Artists' labour market and gender: Evidence from German visual artists

Abstract

Using comprehensive data from German visual artists, we provide strong empirical evidence of a gender gap in revenues. We find that female artists have significantly lower revenues from the art market and are about ten percentage points less likely to remain in the top category over three years. This gap persists in the most prominent art forms and is more pronounced for younger artists. Only 30 to 40% of these gaps can be explained by differences in observable characteristics. We also find differences in the networking behaviour of the artists of different genders: females are connecting more, whereas males tend to create tighter links, suggesting the importance of the latter for the art market.