Unequal opera-tunities: gender inequality and non-standard work in US opera production

• Date: 10 October 2023
• Pages: 268-282
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0071
• Published date: 10 October 2023
• Author: Caitlin Vincent,Amanda Coles

Unequal opera-tunities: gender

inequality and non-standard work

in US opera production

Caitlin Vincent

Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia, and

Amanda Coles

Department of Management, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –This paper examines the US opera sector as a means for interrogating how varying forms of non-

standard work shape gender inequality in the creative industries.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors draw on 16 seasons of opera production data from

Operabase.com to conduct a gender-based exploratory data analysis of the key creative roles of conductor,

director and designers, as well as the hiring networks through which teams are formed, at the 11 largest opera

companies in the United States.

Findings –The authors findthat women, as a group, experienced gender-based disadvantage across the key creative

roleso f opera production,but particularly in the artistic leadership roles of conductor and director. The authors also find

that women’s exclusion in the field is being further perpetuated by the sector’s non-standard and overlapping

employment structures, which impacts women practitioners’professional visibility and career opportunities.

Practical implications –The study can help organizations implement strategic hiring practices that

acknowledge the relationship between genderinequality and varying forms of non-standard work with the aim

of increasing women’s representation.

Originality/value –This study work establishes the scale of gender inequality operating within a sector that

has received minimal scholarly attention as a site of employment. The study analysis also offers important

insight for the wider creative industries and highlights opportunities to redress gender inequality in other

sectors where project-based work is prevalent.

Keywords Gender inequality, Non-standard work, Creative and cultural industries, Opera production,

Stage directors, Conductors

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Gendered power relations in the creative industries systemically advantage men across

occupations, organizations and sectors. As a growing body of scholarship demonstrates,

gender inequality is particularly sharp in the performing arts and screen industries, fields

which rely on varying forms of non-standard work (Conor et al., 2015;Eikhof, 2017). The UN’s

International Labour Organization defines non-standard work as “an employment

relationship that deviates from the st andard model: full time, indefinite, an d in a

subordinate relationship”(Gruber, 2019, p. 3). Non-standard work can include temporary

or part-time work, dependent self-employment and work conducted for multiple employers—

all forms of labor that commonly characterize career trajectories in the arts. The norms,

values and practices that underpin project-based non-standard work have been shown to be

key drivers of gender inequality across the creative industries (Hennekam and Bennett, 2017).

However, there has been limited consideration of the diversity of forms of non-standard work

and the subsequent impact these can have on gender inequality within arts organizations.

Our paper uses the US opera sector as a means for interrogating how the variable nature of

the employment relationship can perpetuate or mitigate gender inequality in field where

EDI

43,2

268

The work was supported by the University of Melbourne [ECR 2021].

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 7 March 2023

Revised 3 August 2023

Accepted 7 September 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 2, 2024

pp. 268-282

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0071