Variety: Costume designers have been fighting for pay equity for years, gearing up for their 2021 contract negotiations by establishing a committee highlighting the difference in pay between the mostly female Costumer Designers Guild and the primarily male membership of the Art Directors Guild Local 800. According to Amy Roth, who designed costumes on “Motherless Brooklyn” and “Madame Secretary,” those gender issues are at the heart of the matter.
3 comments:
I first have to preface that my understanding of a production designer’s job is not as holistic as my understanding of a costume designer’s job. However, there were a few sentences in this article that made me really irritated, one of which being, “‘I can definitely say that we are arguing...based on it being considered women’s work.’” Women’s?? work? I am confused, but honestly the entire rationale behind the gender pay gap makes absolutely zero sense across all professions. I do not understand how two people can do identical work--two actors can play two equal roles, two designers can design an equal amount of content, two surgeons can perform the exact same procedure--and one gets paid more because of his gender. The classification of anything as a man or woman’s work just makes absolutely no sense because our actions do not have genders. I had no intention of just diving into a rant, but I am so tired of hearing about the same issues, and I am wary of the ways in which I will have to join that fight when it is my own paycheck in question.
Unfortunately, I am not surprised by this situation. As costume designers tend to be mostly women, they are undeniably paid less than production designers who are mostly men. It is really frustrating to hear about how in New York City, costume designers are paid less than some assistants who normally work 10-hour days when costume design rates are based on unlimited hours. I don't know a ton about the role of a production designer, but from what I’ve heard the job is relatively comparable to that of a costume designer and yet production designers are paid more. It is especially upsetting that not only are costume designers underpaid, but they are underappreciated. People think that anyone can be a costume designer because all they do is shop for people, when really it is so much more than that. I am really glad that the Costume Designers Guild has recognized this issue of pay disparity and is working on trying to end it. Hopefully costume designers can use social media to their advantage as well, since costume design has been more in the spotlight recently.
I agree that this is definitely an issue of gender equality which began long ago and has spiraled. I do think that it is true that culturally women are expected to make more sacrifices than men which is a sexist belief that needs to be dismantled, but for the most part, I trust that people generally believe in equal pay for equal work. I think that these issues have more to do with dismantling old institutions and educating people in the work and money that goes into costuming. Most people simply don’t even realize just how much work that is. I agree that this is an issue of gender equality, but I think that in 2020 it is more about devaluing artistic endeavors. I think if looked into it, we would probably find that our devaluing of artistic endeavors has a clear link to society’s distaste towards femininity, but that is a whole other question. Devaluing art crosses gender barriers at this point. In the past few weeks, I read an article about the rise of game designers demanding better pay. It is a very similar issue in which people who are pursing a “dream job” feel that they have no right to expect decent pay because they “get” to do what they love. This, I believe is a huge part of the pay equity issue within the costume world that is less often discussed.
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