Women in the Creative Industries
KEY CONCLUSIONS
Creative industries will have an increasing presence in the world economy
“The economic aspect of creative industries is very important. The current year 2021 has been declared the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development by the UN. The creative industry is the most dynamic sector of the economy today. If we take the global average indicators or growth rates, this is 12–14% per year”, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Galina Karelova.
“The structure of workforce will change in the near future. […] Taking into account that we have a new generation [Millennials with new demands], we need the economy to create jobs that will enable these young people to be fulfilled. What are creative industries? This is when the proportion of creative labour in the cost structure of goods or services is considerable and the proportion of added value is high. That’s why the rate of growth is so high”, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Gulnaz Kadyrova.
Women are actively included in the economic development agenda of creative industries
“We have conducted a study on the role of digital services in the development of the creative economy. It turned out that half of the female entrepreneurs who consider themselves part of creative economy work in the areas of marketing, training and architecture. In 80% of cases these are micro and small businesses up to 15 people”, said Google Russia Director for Government Relations Marina Zhunich.
“I heard at the Forum that the proportion of women in creative industries is approximately 30%. Nevertheless, the one statistic that I was able to make use of says that the proportion of women in the creative industries is higher – approximately 58%”, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Galina Karelova.
PROBLEMS
Creative industries in Russia are generally underdeveloped
“In Russia, I had a look at the statistics, the proportion [in general economy structure] of the creative industries is 2–4%. This, of course, is a miniscule share. The creative sector of the economy presupposes a connection with human intellectual activity, a creative approach, and innovative technologies. And in this respect, traditional arts and crafts, creative activities, of course, first and foremost in education, in culture – all this testifies to the big contribution of women's participation in the development of the creative sector”, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Galina Karelova.
“We are quite actively exploring where Russia is located with regard to soft-power ratings. The situation is not very cheerful. According to generally accepted ratings, we are falling. And it is the creative industry, the content that can be cross-border thanks to modern technologies, that is the focus for us in order that we maintain our position and promote our cultural code all over the world”, RTVI Managing Director Olga Piven.
Women feel vulnerable when competing with men in the business environment
“It is well-known that the difference in salary in Russia between men and women is still much greater than the acceptable 30%. In case of equal competency a man evaluates himself at 120%, a woman at 70%. And this has no relation to objective indicators”, said Forbes Life, Forbes Woman Chief Editor Julia Varshavskaya.
“While the vast majority of women are involved in education – more than 80% – in science, the situation is slightly different, and it does, of course, need to be corrected. […] There are not so many young girls in laboratories. We see men working in the laboratory and among them is one woman. Nobody is making a claim for the supremacy of women”, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Elena Druzhinina said.
“It is necessary to take a step and learn to talk about one’s achievements. We are so thoroughly discussing the great potential of women’s leadership role that is demonstrated in the creative economy. But until we can talk about what we have achieved, and as long as we aren’t able to package our achievements in a way that will be attractive to investors, employers, partners, hardly anything will be achieved”, said Google Russia Director for Government Relations, Marina Zhunich.
SOLUTIONS
State support for creative industries will strengthen the role of women in them
“We can help to ensure that projects for including women themselves in the development of creative industries has support in Russia… It is necessary to adopt laws which allow the regulatory prescription of support measures, to give a more precise definition, because we have different understandings of what the creative industry is”, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Galina Karelova.
“For a rather high proportion of creative work, certain benefits are needed for people who are employed in this area. First of all, this is allowances for salary. Take IT, the industry adopted these decisions, if you remember, there was the norm in the Tax Code for a discounted rate. Such a solution was found, and, possibly, in other sectors of the creative industries, it is necessary for us to return to this issue and look at it”, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Gulnaz Kadyrova.
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