Creatives’ pay not on par

As a follow-up to its report “Artists in the Workforce, 1990-2005,” released in June, the National Endowment for the Arts is releasing today the results of a closer examination of the gender pay gap between male and female artists discovered by the original study.

Surprise: Female artists earn less.

Sunil Iyengar, the NEA’s director of research and analysis, and research analyst Bonnie Nichols, the primary author of the study, said that the gender pay gap is wider for artists working in the competitive big-city arts capitals such as Los Angeles and New York City. “We see a more traditional pattern” in the big cities, Nichols said.

The gender pay gap increases with age and varies by occupation; female performing artists, including dancers, actors and musicians, have more parity with their male peers than women in nonperforming arts occupations, including designing and art direction.

Another finding: Female artists are as likely to be married as other women but less likely to have children.

-- Diane Haithman