Date of Award
Summer 8-17-2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MA Museum Professions
Department
Communication and the Arts
Advisor
Petra Chu, Ph.D.
Committee Member
n/a
Committee Member
n/a
Committee Member
n/a
Committee Member
n/a
Keywords
gender, museum, salary, pay inequity
Abstract
This thesis seeks to unpack the intricate cycle of gender discrimination and pay inequity that plagues art museums, and calls for top-down solutions that will affect systemic change. The predominately female museum workforce has perpetuated salaries that often do not represent a living wage – women did not choose to enter a low-paying field, the field is low-paying because it is disproportionately female. Ultimately, the field should confront the ethical dimensions of substandard salaries, and director-staff wage gaps, by making significant changes at the board level and incorporating salary standard language into the AAM’s Code of Ethics. Beyond this moral/ethical imperative is an economic one – pay equity leads to better workforce performance, thus better quality programs/exhibitions, and ultimately brings the field closer to their holy grail of a larger, more engaged, and diversified audience.
Recommended Citation
Nie, Taryn R., ""Far Too Female": Museums as the New Pink-Collar Profession - An Introductory Analysis of Pay Inequity within American Art Museums" (2017). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2315.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2315
