Gender and creative industries: An introduction

Interdisciplinary Elecitve Course

This course investigates gender issues in the creative and cultural industries. The creative and cultural industries cover business-related industries such as films, TV, video and music industries, but also cultural sectors such as museums, galleries and libraries. However, given that a large number of female workers and activists are working in the creative industries, the problem of unequal gender opportunities still exists. Women are still often perceived to be less creative than men. The unequal and unnoticed lives of women are often obscured by high-profile and highly-paid male workers who normally assume the leadership roles in the creative industries. Further, the gender-related barriers that exist in other industry sectors are also prevalent within the creative and cultural sectors. The key issues in the creative industries are exemplified by the opportunity gap, wage gap and perception gap. By analysing the development of selected sectors of the creative industries, this course explore discriminatory issues relating to gender and the ways and means available to narrow inequality between men and women.