Why are these women smiling?

Simple: new research suggests lesbians like them earn more than straight women. Anita Chaudhuri reports

Later this month, the BBC will screen Rhona, the first ever lesbian sitcom, starring the irrepressible Scottish comedian Rhona Cameron. It has taken her four years to get the project off the ground and only now has the Beeb had the nerve to agree the time may finally be right.

You can't blame them for feeling jittery. After all, look what happened to Ellen, the American sitcom that infamously pulverised its own ratings by allowing the star, Ellen DeGeneres, to come out as a lesbian mid-series. She has never repeated her earlier success, though her girlfriend, Anne Heche, has become a huge star in the wake of the furore.

But it looks as though the Beeb has little to worry about. For a start, Cameron claims Rhona is not a gay sitcom. "Sure, it informs who she is, but it is not the point of the show. Ellen was a show that gradually built up to her 'coming out', while Rhona is about a woman who just happens to be gay." Just to make sure we've got the message, she cites her main influences as Rhoda and Seinfeld, carefully avoiding any reference to Queer As Folk, the series that must surely have paved the way for her show getting the green light.

In any case, how gay the series turns out to be is hardly of much consequence; in fact, in many ways, the gayer it is, the higher the ratings may turn out to be. Lesbians are chic, everyone knows this, even this week's National Enquirer, with its Hollywood Lesbians Special. The big question is why? Is it to do with an enlightened sexual consciousness or a global breaking down of taboos? Maybe - but there's another, more significant reason. It's one we should have suspected all along, from the moment Vogue cheerfully endorsed the joys of "bi-try" and from recent snaps of newly-minted Sapphic superstars Drew Barrymore and Liv Tyler coyly puckering up together.

The real reason has been unearthed by the University of Maryland in America. It pays to be gay - particularly if you're a top-ranking star in the film or entertainment industry. A study of 100 top female stars reveals that gay women earn on average $7.9m while other stars take home a mere $6m. Perhaps this is the reason why actors such as Angelina Jolie are currently flirting with lesbianism - never mind that they're married: they know it will capture the stunted imaginations of male studio executives. Brooke Shields recently posed for US gay magazine Advocate, saying she expected to marry again but in the meantime "found women very attractive". Laura Dern was photographed kissing fellow actor Amy Yasbeck and her act was applauded by singer Melissa Etheridge.

So is going gay a good career move? Actor Sophie Ward, who came out as lesbian four years ago, laughs wryly at the suggestion. "After I came out, I certainly noticed that people were a bit wary of casting me, particularly for television parts. I think there was a feeling that I wasn't safe. Even now, I get the impression with some of the more commercial roles I'm up for that they still think I'm a bit risky. But it's very hard to tell if you don't get a job just because of your sexuality. Luckily most people in the business are strong-minded and don't get swayed by it, but I think it will take time for people to relax about me."

She points out that there may be one reason why lesbians earn more money, although there are no statistics to back this up in the UK: "You have to fight very hard to get where you are as a lesbian in this business. You have to be even more assertive and I think that might be reflected in how much you ask to be paid."

Jess Search, deputy commissioning editor for independent film and video at Channel 4, believes there's a mystique about being a lesbian that may reflect in success and earning power, particularly in creative arts and the media. "It's nothing new that a male audience will find a good-looking girl more interesting if they know she's a lesbian. In general, gay women used to be seen as subcultural, something that went on behind closed doors. Now we're no longer in the ghetto, we're more socially acceptable. Men find lesbians sexy, it creates a buzz around you."

Rhona Cameron, though, is not a typical example. "Most lesbians, especially those in the public eye, suffer from Navratilova syndrome," Search says, "where you can risk coming out only when you're at the top of your game. Then you can afford to do it. That may be the reason why the women surveyed in America were seen to be earning at high levels."

Madeleine Sheahan, a lesbian and business affairs executive with a TV company, believes gay women are not usually fantasy figures. "Most lesbians live smaller, more ordinary lives than anyone else. Men aren't really interested in us, unless there's a prospect that they might get sexually involved with two women. Otherwise it's boring to them. They tend to think women who end up with women do that because they are somehow disappointed in love or, worse, can't get anyone else. That's why they love Anne Heche - she defies all that. In reality, though, most lesbians aren't like that and they are not advantaged by their sexuality."

The University of Maryland study also examined the earning power of women employed in all sectors and found that lesbians in their mid-40s earned a third more than their straight counterparts. Seth Sanders, the economics professor who led the research, asserts that the reason for this imbalance is that lesbians will have known from an early age that they will have to be economically self-sufficient and also that they will not have children.

"This is absolute rubbish," counters Jo Monroe, a lesbian who runs a website for the television industry. "Many, many lesbians I know have children and many of them were married and had kids before they were confident enough to come out. Also, the childless lesbians I know tend to conform to the stereotype of being social workers or teachers, earning £20,000 per year. It's true that there are women like me who have set up our own businesses but that doesn't mean just because we're lesbians we're somehow going to be earning loads of money."

Jocelyn Watson is the lesbian caseworker for employment at the Lesbian and Gay Alliance, which provides help and advice for the gay and lesbian community. She claims she takes calls from women experiencing discrimination difficulties over parity of pay in many different sectors, including the film and TV industries. "I would strongly refute that the earning power of lesbians in this country is higher than that of their colleagues. Women are discriminated against across the pay scales and opportunities are limited. There's still a problem for women to be out and open with their sexuality. It may be fine for Hollywood stars and women in America for whom there are lots of opportunities, but here the big issue for lesbians is how they are going to get a job in the first place."