Here are some data related to gender equity in the arts:
l Based on 3.050 galleries on Artsy’s database, there are only 16% established women artists (having an auction record), while the “unestablished” female artists reach 36% (whose work has never been sold at auction). (2019).
l According to a joint investigation by In Other Words and Artnet News, the art market obtained more profits from men-made artworks than that produced by women. More than $196.6 billion has been spent on art at auction between 2008 and the first five months of 2019. Of this, work made by women accounts for just $4 billion—around 2 percent.
l ACS (American Community Survey) data indicate that women fine artists, art directors, and animators, and women photographers, earn $0.74 for every dollar men visual artists and photographers earn. (2012-2016).
l Studies over the last five years have shown women received only about a quarter of the big solo shows in Europe and the US. (2020). Across the 20 most popular exhibitions around the world in 2017, only one was by a female artist: Yayoi Kusama.
l Women made up a significant proportion of art museum staff. However, men still hold a higher proportion in the leadership positions, such as art curators and museum leaders. (2015-2018)
l Peter Gerdman, the head of research at ArtTactic, offered a glimmering of hope, three out of the top five selling African artists at auction are women. (2019)
l Although the price of women’s artworks is still lower than that produced by men, the latest study from Sotheby’s Mei Moses points out that women’s prices are rising at a much faster rate than prices for works by men. (2019).
You can find out more on https://nmwa.org/support/advocacy/get-facts/
Source: National Endowment for the Arts. “Artists and Other Cultural Workers: A Statistical Portrait,” April 2019. https://nmwa.org/
Sources: MFA students—Steinhauer, Jillian, “Tallying Art World Inequality, One Gallery at a Time,” Hyperallergic, March 27, 2014. Gallery statistic in the article above and validated in the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, as reported in The Art Newspaper, January 25, 2019. https://nmwa.org/
Why women are undervalued and under-represented in the arts?
According to Clare McAndrew, an economist, the lack of representation of women in art, especially in the art market, is partly caused by “normal” discrimination and cultural biases across the industries aspects. Discrimination against women can be found in every part of the industries, from galleries, curators, media, to collectors and buyers. Gender biases make women in art get paid less. Marina Gertsberg, a visiting research scholar at Yale University’s School of Management, also says that buyers are still reluctant to pay high prices for work by female artists.
Patriarchal and gender bias views in arts tend to value women’s artworks within the traditional male framework success. The definition and art’s values are dictated by a patriarchal viewpoint, without considering what art and success in art meant for women.
How can we change?
The more friendly-women atmosphere in the arts can happen only when more equity opportunities are given or taken by women themselves. All stakeholders in the arts (artists, galleries, collectors, curators, art critics, and museums) need to encourage more women’s artworks to be displayed and valued. There are some good practices for that such as organize a solo exhibition of woman artist, collect more women’s artworks than ever before, and open up more opportunities for women to become artists, curators, and art critics.