Gender Inequality in British Columbia’s Heritage Sector: Results from the British Columbia Association of Professional Archaeologist 2021 Wage Survey

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study argues that gender equity in archaeology promotes an emotionally, financially, and intellectually supported workforce, which in turn, can strengthen the overall quality of commercial archaeology. In 2021, the British Columbia Association of Professional Archaeologists conducted a survey of heritage professionals to investigate remuneration in the sector and to better understand gender-based inequities. We found that cis-females comprise 59.4% of the workforce in British Columbia and form the majority of workers in all professional roles. Yet, on average, they earn 8.54% less than cis-males in similar roles. The majority of cis-male respondents (69%) report occupying decision-making positions compared to 50% of cis-female respondents. Most cis-female respondents (73%) indicate low wages, limited mentoring, and minimal professional advancement as key factors in their overall employment satisfaction, thus limiting equitability and diversity in the sector. We argue that the commercial sector maintains a “boys club” culture that enables homogeneity in perspectives and promotes cis-male employees in archaeological research and practice. Without deliberate intervention, this situation mutes non-cis-male voices and can result in frustration, burnout, and the rapid departure of skilled labor. Departure of non-cis-male voices can further diminish diversity in archaeology and can perpetuate an imbalanced state-of-affairs in this sector.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35554.0