Data obtained from American artists in the 1980 Census of Population shows that both women and minorities increased their participation in the American artist labor force between 1970 and 1980. Gains by women were most spectacular. Their numbers increased at a rate of growth over twice as great as men. The 1980 data shows an increase of 162% over the number of women artists in 1970, while men increased 53%.
-Women increased their numbers in the artist labor force by 253,901 persons from 1970 to 1980, a 162% gain over the 157,165 women artists in 1970. Men increased their numbers in the artist occupations by the smaller number of 232,726 persons in the same period. They had a much greater 1970 base of 441,901, but increased by only 53%.
-In terms of rates of growth, women artists increased at an annually compounded rate of 10.09% during the decade, while men in the artist occupations increased at a rate of only 4.32%. As a result, women in the artist occupations in 1980 constituted 37.9% of the totai artist labor force compared with 26.2% in 1970.
-The increase of 11.7 percentage points in the proportion of women artists in the artist labor force between 1970 and 1980 was two and a half times greater than the 4.5% increase in the proportion of women in all occupations of the U.S. civilian labor force during this same time period.
-In 1970, five states had a smaller than 20% proportion of women artists in their labor forces. These five states were: New Mexico, New Hampshire, Vermont, North Dakota and Wyoming. By 1880, there were no states that had a smaller proportion of women artists in their artist labor force than 30%.
-Hawaii, with 35.5% women artists in 1970, had the greatest proportion in its artist labor force. By 1980, 45 states exceeded the 1970 top state's proportion of women in their artist labor forces. The leading state in terms of