Data Byte: Connecting the Dots 2024 Update
#YesThisIsAnArtsStory
Published 7/9/2024
Connecting the Dots – #YesThisIsAnArtsStory is the third Data Byte focusing on mothers in the dance economy. Mainstream arts & dance organizations have ignored the impact of lack of child care resources and federally mandated parental leave on the ability of women to remain and thrive in the performing arts, especially dance, which demographically is at least 2/3rds female. In 2024 child care costs have reached a crisis level with families on average spending 24% of their household earnings v. what is considered an affordable 7% level. More than one-third (35%) of families are also using their savings to cover the cost of child care. Increasing child care costs and unavailable child care resources forces working mothers to partially or fully leave the workforce, which results in an increased gender wage gap for all women. By contrast business advocates like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Bloomberg, and McKinsey & Company have recognized the need for paid leave and better child care provisions, but arts organizations continue to show underwhelming support for working women in the arts, in great measure because the US, alone among developed countries, has no national safety net in place, placing the burden solely on individual companies and parents.
DDP is calling on all national arts organizations, but especially those like the NEA, AFTA and Dance/USA to prioritize parental leave and child care. Dance Data Project understands that working women and mothers are the pillars of the dance industry, and the prioritization of their needs is key to this industry’s success.
Data Byte: Connecting the Dots 2022 Update – #YesThisIsAnArtsStory
Published 5/1/22
Connecting the Dots is an ongoing campaign by DDP to advocate for the acknowledgment of the pandemic’s effect on women in the arts by policy makers, journalists, and funding organizations. DDP’s April 2021 databyte sourced over 60 articles and studies to reflect the generational suffering of women at the expense of COVID 19’s global impact. This year’s Data Byte dives deeper into this narrative, highlighting the pandemic’s even stronger hold on women as men have now completely recouped all their workforce losses.
Data Byte: Connecting the Dots- #YesThisIsAnArtsStory
Published 4/1/21
Connecting the Dots is an ongoing campaign by DDP to advocate for the acknowledgement of the pandemic’s effect on women in the arts by policy makers, journalists, and funding organizations. The campaign features over 60 articles and studies, reflecting the generational set-backs that women across the globe face as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. This Data Byte is a compilation of the most salient facts from the campaign, available for download and easy to read and share.
Every day another headline points out an enduring issue, now being exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Women bear an unequal burden of childcare and domestic responsibilities. As a result, women often drop out of the workforce, which in turn subjects them to more discrimination, and perpetuates a culture in which women are historically underrepresented in positions of leadership and decision-making.
The arts are no exception. Women are overrepresented in arts jobs, yet too often underrepresented in leadership positions. And as the pandemic continues, women continue to suffer the majority of job losses resulting from shutdowns and other austerity measures taken by arts organizations.
As the impacts of the pandemic begin to be studied, experts say that the economic and professional fortunes of women may be set back an entire generation. DDP is determined to bring attention to this issue which thus far has gone largely unrecognized in the arts field, especially in dance. DDP’s campaign will follow two parallel stories: the effects of the pandemic on women and the effects of the pandemic on the arts, in an effort to find the intersection, generate conversation and in-depth reporting, and create actionable steps toward a more equitable arts industry so that women can maintain and move into leadership positions in the months to come. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing information daily about the economic impact of the pandemic on women in the arts. You can search the hashtag #YesThisIsAnArtsStory on X or visit the dropdown #YesThisIsAnArtsStory on our blog to follow along and share.
