The art of equality

Ninety-seven per cent of conductors and 95% of composers featured at this year’s BBC Proms are men, according to research from campaign group UK Feminista. The research also underlines that women remain a minority in many leading cultural events, prizes and exhibitions. According to the study, male artists make up 83% of those exhibited in Tate Modern, 70% of those in the Saatchi Gallery and constitute 70% of the nominees for the Turner Prize. With the Mercury Music Prize, male musicians outnumber female nominees two-to-one, while 71% of the performances at Glastonbury were by single male acts or all-male groups. Literature, film and TV appear to reveal the same pattern of imbalance, with 70% of the winners of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction being men, and just 7% of UK film directors being women. Despite this, there is perhaps a marginal bias towards women when it comes to awarding prizes: although men make up the majority of shortlists, there is less gender discrepancy when it comes to prize-winners, suggesting a tendency towards positive discrimination. Commenting on the research, novelist and critic Bidisha said “I’m angry… I blame the perpetrators, male and female, for their misogyny and man-worshipping.”

http://www.ukfeminista.org.uk