Gender pay gap in Australian arts almost double that in other industries, research finds

Female artists on average spend longer hours on their creative practice than male artists in addition to being paid less, according to the report. Photograph: Eva Carollo Photography/Getty Images

The gender pay gap for women working in Australian arts industries is almost double the size of the pay gap in the overall workforce, research commissioned by the Australia Council has found.

A survey of professionals across the performing and visual arts found overall incomes for women were 25% less than their male counterparts. When cultural factors such as English as a second language were taken into account, that delivered to NESB artists a “triple income penalty”, increasing the pay gap even further – but only among female practitioners. Having a first language other than English did not appear to affect male artists’ earnings at all.