The Australia Council has today released its report Culture and the Gender Pay Gap For Australian Artists. Prepared by David Throsby, Katya Petetskaya and Sunni Y. Shin, the report expands upon its preliminary findings from 2020 and examines the income inequality between female and male artists in Australia, and the further income disadvantage faced by women artists from non-English speaking backgrounds.

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“Australian women are highly involved in arts, often spending more time than their male counterparts on creative practice. Despite this, female artists continue to earn less than men – in fact, the pay gap in the arts is almost double the pay gap in other industries,” said Georgie McClean, the Australia Council’s Executive Director Strategic Development and Partnerships.

“This research also highlights that women who speak a first language other than English are further disadvantaged: they suffer a ‘triple penalty’ in creative earnings.”

The report predicted that female artists earn 27% less than male artists, with women earning 30% less from creative work. This is almost double the gender pay gap of 14.1% found in...