The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Women in media are underpaid but more qualified than men says new report

Author

By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 17, 2010 | 5 min read

A new report examining the gender imbalance in the media industry shows that women are under represented and under paid compared to their male counterparts.

The new report Women in the Creative Media Industries provides a comprehensive picture of the imbalances faced by women working in the sector, examining evidence gathered by Skillset since 1999.

Skillset’s research shows a stark gender imbalance in the audio-visual industries where the proportion of women dropped from 38 per cent to 27 per cent between 2006 and 2009.

The television industry also has the greatest disparity in average earnings between men (£39,000) and women (£32,500). And while three-quarters (75 percent) of men working in the industry are aged 35 and over, this is true of just over half (52 per cent) of women. Last year, Skillset’s Employment Census revealed that 5,000 women had left the television industry between 2006 and 2009, compared with just 750 men.

Other findings in the report showed:

• 42% of the creative media industry’s workforce is female, compared with 46% of the workforce across the wider economy.

• A higher proportion of employees than freelancers are women – 38% compared to 34%.

• Representation is highest in sectors comprising larger employers in which more stable, permanent employment models are common, such as terrestrial television (48%), broadcast radio (47%), cinema exhibition (43%), and book publishing (61%).

• In some sectors there has been a massive drop between 2006 and 2009, including independent production for television, from 46% to 38%, animation, down from 34% to 20%, and interactive content design (32% to 5%).

• 51% of women are aged 35 or over compared with 64% of men. Even adjusting for increased levels of female new entrants in recent years, women have been leaving the industry before or during middle age.

• 35% of men in the industry have dependent children living with them but only 23% of women, suggesting that many women leave the industry as a consequence of starting a family.

• Many women have reported the demands of combining a freelance career as a crew member with raising a family as especially onerous due to uncertain and long hours, unpredictable timing of contracts and so forth. Such occupations are liable to experience the highest levels of drainage of female talent.

• On average, men in the industry earn substantially more than women - £34,669 compared with £29,015 (excluding photo imaging and publishing). This difference remains significant even when other factors are adjusted for (such as the lower age profile of women in the workforce).

• A higher proportion of women are graduates than men – 57% compared with 54%. A far higher proportion hold postgraduate degrees (35% compared with 28%, excluding publishing) or media studies degrees (65% compared with 41%, excluding publishing).

• Women are more likely to have received training than men (63% compared with 55%), but also more likely to report training needs (55% compared with 51%). Men with training needs are slightly more likely than women to experience barriers to receiving the training they need (all figures exclude publishing).

Skillset’s executive director of policy and development, Kate O’Connor, said: “These statistics point to a significant need for intervention to redress the imbalances between men and women in our industries. Skillset is proud to lead this charge with the launch of a range of initiatives that are aimed directly at improving the skills and career progression of women working in the film and television industries.”

Skillset has developed a raft of initiatives to seek to redress these imbalances that include two high-level mentoring schemes, a commitment to target at least 50 per cent of training bursaries at women and a series of masterclasses.

The mentoring schemes will pair women from the film and television industries with top leaders from a range of industries to help them take their careers to the next level.

Skillset has also made a broader commitment to make sure that at least half of all its training bursaries will be targeted at women. This includes the recently launched management and leadership and multiplatform bursary schemes, as well as forthcoming bursaries for craft and technical and health and safety training.

The first scheme, which has been developed by Women in Film and TV and is being jointly funded by Skillset and the UK Film Council, will provide one-on-one mentorship to 16 mid-career level women in film and television over six months.

It will address the career development needs of experienced and talented women who have the potential to become industry role models and leaders, but who are at a pivotal point in their careers. This could include, for example, dealing with new responsibilities as part of a promotion, or coping with a change in work/life balance due to maternity leave.

These women will benefit from a range of seminars, training and networking events that will enhance their mentoring experience.

Leading mentoring and networking consultant Annmarie Dixon-Barrow will also run a series of Skillset-funded initiatives to connect women from the television industry with industry leaders from throughout the UK.

This includes the WOMEN mentoring programme that will pair 25 women with industry leaders from around the world via a virtual network. Recruitment will begin on 1 October, with the programme starting in November. Annmarie will also run six master-classes featuring the advice and insights of people who have made it to the top of their fields, and a Talent Boutique that will provide 100 people from TV with an opportunity to meet, hear and talk to a range of professional from across the industry.

Skillset has also secured funding for a limited number of training bursaries of up to £600 via the government’s Women and Work scheme.

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +