Women and Leadership in the Creative Industries: A Commentary

Within this commentary, we outline three broad areas impacting on women’s advancement to leadership within the creative industries: creative work as privileged precarity; valorising the myth of creative genius; networks and social capital. In doing so, we call for greater research that understands the lived experiences of women in leadership in the creative industries and the specific boundary conditions that differentiate the creative industries from other organisational and industry contexts. A greater understanding of the lived experiences and paths to leadership moves beyond challenging and exposing inequalities within the creative industries; it recognises the cultural influence of the creative industries which manufactures the narratives that define societal values and norms (Oakley and O'Brien 2016). Representation and leadership matters: the creative industries tell the stories that shape the societies in which we live.