2003-01-23

One of the most dynamic sectors of the labour market is the culture industries. Studies have shown that this sector has been expanding at a rate near to or beyond the overall growth of some national or regional economies and it is expected that employment rates will double in the next ten years. The fields which make up this sector, including everything from visual or performing arts to multimedia production, have been heralded as ones which can secure sustainable employment, reinforce endogenous regional potentials and shape the future through high levels of creativity and innovation via a market in which the majority of goods and services are non-substitutable.

One of the reasons for its exponential growth over the last 20 years has been explained by the increase of women working in various professional fields. Recent transnational empirical studies have indicated, however, that their representation in various occupations and at different stages of cultural production can range from below 10% (e.g. in some of the music professions) to over 60% in fields, which are today deemed "feminised".

The European Research Institute for Comparative Cultural Policy and the Arts (ERICarts) has initiated a transnational research project in co-operation with Finn-EKVIT (Helsinki), Mediacult (Vienna) and the Observatorio das Actividades Culturais (Portugal) to investigate the gate-keeping systems in the cultural labour markets and the impact that gatekeepers have on the career development of women working in the arts and media professions after they leave school .