roles and decision-making positions.
Women have less access to funding and
face substantial pay gaps. We can dig
deeper into different sectors to get a
clear sense of the gaps women face in the
creative industry. In a study of advertising
and media companies, women were hired
on par with men at early stages of their
career, but as they rose up the career
ladder, men significantly overtook women
in the number of senior positions they
held. Women were either not getting
promoted, or they were dropping out the
career path.
The diversity problem in the technology
sector has been well documented.
While women are making great strides
in accessing Science, Technology,
Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics
(STEAM) education, studies show a
decline of women who continue to work
in the field. Only 25% of women continue
in their field after graduation as compared
to 54% of men. This suggests that women
are not getting hired in tech jobs as often
as men.
When it comes to investment, startups
with at least one female founder reported
more difficulty finding funding, with 87%
saying it was “somewhat or extremely
challenging,” while only 78% of startups
with no female founder said the same.
Inequality in access to funding means we
are likely missing out on innovations that
could positively impact society.
In film, one study found the following
stark disparities between men and
women working behind the scenes: 9%
of directors were women, and 91% male;
Pushing youth into
creative
entrepre-
neurship, as is often
touted as a solution,
without the requisite
skills and business
acumen to take their
products to mar-
ket, is also unlikely
to support youth to
make a significant
impact in the cre-
ative industry.
74 MAL35/20 ISSUE
In order for Africa to fully realize the po-
tential of this creative opportunity, we
must build an inclusive creative industry
where everyone, including women, youth,
the poor and displaced, has a seat at the
table. The ethos of the United Nations’
Sustainable Development Goals, is that
no one should be left behind.
15% of writers were women and 85%
men; executive producers: 17% female,
83% male; producers 25% female, 75%
male; editors: 20% female, 80% male;
cinematographers: 2% female, 98% male.
This means that women are largely not
involved in the key decisions about what
content gets created and how.
Africa’s youth are our greatest asset in
building a thriving creative industry. By
2050 there will be 850 million youth
in Africa, the second largest youth
population in the world after Asia. Youth
are heavy consumers and producers of
creative products. Despite this, African
youth lack the ability to make a significant
impact in the industry due to a lack of
skills and employment opportunities.
According to Kenyan university placement
reports, only 15% of youth go into arts
related courses. For those that choose
arts careers, few schools teach the skills
necessary to create high-quality creative
products for a global audience. Unless
youth learn what their international peers
are learning, they won’t be able to compete
in the global market.
A study of Kenyan employers reported
that they have jobs available but there
are no graduates with the requisite
technical skills. Unfortunately many
graduates are left to look for a job for up
to five years. Pushing youth into creative
entrepreneurship, as is often touted as a
solution, without the requisite skills and
business acumen to take their products
to market, is also unlikely to support
youth to make a significant impact in the
creative industry.
That the poor and displaced are unable to
fully access the creative industry is largely
due to structural problems caused by lack
of skills and basic infrastructure. While
universal basic education has been rolled
out across Africa, quality is lacking due to
a lack of investment and over-stretching
of resources. Without a solid basic
education it is difficult to build on the
more advanced skills necessary to create
quality creative products that can compete
on the world stage.
Unreliable
infrastructure
and
inaccessibility of essential equipment are
also huge barriers to full participation
of these groups in the creative sector.
Refugee camps like Kakuma and Dadaab
have limited access to energy and
telecommunications. A computer with
the right specs to develop a video game
would start at US$1000 before adding
the essential software. This is largely
inaccessible to people making less than $2
per day.
We Can Do Something
About This
Fortunately, the problems detailed above
are fixable. The work of many in this space
has proven to us that an inclusive creative
sector is not only possible, it is coming, if
we all keep working at it. There are three
tools at our disposal to make the creative
industry more inclusive: Education,
Mentorship, and Investment.
To address the lack of inclusion of women
in decision-making positions in the
creative industry, we advocate for more
creative education that targets girls. We
need to build a critical mass of women
in the creative industry, then we need to
mentor them to stay there. Akira Chix has
been working since 2010 to equip girls and
young women with technology skills that
they can use to work and make an impact
in the ICT sector. Their programs are
designed to build women tech leaders, and
so far 80% of their almost 200 graduates
have gotten jobs.