Graduation Year
2019
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Economics
Second Department
Media Studies
Reader 1
Roberto Pedace
Reader 2
Carlin Wing
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2018 Taylor Milana
Abstract
In the field of labor economics, abundant research has been conducted on the cause and magnitude of the gender wage gap in various industries in the United States. While the national gender wage gap has decreased over the last few decades, this trend has not been observed in every industry. The film industry, in particular, has experienced a notable lack of progress in both its social and economic treatment of women. Because Hollywood has significant influence in the United States, its misguided portrayal of women and failure to ensure equal pay for male and female actors sets a harmful standard for the rest of the nation. Due to the confidential nature of actors’ salaries, however, there is little research on the topic of the gender wage gap in Hollywood. Using a couple hundred observations, I examined the magnitude of the gender wage gap in Hollywood and compared the impact of gender on actors’ salaries to that of more pertinent variables, such as critical success and available finances. I concluded that gender has a greater effect on an actor’s salary than any other variable. In consideration of the relative lack of literature on this topic, I recommend several ways to further the research conducted in this study.
Recommended Citation
Milana, Taylor, "Gender Inequality in Hollywood: The Magnitude, Determinants, and Influence of the Gender Wage Gap in the Film Industry" (2019). Scripps Senior Theses. 1296.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1296
