Gender pay gap in cultural sector narrows

The gender pay gap in the cultural sector is closing, newly published figures from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) indicate.

The latest statistics from the department show that, as of April 2024 the median annual gross pay for women working in the cultural sector stood at £29,434, up from £27,716 in April 2023, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%.

In contrast, the median annual gross pay of men has fallen, standing at £35,424 in April 2024 compared to £36,402 the previous year, equating to a decrease of 2.7%.

While the findings highlight that a gender pay gap in the cultural sector persists, it does point to the gap closing. In April 2024, the difference in median annual gross pay was equal to women earning 83.1 pence for every £1 earned by men, compared to 76.1 pence for every £1 earned by men in April 2023.

Last year’s result brings the gap back to levels recorded in 2021 when women’s median annual gross salary was equal to 84.1 pence for every £1 earned by men.

In 2022, women were found to be earning 74.4 pence for every £1 earned by men, representing the largest gender pay gap within the sector recorded in recent years.

Hourly rate pay gap lessens

The pay gap between men and women is also decreasing when considering median hourly gross pay, which is the metric DCMS uses to publish its official gender pay gap estimates.

The department found a gender pay gap in the cultural sector of 10.9% as of April 2024, equivalent to women earning 89.1 pence for every £1 earned by men.

The result reversed an upward trend recorded the year before when the gender pay gap increased to 15.9%, equivalent to women earning 84.1 pence for every £1 earned by men.

To put this year’s figures in a wider context, there is currently less of a gender pay gap in the cultural sector than the UK average across all sectors, which stood at 13.1% last April.

The cultural sector is also performing better than the creative industries, where the gender pay gap fell slightly to 18.3% in 2024, down from 18.8% in 2023.

DCMS includes roles in heritage, film, libraries, literature, museums and galleries, performing arts, public broadcasting and the visual arts in its statistics for the cultural sector.

The department’s statistics covering the creative industries encompass roles in publishing, computer games, film, TV, music and radio.

DCMS’s latest Employment and Annual Population Survey, published last June and covering 2023, found women were outearning men in some cultural and creative subsections, including music, performance and visual arts.