Gender discrimination in salaries: the case of the Spanish performing arts sector

Although gender pay gaps are a well-known fact of working life, very few studies have explored the issue within artistic fields. This paper employs logistic regression to analyze the influence of gender discrimination on salaries in the Spanish performing arts sector. Using data collected from a questionnaire survey with 726 respondents, the regression-based technique makes it possible to control for other potential influences such as education level, years of experience, and workplace characteristics. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that gender has a positive and statistically significant effect on an individual's salary. In short, this study provides evidence that policy makers and artists' organizations can draw on for the development of policies to enforce equal pay rights.