growth in the numbers ofself-employed women in some occupational groups,particularly artists/commercial artists etc and clothingdesigners, but only small increases amongst musicians andactors and entertainers (Jones and Feist, 1999: 21).

Broadcast media, film and video: a case study

The development and implications of the move to a‘publishing house’ model and its associated dependence onfreelance labour and short-term contracts has been thesubject of research for a period of at least five years inthe media sector, in which sixty per cent of all workers are

freelance (Woolf, Holly and Varlaam, 1994, v; Caple andMelbourne, 1997: 11). As Willis and Dex note, the TVindustry ‘experienced in an extreme way what other Britishindustries have experienced to a lesser degree’: the‘majority of employees in all organisational settings are onshort-term contracts of less than a year and are freelanceworkers’ (Willis and Dex, 1999: 3, 6). Casualisation has‘removed the ladders of career progression’ and mostcontracts are based within smaller units with a flatterorganisational structure: while career entry is probablyeasier within the television industry now, sustaining careerprogression and achieving employment security is more of achallenge, particular for returning mothers (Willis and Dex,1999: 7-9, 26). The workplace is becoming less regulatedand most workers are unrepresented, while smallerindependent companies tend to direct few resources towardspersonnel/human resource management and few have formalisedequal opportunities policies (Willis and Dex, 1999: 7;Baehr, 1996: I, v). As Willis and Dex conclude, ‘currentmodes of production and conditions of work are unlikely toencourage women with children to remain. It is likely thatthere will continue to be a talent and skills loss of womenover 40’ (Willis and Dex, 1999: 27). In the context of ageneral skills decline associated with the move tooutsourcing, freelance and contract work in the media sector(see below), the impact of these factors on women employeesis an industry-wide concern as much as an equity concern.

A greater majority of women working in television arefreelances compared with men (British Film Institute, 1999:18), so the media industries provide a useful case study inwhich to track the problems and opportunities such newworking environments hold for women in the arts and culturalindustries. Measures aimed at improving income andconditions for women in the media industries would berelevant to - and could possibly act as a pilot for further

measures aimed at - women self-employed/freelances workingelsewhere in the arts and cultural sector.

Reasons for moving to freelance work

What are the reasons women may choose to move into freelancework? While women working as freelances in broadcast media,film and video identify greater freedom and the possibilityof redundancy as their main reasons for becoming freelance,they were also likely - much more so than men - to identifypromotion and domestic/personal reasons (Woolf and Holly,1995: vi). Yet paradoxically, women were less likely to beworking part-time than men (Woolf and Holly, 1995: vi),indicating that maintaining a freelance career may demandfull-time levels of work. Does this pattern lead to viableincomes for women?

Income levels and age

Women freelances were more likely to earn less than men in aSkillset study conducted in 1993-4 (Woolf and Holly, 1995:vii). This is probably the result of their age profile:seventy per cent of women freelances are under forty andthis rises to more than eighty per cent of womenproducer/directors working freelance (Caple and Melbourne,1997: 11). But the younger age profile of women in themedia industries may itself be a symptom of the problems womenhave in developing and sustaining viable careers asfreelances in the context of a largely unregulatedworkplace, flatter organisational structures and smallerbusiness units without the ‘ladders of progression’traditionally found in the more established work contexts,the multiplication of career entry points, and an increasinglabour supply made up of young people who are willing towork for lower rates in order to gain a foothold (Willis andDex, 1999: 7-8).

Short-term contracts

The short-term contracts which are a feature of freelancework create both opportunities and problems. In the mostrecent television industry profile assembled by the BritishFilm Institute, a majority of workers with experience offreelance or short term contracts indicated that as well asproviding the flexibility to take time off between jobs, themobility short-term contracts offer provides a varied rangeof experience and the context for skills development, andprovides the contacts networking possibilities that createsfurther freelancing opportunities. But a majority alsoconfirmed that short-term contracts make incomeunpredictable and uneven, make career planning and findingnew work difficult, they do not provide adequately for sickleave or maternity entitlement and the need to maintaincontinuous employment often leads to the acceptance of lowerrates of pay. In fact, over half of freelances would prefernot to be working freelance (British Film Institute, 1999:28-29). Clearly freelances achieve flexibility and skillsand career development at the cost of employment securityand control as well as loss of income, and within thetelevision industry it is generally not a preferred careerchoice.

This picture sheds a new light on the higher number of womenworking as freelances. It may be that women’s greaterinvolvement in freelance work is a sign of disadvantage andlack of career choice in the television industry. Clearlythey are significantly affected by the disadvantages listedabove – in fact in greater proportions than male televisionworkers. As a majority of freelances, they would bebeneficiaries of measures designed to ameliorate thenegative impact of the industry’s reliance on short-term

contracts, which it appears is disproportionately borne bythe individual freelance worker.

Additionally, women freelances are a particularly vulnerablesector of the female workforce; since networking andcontacts are the most important means of obtaining work,women who break their continuity of work as a result ofmaternity or other domestic responsibilities face aparticular risk (Willis and Dex, 1999: 9). Additionally,Willis and Dex note that contract workers are an especiallyvulnerable group since they do not have access to thebenefits of protected job maternity leave, which is acritical factor in minimising the effect having a family mayhave on income and career progression, as demonstrated bylevels of seniority achieved. Also, difficulties in makingfirm childcare arrangements are created by not being able topredict working arrangements or income - especially with theunforseen long working hours and after-hours work which area feature of the sector (Willis and Dex 1999: 12-13). Theconditions of contract workers, and the development ofalternative forms of career support, are therefore ofparticular concern in the formation of family-friendlyemployment policy.

As Baehr has indicated (1996: i-ii), a high proportion ofindependent companies do not have specific resourcesdedicated to personnel and human resources management, andhence are unlikely to initiate changes to the conditions oftheir contracts. Baehr’s recommendation of a partnershipbetween broadcasting organisations and their independentprogramme suppliers could here be adapted to develop bestpractice in providing better conditions for contractworkers. European Commission contract standards as part ofthe policies governing European broadcasting organisationswould encourage them to develop models of best practice

through which to lead a partnership with the independentproduction companies.

Self-employment: opportunities for sustainability

While some aspects of freelance work correspond to thedisadvantages experienced by part-time workers, women alsoidentify benefits in the patterns of freelance work, andBaehr recommends that the EC should encourage theentrepreneurship of women independent producers (Baehr,1996: ii). Other research, into the new media industries,has indicated that women are more likely to developsustainable careers and higher income levels if they areable to progress from freelance work to developing their ownbusinesses (Swanson and Wise, 1998: 58-9), yet women workingin the media are only half as likely as men to own their owncompany, and less than a third as likely to work only fortheir own company (Woolf and Holly, 1995: vi; British FilmInstitute, 1999: 7). Platforms for enterprise development,such as small business management and financial training andstart-up investment funds, as well as information provisionand networking support measures, are needed to aid women whowish to make this transition. This would build on theexpertise women acquire from contract work, which sometimesallows them to exercise greater levels of responsibility(Gallagher, 1998: 9). Given Baehr’s observation that womenare more likely to progress to senior production positionsin companies with women Company Directors (1996: iv), wecould see these measures as benefiting women who gained workin women-headed companies as well as offering more womenbusiness opportunities and providing more role models.

Other aspects of the particular problems and opportunitiesfaced by women freelances in the context of the impact of

industry change will be addressed throughout the followingsections in this report.

3.5 DEVELOPING, SUSTAINING AND PROGRESSING CAREERS

As we have seen, women in the cultural sector are clusteredin particular industry types – they are more prominent inlibraries and less prominent in music, for example – and inparticular kinds of job – they are more likely to be foundin secretarial and administrative roles than men, and lesslikely to be found in creative or technical roles, eventhough the secretarial pathway has been found to be aparticularly bad one in terms of career options (Milestoneand Richards, 2000; Gallagher, 1998: 12, 17). Those areaswhere women predominate, such as wardrobe and make-up,research and production support are amongst the worst paidareas and women are not generally found in managementpositions (Woolf, Holly and Varlaam, 1994: vii; Gallagher,1998: 26).

Some pathways for career development are declining. Theincrease of small independent production companies and theimpact of smaller production budgets alongside changes intechnology, means that the traditional means of skillsformation through ‘watching and learning’ – which aids inthe development of career pathways - are declining: forexample assistant editors are now rarely used, andresearchers are rarely retained during production or post-production phases, eliminating a key pathway through todirector status (Kumari-Dass, 1997: 2). The impact of thesechanges to the industry structure on women’s ability todevelop pathways to senior level appointments needs to betracked and analysed.

The pathway between administrative and creative or executivepositions is of particular importance: women in

administrative positions in the arts and cultural industriesare likely to have had advanced qualifications and creativetraining and to continue their creative practice throughfreelance (Swanson and Wise, 1998: 47, 123-29). However as acareer development pathway, rather than as instance ofdiversification of profile, the pathway from administrationinto creative and executive roles appears weak, and even inthe administrative area, women are found in very low numbersin the top half of the career ‘ladder’ (Gallagher, 1998:15).

Additionally, it has been noted that while the multiskilledand team-based nature of new workplace practices correspondsto women’s perception of their core skills (Milestone andRichards, 1999a); Swanson and Wise, 1999: 60-1), there is arisk that the full skills profile of employees will not berecognised and rewarded with pathways for career progressionin working situations with less formalised careerdevelopment pathways. In this context professional bodieswith accreditation powers may play a particularly importantrole in ensuring that employees with broken career paths -or women who, for the range of reasons outlined, fail tohave their expertise endorsed by a record of progresstowards advanced employment categories - could provide arecognised assessment of their skills and professionalprofile.

Women in technical areas

Women are represented in particularly low numbers in thetechnical areas (British Film Institute, 1999: 16). Whiletechnical areas give those working in the industry a soundbasis for sustained career development and a good incomebase - broadcast engineers, for example, are ‘white, male,well educated, relatively highly paid, and permanentlyemployed’ – the media industries continue to experience

difficulties in attracting female recruits to theirtechnical workforce (Woolf, Holly and Connor, 1996: vii,81).

Technical training and employment is a good basis for womeninvolved in this area of work to maintain and develop acareer in the cultural sector, particularly in the contextof increasing outsourcing: not only were women technicalfreelances more likely to be in employment than womenfreelances in other areas, and to be employed on long termcontracts, but nearly a quarter of women technicalfreelances had their own company, a higher proportion thanfor freelances in all other skill groups exceptproducers/directors (Woolf and Holly, 1995: 62). Also, thetechnical area offers considerable scope for promotion tohigher technical positions, as well as giving opportunitiesto move into production (Gallagher, 1998: 24). Women areparticularly badly represented as editors, at 17% of totalemployees in this area, yet editors are given a high statusand earn high levels of income in the UK (Gallagher, 1998:27). However, it appears that the overlap between technicaland production work in radio allows greater opportunitiesfor women to move into these areas and to gain access tocreative roles (Gallagher, 1998: 24). Although women appearin smaller numbers in these areas, then, for those womenworking in technical capacities it provides goodopportunities, so women’s entry and development ofprofessional careers in the technical areas should comprisea target group for future change and policy focus.

Young women appear to be changing some of the abovepatterns: they are beginning to move into traditionallymale dominated areas of music and working in creativetechnology in the music industry, and are developing greatertechnical skills profiles in multimedia (Milestone and

Richards, 1999b; Swanson and Wise, 1999: 60).iii This mayreflect a changing attitude towards gender segregation inthe industry, since women working as technical freelances inthe media sector are particularly likely to have entered theindustry later (Woolf and Holly, 1995: vi). However, giventhat women appear to leave the media industries after theage of forty (Woolf and Holly, 1995: 62, v), attention needsto be given to ensuring that early patterns of participationare sustained throughout careers, despite changingresponsibilities following childbirth for example, or as aresult of the availability of better career options outsidethe cultural sector: management or executive roles, whichare less difficult to sustain than the demands of locationwork for example, may provide a more attractive option formid-career professional women and prevent the skills lossthat is currently occurring in many cultural industries. Asresearch in the multimedia industries shows, themultiskilling demanded by team-based work, and the skillsdevelopment opportunities of a varied range of freelancework situations, allow more women to become technicallyproficient at some level, but there are still difficultiesin developing those more specialised technical skills

iii While women comprise a much greater proportion of the membership ofthe musician’s union in the lower age groups it remains to be seenwhether this is due to a drop-off during their 20s and 30s, or atransformation which will be sustained as this cohort moves throughtheir careers: Musician’s Union figures are (supplied 18/8/99):

f m<21 272 58821-35 2847 695536-50 2563 804751-65 770 4185>65 261 2345DOB Witheld 258 1311.

profiles which enable them to build specialist technicallyoriented careers (Swanson and Wise, 1999: p 15 of draft).

Women in the career hierarchy: producers/directors

Generally, men have occupied the higher positions inproduction and direction roles. In 1995, a Skillset surveyfound that two thirds or more of producers/directors andthose in post production in the media sector were men, whilealmost two thirds of those in production support were women(Woolf and Holly, 1995: v). Baehr’s research in theindependent sector confirms that women are clustered atlower levels of the production hierarchy with men occupyingthe major decision-making positions - 88% of the lower levelproduction support jobs were filled by womeniv. However,established broadcasters do better in employing women inexecutive production roles than the newer independentcompanies, though this may be due to the betteropportunities for internal career progression afforded bylarger organisations (Gallagher, 1998: 23; Kumari-Dass,1997: 24).

But greater proportions of women are presently working astelevision producers and directors than those of men,according to the BFI television industry tracking study(British Film Institute, 1999: 16; Baehr, 1996: i, iii, 53).Baehr also found that women did better as producers thanthey did as directors – while women were 52% of producers,76% of directors were men, reflecting the different pathwaysto these roles and the lack of women in technical positions(Baehr, 1996: iii).

iv As the lower production support roles, Baehr includes Production Co-ordinator, Production Supervisor/manager, Production Assistant andProduction Secretary (1996: 53).

Much greater proportions of women than men work inproduction support/research/clerical roles and smallerproportions than men work in managerial and executiveproduction roles. While it appears that during the pastfour years the proportions of women were employed in thehigher managerial and executive production categoriesincreased, the proportion of men increased in greaternumbers. At the same time, however, proportions of men andwomen in lower production support levels both decreased(British Film Institute, 1999: 17). This suggests thatalthough greater proportions of women may be moving towardshigher level positions, the power of these positions withinthe hierarchy is itself changing.

Kumari-Dass indicates that a practice of ‘grade jumping’ -promotion to a higher position to ‘learn on the job’ - hascome to replace the provision of training before taking upmore advanced positions in the production hierarchy. In aknock-on effect, this has led to a loss of expertise andskills specialisation throughout the grades, from productionassistant through to producers and directors. As a result,it has become standard practice for those in more seniorgrades to absorb the responsibilities of those untrainedstaff occupying positions below them, and consequently, acritical skills defecit is emerging. Kumari-Dass paints apicture in which producers in particular are becoming lessexperienced and are even seen as unqualified and lesscapable: in this context the producer has little discretionor control over content, and the Head of Production and Headof Development roles become increasingly important (Kumari-Dass, 1997: 6). In the light of these observations, thegreater number of women taking up the role of producer isperhaps a sign of the deskilling of this level in theproduction hierarchy and we should be more concerned withthe failure of women to progress to higher executive andmanagerial positions. This finding, drawn from the

interviews Kumari-Dass uses as the basis of her report,indicates the importance of qualitative research inproviding a framework with which to interpret quantativedata and statistical indicators.

This situation creates a polarisation of the careerhierarchy, comprising a flattening out of the productionteam grades with much more power residing in top executiveroles. Such a ‘missing middle’ in the production hierarchysuggests that women’s better record in occupying producergrades has a sting in the tail: not only may this be areflection of a lower status and power being given toproducers, but without established pathways for progressionit will be more difficult for women to progress beyondproducer level to those senior roles which have taken overmany of the roles and much of the power of the producer.v

3.6 MANAGEMENT ROLES

The persistence of women’s difficulty in progressing tosenior management and professional positions in the arts andcultural industries is of particular concern, even more soin areas of work which are dependent on less formalrecruitment and promotion processes. The levels and amountsof work attracted by those working in contract positions and

v Kumari-Dass outlines the view of one interviewee, a woman working as aHead of Production: ‘Traditionally trained good producers would haveworked closely with a production manager, but with clear delineationbetween the roles. Today’s Heads of Production tend to oversee all theproduction teams, they are like a floating producer who will pick up thepieces for the less experienced producers. There are significant areasof work which producers are no longer capable of, or qualified to do,which the Heads of Production are doing.’ This interviewee attributesthese changes to a decline in the quality of producers. (Kumari-Dass,1997: 6)

as freelances, is critically dependent upon those working insenior management, and as curators and artistic directorsetc, in similar ways to the ‘gatekeepers’ identified in themusic industry (Jones and Feist, 1999: 36), and Baehr notedthat women working as freelance/self-employed did better incompanies headed by women (1996: iv).

In the labour force generally, women are becomingsignificantly more involved in management careers, althoughthey are still less likely to progress to senior managementpositions (Jones and Feist, 1999: 2-3). This trend isreplicated in the cultural industries. Women are also muchless likely to occupy senior positions than men, and find itdifficult to gain access to formal management-related skillslearning programmes (Gallagher, 1998: 43; Poland, Curran andOwens, 1995: ii-iv). While women may often take on moresenior levels of responsibility, these are sometimesincorporated into a role which is paid and graded at a lowerlevel, and often are not rewarded with ongoing careerprogression, particularly if they are working in contractpositions (Milestone and Richards, 2000; Willis and Dex,1999: 9; Gallagher, 1998: 8).

There is some variation and signs of progress can beperceived: Gallagher found that the establishedbroadcasters, such as Granada, Channel 4 and the BritishBroadcasting Corporation (BBC), which offer internal careerladders and equal opportunity policies, are more likely toappoint women to the top decision-making and highest paidpositions (Gallagher, 1998: 23). London Weekend Televisionrecently won an Opportunity 2000 award for work in relationto women in management, and the proportion of women insenior management in the BBC is increasing: with women as31% of senior executives and 33% of senior management(Independent Television Commission, 1998: 100; Department ofCulture, Media and Sport, 1998b: 105; BBC, 1999: 1).

However, the picture is not all improving and the impact ofwomen on central decision-making gives less reason foroptimism. The Independent Television Commissionacknowledges that numbers of women at board and seniormanagement levels are low overall and in some cases havedecreased (Independent Television Commission, 1998: 100;Anderson, 1998: 27). While Baehr found that women hadgreater access to senior decision-making positions in theindependent television production sector than inbroadcasting organisations, only three of the 17 peopleworking at board level, and only one of the seven ManagingDirectors in the companies she surveyed were women (Baehr,1996: iv, vi). Although women are growing as members ofinternal management committees of broadcastingorganisations, they do so from a very low base – and theystill tend to do somewhat better in their representation onexternal governing boards than internally, in employment-based– and more influential - decision-making capacities(Gallagher, 1998: 43).

Such a picture suggests a continuing lack of diversity inthe management arrangements of cultural and mediaorganisations, one that has implications for accessibility,relevance and quality. The ‘management for diversity’ modelidentifies a need to draw upon a more diverse pool ofmanagerial talent, reflecting the diversity of thepopulation. This has creative outcomes concerningproduction processes and content generation, as productsbenefit from a richer array of qualities and inputs, and sothe adoption of such a model has economic implications andcontent quality outcomes, as well as those of social equityoutcomes. The social and cultural benefits of diversity forcultural industry development are also central platform ofthe Report of the World Commission on Cultural Development,Our Creative Diversity (1995). However, the cultural sector has

yet to act upon this widely accepted principle of modernindustrial efficiency, and to build on the array ofexpertise that women offer.

Recent overseas research in the new media sector suggeststhat women demonstrate patterns which make them particularlycapable of taking up a track towards senior decision-makingmanagement positions. Not only are women prominent inadministrative roles throughout the cultural sector,possessing a particularly useful package of creativeexpertise and managerial skills, but in multimedia those whoare freelance/self-employed are particularly likely tomanage their own businesses, and salaried employeesdemonstrate particularly strong levels of involvement inbusiness and production management, representing a strongbase for developing women’s distinctive input to management.A significant proportion of women working in business andproduction management also have skills in senior creativeand production classifications, as well as a high level ofgeneralist training. They possess a perception of teamworkas integral to their involvement in multimedia, maintain aninvolvement in projects through all stages to completion,and identify this as their preferred form of participation.They also demonstrate a profile that matches the movetowards the publishing model of outsourcing to smallcompanies, and team based production demanding high levelsof multiskilling. The new media industries seem to offerparticularly good opportunities to take on managerialresponsibility and leadership roles (Swanson and Wise, 1998:162-66).

With significant numbers of mid-career professional womenfinding pathways from other industries, new media couldbecome a leadership sector in developing innovativemanagement programmes and styles suited to new workingpatterns and women’s distinctive needs and patterns of

career development, enabling them to build on the potentialwomen have for making a higher level contribution todecision-making and strategic planning. For example,mentoring programs and attachments for women moving towardssenior levels may offer an opportunity to profile theirexpertise and qualities to those in influential positions inaddition to providing a tailored career development andlearning program. The lessons learnt from such initiatives –and the benefits pilot programmes would demonstrate - couldbe adapted throughout the cultural sector, in ways relevantto the range of industry types and management needs.

Career breaks and family responsibilities

There are several areas which warrant particular attentionin developing mechanisms which would aid women take up moresenior management roles as well as in progressing to higherlevels of employment and income. The most striking findingduring the research for this report was the persistence ofcareer setbacks experienced by women with familyresponsibilities or who take time out of work for childbirth(see especially Willis and Dex, 1999; Poland, Curran andOwens, 1995 i-v). This indicates a striking failure ofequal opportunities policies and programs over a longperiod: a failure to instigate a workplace culture thatrecognises and adapts to the most basic and widespreadconstraints on female employees and their potential need todevelop a distinctive career lifecycle. There is a clearneed to identify policies and mechanisms which recognise theimpact of family responsibilities on women’s careers, andwhich allow them to return after career breaks or periodsworking part-time without suffering a permanent setback totheir career plans, and to create, in some cases, a workculture which is not actively hostile to women’s familyroles. These require particular workplace-related programs

which target parents’ working patterns, constraints andneeds, offering employment re-entry programs, and platformsdesigned to maintain skills development, a varied pattern ofexperience, and the ability to accelerate career developmentwhile working part-time.

There are also less visible mechanisms of disadvantage forworking parents. Early meetings and unpredictable or afterhours working and networking activities appear to postsignificant obstacles to women with families taking upexecutive and higher management roles (Poland, Curran andOwens, 1995: ii, iv; Willis and Dex, 1999: 10; Milestone andRichards, 1999a). Clearly, meeting and networking practicesneed to be formalised in ways which allow women with familyresponsibilities adequate time to plan effectively andthereby enable them to maintain a full involvement in thewhole range of workplace activities which are associatedwith promotion to senior levels.

Inflexibility of working hours and conditions is a keyfactor in this context (Willis and Dex, 1999; Poland, Curranand Owens, 1995: i-v), and the cultural sector could seekmodels in the instigation of more flexible working practicesin many other industry types. In their study of barriers towomen reaching senior management positions in the librarysector, Poland, Curran and Owens urge measures to ‘encouragemore flexible working conditions such as job sharing; termtime working; flexitime and other ways of working whichfacilitate career development alongside caring responsibilities withoutadversely affecting services’ (1995: iv, my emphasis). Theconnection they make between the ability of women to pursuehigh level career development and the tailoring of thesemeasures to enable women to progress is important: it isnot enough to provide flexibility only to the extent thatwomen are able to enter and maintain employment, they needinstead to be provided in ways that allow women to work to

their full potential and reach their career goals. Theability of a greater range of women to reach seniormanagement and decision-making positions is critical tochanging the culture of the workplace and influencing theemployment prospects and viability of women employedthroughout the cultural industries.

3.7 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Many of the problems for women’s pathways and progression inthe cultural industries noted in this report could beaddressed through the provision of relevant and adaptiveeducation, training and professional development packages.Women working in the cultural industries are not lacking inqualifications or training - in fact they are more highlyqualified and trained than their male peers in general, andare more likely to have received recent training (Woolf,Holly and Varlaam, 1995: vii) – and cultural sectoremployees tend to be highly trained and to have higher levelqualifications. However, a more targetted provision anddelivery of training could change some of the patterns ofgender segregation and under-achievement by women working inthe sector.

The adoption of new technologies across the cultural sectormakes the need to update and adapt existing expertise on anongoing basis particularly graphic, but the importance ofensuring that skills and expertise profiles are responsiveto industry practice as well as social and cultural changesis more general and should be addressed at earlier stages.It has been found that the commitment to a career in thevisual arts starts in the early to mid-teens, while thepatterns for a drop-off of involvement in music amongstgirls also develops in this period (Honey, Heron andJackson, 1997: 22). The development of creative potential

and new forms of literacy, and the development of morepositive attitudes to the suitability of careers in thecultural industries for women, needs to be addressed atschool age and demands a significant revision of the corecurriculum to incorporate creative and cultural education,and new partnerships between schools and organisations andindividuals working in the cultural and creative industries,as the DfEE advisory report All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture andEducation recommends (National Advisory Committee on Creativeand Cultural Education, 1999: 6-15; Milestone 1999). Thusquestions of education, training and professionaldevelopment demand tailored strategies and policycommitments across the education, training and employmentspectrum.

The government-commissioned Cultural Industry Mapping Document hashighlighted the importance of relevant and adaptive trainingfor growth across the full range of creative industries(Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 1998). However,there is still evidence of a lack of fit between highereducation providers and industry need, a chronic lack ofongoing investment by industry itself and a lack of progressin developing effective partnerships to develop appropriatetraining content and delivery (Kumari-Dass, 1997: 3-4; Capleand Melbourne, 1997: 7).

Skills defecits and investment in training

Commentators have in particular identified the increasingproblem of a skills defecit in the media sector which isemerging as an effect of the move to outsourcing productionto smaller, independent production companies, acasualisation of the workforce, and an associated erosion intraining provision, impacting upon individual careerdevelopment patterns (Woolf, Holly and Varlaam, 1994: iii-iv; Kumari-Dass, 1997: 17; Caple and Melbourne, 1997: 11).

Some of these skills defecits appear in traditionally femaleareas of employment, such as production management (Kumari-Dass, 1997: 2), putting women’s ability to progress tohigher positions at risk if this pattern of reduced trainingprovision and skills decline continues. Collaborationbetween broadcasters and independent companies will beneeded to provide a coordinated approach to traininginvestment, which could entail the mandatory inclusion oftraineeships in budgets (Kumari-Dass, 1997: 26). This couldimprove the chances of accessing training by women workingas freelances, if the broadcasting organisations wereinstrumental in ensuring that the EO policies they aregoverned by were adopted in the recruitment of trainees.

New environments and entrepreneurial skills for the arts

Changes in the cultural workplace have broughtentrepreneurial skills to the fore, while some areas, suchas visual arts, have always been characterised by afragmented labour market, and so it has been suggested thatthe career success of some artists shows a need fornetworking skills, business management, presentation skillsand knowledge of the workplace/market etc to become moregenerally held. These have been undervalued in the artssector, as they have been seen as skills for operating in acommercial environment and therefore as associated withpractices which stifle innovation (Honey, Heron and Jackson,1997: 100-2). A recent survey found that ‘a large number ofartists have a low level of interest in or awareness of thebusiness side of their profession’, despite having a verylow level of income generated by their work: ‘Many artistswill work for very little, for nothing and even at a loss tohave their work shown’. This is understood to reinforce alack status amongst artists and to undermine theirbargaining power in a competitive marketplace, and inaddition to a number of recommendations to instigate

professional standards and a code of practice concerning thecontracting and payment of artists, the researchersrecommend that ‘colleges and other training providers(should) increase artists’ awareness of and skills in thebusiness side of their profession’ (Shaw and Allen, 1997:35-7).

It is now more widely accepted that such skills are now anessential part of the repertoire of arts and culturalworkers, and that the ‘appropriate balance of skills andcompetencies…dictates, in the main, the employmentopportunites available to a student’ (Birch, Jackson andTowse, 1998: 62). The flow of labour between commercial andno-for-profit sectors indicates that many artists and thosein other cultural occupations are developing these throughexperience, but they are still not widely included as partof higher education training in the arts or as professionaldevelopment platforms for those working in many professionalarts contexts. Recent research has led to a more strategicand encompassing form of training approach, with one reportrecommending:

training providers, representative organisations,education funding councils, the accrediting bodiesand the NTO, should consider training within awider framework of pre- and post-vocationaltraining provision, career development and skillmaintenance opportunities; with the objective ofensuring maximum accessibility, congruence andappropriate training routes for progression (Birch,Jackson and Towse, 1998: 77).

As overseas research shows, women working in the arts andcultural industries actively identify industry-orientedkinds of training as part of their own career developmentneeds, alongside the need for more sytematic industry

information provision to provide them with access toindustry knowledge (Swanson and Wise, 1998: 150-2).However, they need to be delivered in ways which women canaccess readily and which are suited to their existingpackage of work and family life: short, focussed, industry-responsive courses rather than certificated higher educationprogrammes appear to be more suited to women across therange of their career stages, along with postgraduateprograms for those who target work in ongoing employmentcontexts (Swanson and Wise, 1999: 61).

Partnerships are seen as a necessary part of media and newmedia industry development, identifying clearly focussedtraining needs rather than just expanding the range of thosetrained. But they are also needed to ensure that thoseworking in the arts have equality of opportunity - not justin accessing specialised arts training, but also indeveloping their profiles and networks, marketing theirproduct, planning and progressing their careers, identifyingnew opportunities for work and managing their freelance workor their own business.

Digital media

Skills shortages also appear in the new media industries,such as software, which suggests that the development ofrelevant, high quality and accessible training should betreated as a priority if the ‘huge potential’ for growth andthe possibility of sustainable employment are not to be lost(Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 1998: 97; DigitalMedia Alliance Steering Group, 1998: 22). To date,government and industry have collaborated to provide‘envisioning’ statements, and the industry bodies whichcharacterise this sector have not yet started to accumulatedetailed data on the companies and individuals which make upthis rapidly growing sector. But in September 1998 it was

estimated that there were 2,750 UK companies operating indigital media, and 2,000 freelances or sole traders workingin this sector, showing a need for concerted trainingprovision that intersects with industry developmentobjectives (Digital Media Alliance Steering Group, 1998:21).

Moreover, new forms of content development afforded bydigital technologies indicates that there will be skillsneeds in new areas of existing cultural professions, and thelibrary sector has shown a particular interest in strategicplanning in the use of information technology skills thatwill be used in new contexts for knowledge management (TFPL,1999). However, the lack of any detailed profile andanalysis of new media industry structure, patterns and need,is of particular concern in the light of the recognition ofan urgent need for planning the adaptation to new media andcommunications technologies in the cultural sector (Swansonand Wise, 1999: 64-5). As yet appears that graduate andpostgraduate training is developing on an ad hoc basis withlittle evidence of industry or industry advisory body inputon curriculum development or the monitoring of standards(Placca and Smith, 1996: 11-12).

Partnerships and coordination: broadcast journalism

Many have pointed out the need for partnerships betweenindustry, unions and training providers, in order to ensurethat training is relevant and matched to industry need andnew developments as well as to increase the level ofinvestment in training, which is currently very low (Capleand Melbourne, 1997: 15-19). Broadcast journalism, whichappears to have no skill shortage problem, can be used as auseful best practice model here, especially as it offers acontext in which there is a more equal distribution of menand women than in many occupational areas in the media

industries. There is a widespread pattern of well paid andpermanent employment in broadcast journalism, and ‘a ladderof progression from specifically focussed higher educationto entry into the industry is clearly discernible andapparently effective’. There is also a culture of ongoinginvestment in training and skills updating for broadcastjournalists which includes employer-provided and financedcourses, although there are still signs that the smallnumber of freelances are not receiving the same levels ofsupport (Woolf, Holly and Connor, 1996: vi). It has beensuggested that the existence of industry accrediting bodieswhich coordinate partnerships between employers, unions andhigher education and which provide ‘dialogue, understandingand the maintenance of standards’ is a critical factor inthis successful articulation between industry need andtraining provision (Woolf, Holly and Connor, 1996: iii).The existence of specific industry bodies designed to managesuch partnerships would help to set training and experiencestandards to ensure that skills formation and employmentgrades were properly matched (Kumari-Dass, 1997: 27), andcould ensure that provision is made for staff withparticular needs, for example so that those employed onshort term contract or freelance basis may be offeredopportunities for on-the-job training support as well as forfinancing of training courses, the preferred option offreelances (Caple and Melbourne, 1997: Tables 25-6)vi.

Multiskilling

While multiskilling is demanded by the move to smaller unitswith team-based production processes, and is an outcome of

vi In addition to Skillset, which has, for example a Freelance TrainingFund, it is suggested that narrowly focussed industry accreditationbodies such as those which operate in the area of broadcast journalismcould have more concrete and targetted impacts.

the mobility of a freelance workforce, it has been pointedout that it remains untested and thus requires moreconcerted attention to ways of ensuring that it is achievedto appropriate levels of competence (Caple and Melbourne,1997: 11). Additionally, there still remains a strong needfor specialist expertise – across technical, creative andproduction classifications - to ensure a supply of highquality personnel and guarantee content quality andefficiency. The availability and accessibility of well-designed packages incorporating best-practice models ofmultiskilling, high level specialist training and theformation of employment pathways that allow the accumulationof relevant experience is clearly critical for women formingcareers in the cultural sector. This demands ongoingevaluation of training provision on a sectoral basis, aswell as of skills needs.

The provision of effective and accessible, industry-responsive, training programs is partly a measure designedto enhance the positions reached by women working in thearts and cultural industries, but also one which relates tothe general ability of employees to retain professionalviability, adaptability and mobility, especially in a sectorincreasingly reliant on outsourcing and thus with fewer in-house training schemes. Ensuring expertise is matched toindustry need is a critical factor in making flexibilitywork for women rather than it being seen - as in otherindustries - as a disempowering factor. In fact, maintainingflexibility is especially important in the arts and culturalsector, given the widespread existence of SMEs and micro-markets and the flow of labour across publicly funded andcommercial enterprises.

But within the cultural sector, formal training is only onepart of the equation: personal recommendation, peerassessment, and the ability to compile a ‘portfolio’ profile

of experience and testimony is at least as significant inaccessing work and pathways towards higher levelappointments. It is particularly difficult to demonstrateand assess levels of expertise, competence or successfulperformance in the arts professions by reference to formaltraining completion and qualifications. The development ofinnovative models for assessing, auditing and accreditingskills and experience levels, and enabling their‘transferability’ between positions and sectors is importantin enabling mobility and ensuring that the experience thatwomen gain is rendered legible, especially if they have non-traditional career patterns (Poland, Curran and Owens, 1995:v).

3.8 Policy packages: Equal Opportunities and Mainstreaming

It seems that a package of policy responses will benecessary to address the obstacles and opportunities thatface women in the arts and cultural sector. However, theseneed to be focussed around the agendas of governmentdepartments and bodies, as well as articulated acrossnational, regional and local policy frameworks. Inparticular, there are certain issues that arise in thecourse of this paper, which have implications for theformulation of measures addressing women in the arts andcultural professions.

Industry development and women’s employment and training in the culturalsector

There is a lack of connection being made between employmentand training policy, and policy relating to the culturalsector, yet cultural industry development objectives are ingeneral synergistic with objectives concerning theenhancement of women’s opportunities for more sustainable

careers in the cultural sector. This suggests a coordinatedapproach should be established between the Department ofCulture, Media and Sport and the Department for Educationand Employment.

While the DCMS has prioritised the support of growth in thecreative industries, relevant and responsive trainingprovision, the effective deployment of their humanresources, and the support of career development pathwaysand strategies for those working in the creative professionswill improve both the quality and efficiency of the creativeindustries, and the opportunities and employment platformsavailable to individuals. Women’s situation in theseindustries may be partly created by attitudinal problems,but they are also created by a lack of formal mechanisms forrecruitment, gaining experience, career advancement, etc.Procedures designed to systematise the operations andpractices relating to these kinds of employment -facilitating entry and progression, developing skills on anongoing basis, creating opportunities to gain management-related or higher level creative or production experience,the auditing of skills and experience levels etc - willprovide a platform from which women are able to access agreater range of measures to support their careerdevelopment and render their skills and experience legible.Ensuring high quality training is available to maintain anddevelop the skills base of the cultural industries in achanging environment will be a critical element in achievinggrowth, and since women are more likely to be highly trainedthan men will impact upon the quality of their skills andexpertise, and provide better portfolios to support theirentry and progression. Training and employment measureswill have to be adapted and tailored to the patterns andpractices of the cultural industries as a working context.

Education and social exclusion programmes should be informed by thegendered patterns of participation in the cultural industries and tailored to theproblems facing girls

Educational agendas directed at improving the creative andcultural aspect of the core curriculum should consider waysof enhancing the performance of girls and women intraditionally male areas of the cultural industries, asthese patterns are established during school years, in orderto improve the contribution of women across the full rangeof job and industry types in the cultural sector.

Additionally, some social exclusion issues concerning girls maybe addressed through programmes which harness girls’ greaterinvolvement and better performance in the arts and culturalareas, to enhance their self-esteem, to allow them todemonstrate their skills, capabilities and creativepotential, to identify aspirations and goals and to helpthem achieve their full potential.

Diversity policies and models for management of diversity should include gender

Equity and diversity policies should not be seen asalternatives. In fact, diversity management models includethe management of gender diversity, although the measuresdeveloped would be different for women than for those ofethnicity and disability. The arts and cultural sectorbenefits from a high level of input of women, and so doesnot need to increase the contribution of women per se toreach a good overall gender breakdown, but there are otherquestions surrounding the participation of women which needto be addressed, since our research shows that although theyhave been identified for some years, they have still notbeen resolved. These include questions relating to therange of women who are able to participate; the lower levelsof income gained by women throughout the cultural

industries; the younger age profile of women working in thecultural professions and the difficulties women with careerbreaks or family responsibilities have sustaining careers;the difficulties women have in accessing senior management,creative and production positions; the lower levels ofincome and security experienced by women freelances; thegendered profile of different job types, especially the lackof women in higher paid areas, including technicalprofessionals.

Cross-departmental initiatives concerning women should not overlook theirinvolvement in the cultural industries

The representation of women in the media is one area ofconcern that has been identified by the UN Global Platform forAction, 1995, and the UK government programme ‘Delivering toWomen’. However, issues concerning women cannot beaddressed without also considering the dynamics of thoseindustries which produce such representations, andespecially the position of women in senior decision-makingpositions. It is also important to include more than themedia: apart from expanding the focus of representations toencompass the range of forms which contribute to ourcultural repertoire of images, the influential role oflibraries in information management and the part whichmuseums play in support of the education sector makes themsignificant players in forming gendered knowledges.Cultural policy platforms addressing the representation ofwomen in public life should recognise the broader role ofthe cultural sector in helping to form public opinion andshape our concept of ‘the public’, extending their brief toinclude the representation of women in significant publiccultural institutions. This has been done in a piecemealway – for example the Women’s National Commission hasincluded the Regional Arts Boards in its guide to women inpublic appointments (Women’s National Commission, nd), and

have examined representations of gender across a range ofcultural forms including advertising, magazines, video gamesetc, as well as considering the lack of women working atdecision-making levels within the media industries, (Women’sNational Commission 1997: 41-53). But the issues have yetto be thought through in a way that integrates the relevantareas of the arts, media and cultural sector into a generalagenda for change in a positive direction, looking toidentify ways to enable women to use the cultural and mediaindustries in a way which reflects their own interests andacts as a means for their own cultural expression, and acontribution to ‘the advancement of women’ (Women’s NationalCommission, 1997: 41)..

Employment policies, equity programmes and social exclusion agendas shouldnot be restricted to ensuring baseline levels for equity platforms

A ‘crisis management’ approach which only addresses the mosturgent disparities between men and women, or the most urgentproblems for women will not offer the coordinated andholistic approach that enables the range of inequalitiesaffecting women to be resolved. In many areas where womenare involved in reasonable proportions there is a trend to‘leave it alone’ in terms of equity provision, therebyavoiding the recognition of areas of disadvantage andfailing to identify significant obstacles. While women doparticipate in the arts in equal numbers to men, forexample, their lower incomes, lower involvement in seniordecision-making positions, etc, signals a lack of equalityin reward, a set of obstacles to progression, and a lack ofequality in terms of impact on the nature of thoseindustries and their ability to reflect the gender profileof the population. The patterns of women’s participation anddisadvantage, and the range of obstacles they encounteracross all kinds of involvement, including as cultural

consumers, should be researched more rigorously andunderstood more thoroughly.

Bibliography

Anderson, Janet (1998) ‘Putting Women in the Picture’, CarltonWomen in Film and Television Awards, London: Carlton Television.

Arts Council of England (1996) The Policy for Drama of the EnglishArts Funding System London: Arts Council of England.

Arts Council of England (1998) Correcting the Picture: ConferenceReport, London: Arts Council of England.

Arts Council of Great Britain (nd) Women in the Arts: Notions ofEquality, London: Arts Council of Great Britain.

BBC (1999) BBC 1998/9 Annual Report, ‘Board of Governers’www.bbc.co.uk/info/report99/boaard3al.shtml.

Birch, Edward, Jackson, Charles and Towse, Ruth (1998)Dance, Drama and Stage Management Training: An Examination of IndustryNeeds and the Relationship with the Current Provision of Training, London:Arts Council of England.

British Film Institute (1999) Television Industry Tracking Study: ThirdReport, London: British Film Institute.

Caple, Tom and Melbourne, Fiona (1997) An Occupational Map of theBroadcast, film and Video Industry, London: Skillset.

Casey, Bernard (1999) 'Employment and Skills in the culturalSector: some reflections on the European Commission paper"Culture, Culture Industries and Employment"', CulturalCompetence: New Technologies, Culture and Employment, Vienna:Osterreichische Kulturdokumentation.

Department of Culture, Media and Sport 1998a Annual Report,London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Department of Culture, Media and Sport 1998b Creative IndustriesMapping Document, London: Department of Culture, Media andSport.

Digital Media Alliance Steering Group (1998) Recommendationsfor Growth: UK Digital Media, London: Digital Media Alliance.

European Commission (1998) Culture, the Cultural Industries andEmployment (SEC [98] 837 of 14-5-98) Brussels.

Gallagher, Margaret (1998) Employment Patterns in EuropeanBroadcasting: Prospects for Equality in the 1990s, Brussels: EuropeanCommission.

Hewitt, Patricia (1995) ‘Whose flexibility? Policies forChanging times’, Demos Quarterly, No 5.

Honey, Sheila, Heron, Paul and Jackson, Charles (1997) CareerPaths of Visual Artists: ACE Research Report No 11, London: Arts Councilof England.

Independent Television Commission (1998) ITC Annual Report andAccounts, London: Independent Television Commission.

Kumari-Dass, Sabita (1997) Production Training: A Report for Skillset,London: Skillset.

Milestone, Katie (1999) ‘”Your name’s not down”: Access issues and the cultural industries’ Cultural Industries and the City, http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/sis.index.htm.

Milestone, Katie and Richards, Nicola (1999a) CIREN (CulturalIndustries Research Employment NOW) European Social Fund Employment Now

Project, Interim Report, Manchester Institute for Popular Culture,Manchester Metropolitan University.

Milestone, Katie and Richards, Nicola (1999b) ‘Potentialdraws and barriers to the field’, paper presented at the NewMedia: Working Practices in the Electronic Arts conference,London School of Economics, November.

Milestone, Katie and Richards, Nicola (2000) ‘Whatdifference does it make? Women’s pop cultural production andconsumption in Manchester’, Sociological Research On-Line.

Mitchell, Ritva (1999) 'Repositioning Culture in theEmployment Context', Cultural Competence: New Technologies, Cultureand Employment, Vienna: Osterreichische Kulturdokumentation.

National Advisory Committee on Creative and CulturalEducation (1999), All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education,London: Department for Education and Employment.

Placca, Jane and Smith, Phil (1996) Survey of Education andTraining in Multimedia in the United Kingdom, London: Centre forInternational Technology and Education and ARTEC.

Poland, Fiona, Curran, Monica and Owens, Glyn (1995) Womenand Senior Management: A Research Study of Career Barriers and Progression inthe Library and Information Sector, London: The Library Association.

Policy Action Team 10 (1999) A Report to the Social Exclusion Unit,London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Ruddock, Joan (1998) ‘Why Government is giving the lead inmainstreaming equality’, Mainstreaming Sex Equality in the PublicSector: Report of a Joint Equal Opportunities Commission and EuropeanCommission Conference, Manchester, Glasgow & Cardiff: EqualOpportunities Commission.

Shaw, Phyllida and Allen, Keith (1997) Artists Rights Programme: AReview of Artists’ Earnings for Exhibitions and Commissions, London:National Artists Association.

Swanson, Gillian and Wise, Patricia (1998) Digital Futures:Women’s Employment in the Multimedia Industries, Brisbane:Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy.

Swanson, Gillian and Wise, Patricia (1999) ‘ProfilingDiversity: Managing Multimedia Industry Development’,International Journal of Cultural Policy, Vol 6 No 1, Autumn.

TFPL (1999) Skills for Knowledge Management, A Briefing Paper on behalfof the Library and Information Commission, London: Library andInformation Commission, July.

Willis, Janet and Dex, Shirley (1999) Mothers Returning to TVProduction Work: Equal Opportunities in a Flexible Labour Market, WP 8/99,Cambridge: The Judge Institute of Management Studies.

Women’s National Commission (nd) Stepping Out in Public: A Woman’sGuide to Public Appointments, London: Women’s National Commission.

Women’s National Commission (1997) Growing Up Female in the UK,London: Women’s National Commission.

Women’s Unit (1998) Delivering for Women, London: CabinetOffice.

Woolf, Myra and Holly, Sara (1995) Employment Patterns andTraining Needs1994/5: Women Freelances, London: Skillset.

Woolf, Myra, Holly, Sara and Connor, Helen (1996) Engineers inBroadcasting 1995-6, London: Skillset.

Woolf, Myra, Holly, Sara and Varlaam, Carol (1994)Employment Patterns and Training Needs 1993/4: Freelance and Set CraftsResearch, London: Skillset.