Volume 10, Number 5
Unraveling Gender and Race Bias in Fashion Design Careers
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| The responses offer a general indication of professional education needs to support future fashion design success. When looking for racial differences on perceptions of business and entrepreneurial skill development while at their institutions, there were no statistically significant differences. However, there were significant differences when comparing on gender, with the women more likely to believe they received adequate entrepreneurial skills training than the men. These findings are interesting to note and bear further investigation of the perception of the quality of the education received, the expectations of the students in their future careers, and the relationship between the education offered and the translated value of that education in hiring, wages, and promotions. The SNAAP income data parallels national fashion industry data showing women fashion designers are paid an average of $20,000 less per year than men (Fashion Designers, 2019; United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), 2021). The salary variance between men and women, according to the design industry numbers, show that male designers are paid an average of $20k more than their female colleagues. This difference equates to over $400m annually. The impact for the industry is substantial and the consequences for the individual are staggering. Figure 2 highlights the mean salary variance for gender within the SNAAP data. Additionally, within the SNAAP sample the White and Asian alumni reported receiving the highest levels of income while incurring the least impact of the school loan debt. |
| Discussion As designers and design professors with a combined five decades of experience, we have witnessed power imbalances throughout the fashion industry in hiring and promotion and classroom practices. The majority of design classrooms are filled with young women who have set their sights on becoming fashion designers, yet why more women have not achieved the top industry leadership roles tugs at our consciences as educators and industry professionals. As researchers, we are interested in revealing the following: 1) what barriers are keeping women and BIPOC’s fashion dreams from being realized, 2) how can coursework support change in industry biases, and 3) how do socio-cultural norms challenge women’s expectations for career success. We parsed the SNAAP data to uncover significant deviations, looking for diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and career biases experienced within the sample population. The SNAAP data aligns with much of the existent fashion literature identification of the career barriers that constrict the advancement of women and BIPOC populations in the fashion industry. |
Recommendations for Future Research
The social and cultural turbulence in the world today has ignited a global charge for equity across industries, continents, and mindsets. The SNAAP fashion alumni data offer insight into the gendered and racial challenges faced by fashion design graduates in seeking industry employment. Additional research is needed to investigate industry hiring and promotion practices to identify the path for diverse, inclusive, and equitable future fashion design careers. Insufficient empirical research exists on women’s and BIPOC’s experiences related to career barriers in the feminized fashion industry. Future SNAAP research investigating gender and racial bias in feminized industries will encourage inclusive career programming supporting post-graduation design career goals and successful navigation of career paths, regardless of student positionality.
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03.21.24
Volume 12, Number 1
Polyoccupationalism: Multiple Occupational Identification in the Arts
06.28.23
Volume 11, Number 2
Campus Connections for Creative Careers
06.28.23
Volume 11, Number 3
Arts Bachelor’s Graduates with $10,000+ in Student Loans are Less Likely to Work as Artists
05.17.23
Volume 11, Number 1
Does creative coursework predict educational, career, and community engagement outcomes for arts alumni?
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Arts and Design Alumni
The authors of this report, Dr. Rachel Skaggs, Dr. Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard and Dr. Jeff Barbee, provide insight into arts and design graduates whose work is — or before the pandemic was — in the arts, design, or creative realm by examining their working lives, economic lives, and the skills that they needed to attain or update during the first two years of the pandemic in the United States. This report was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
