95bFM UNESCO Report Highlights Gender Gaps in Creative Industries
28 April, 2026
Interview by Pranuja Tahal, adapted by Chloe Porter
UNESCO studies on gender equity have identified significant gender gaps within creative industries. Across 100 countries, women make up a large share of the creative workforce; however, they remain underrepresented in positions of power, play, and visibility.
Associate Professor of Communications at the University of Auckland, Bridget Conor, spoke to 95bFM’s The Wire about what's driving these inequalities, and what's at stake if they continue. A new UNESCO report tracking how countries are meeting the 2005 Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions has found that gender equality in creative industries is still falling short.
The 2005 Convention is focused particularly on how culture supports human rights, fundamental freedoms, and artistic freedom. The latest report examines how the different nation-states are implementing cultural policy mechanisms, including how they fund and support cultural diversity.
In the report, Conor points out an interesting tension. “While women make up a large percentage of the workforce in creative industries, they aren't reflected in any leadership or governance roles.” This growing participation is a positive shift, but it does not make up for the lack of equality in decision-making positions or pay across the industry.
Conor suggests that this imbalance could be created because “gender equality is not considered to be a largely important factor when making and setting cultural policy goals.” The 2005 convention does not recognise gender equity as essential to upholding cultural expression. One of the report's key recommendations is, therefore, to place gender equity at the forefront of policy goals.
The report also raises concerns about the increase in online abuse against women and its impact on women's participation in creative spaces. While digital tools might offer opportunities for creative workers, there is a rise of what UNESCO terms “tech-facilitated gender-based violence.” Women are far more likely than men to face harassment, trolling, and other forms of online abuse.
“So rather than the digital environment offering new kinds of exciting creative avenues, it's, again, shutting women out of these industries.”
Conor notes that these harms are extensions of existing inequalities in our society: “offline gender-based harms are being replicated in these online spaces.” This becomes concerning as biases and misogyny are being built into new technologies. She specifically points to generative AI, which has been known to reproduce gender bias.
Although it is “hard to make causal links”, Conor states that these biases don't occur in isolation. The industries developing these new technologies are “largely dominated by white men”, with studies showing that 90% of developers identify as men. So Conor reiterates the need to “question whose perspectives are embedded in the architecture of large language models and other AI systems.”
Without change, these patterns risk reinforcing the very inequalities that cultural policy seeks to address. As the UNESCO report makes clear, progress is possible, but far from guaranteed. Ensuring that gender equity in creative industries is about protecting the diversity, freedom, and integration of culture itself.
“The stakes are very high; we really need to be focused on how we want to ensure fundamental freedoms are not erased.”
