WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION

WEBSITES

STATISTICS

  • The World Economic Forum ranks the US 51st in terms of gender equality out of 149 countries.
  • In 2018, for every dollar white men were paid: Black women were paid .62, Hispanic women were paid .54, Asian women were paid .90, American Indian women were paid .57, and white women were paid .79.
  • Causes of the gender wage gap (all influenced by discrimination):
    Differences in industries or jobs worked – some genders are funneled into different industries, steered into lower-paying and less desirable sectors
    Differences in years of experience – women are often forced out to accommodate caregiving
    Differences in hours worked – often due to caregiving and other obligations
  • In 2019, only 19% of workers have access to paid family leave through their employers and only 40% had access to short-term disability insurance benefits
  • Gender based pay discrimination has been illegal since 1963 but is still frequent and widespread, particularly for women of color.


FEMALE ARTIST REPRESENTATION

  • An analysis of 18 major US Art Museums found that their collections are 87% male and 85% white. (Artnet Study)
  • 11% of all acquisitions at 26 prominent US museums over the past decade were of work by women artists.
  • The same ArtNet study found that for temporary shows, only 14% featured female artists in solo exhibitions or were the majority in a group exhibition.
  • From the 16th-19th centuries, women were barred from studying nude models, which formed the basis of academic training.
  • One of the leading standard art history textbooks, Janson’s History of Art, included no mention of women artists until 1986. Even now, less than 1% of the artists represented are women of color.
  • The all-time record for artwork sold at auction by a woman is Georgia O’Keefe at $44.4 million, while for a man is Leonardo da Vinci at $450.3 million.
  • Over 60% of MFA students are women, but galleries only show 30% women artists.
  • A bias has been suggested among private collectors. Some still tend to favor male artists despite the historic under-representation of women. Buying work from up and coming female artists has been called ‘a gamble’ and ‘risk.’


GUERILLA GIRLS

‘The Guerrilla Girls are feminist activist artists. We wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. Our anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from who we might be: we could be anyone and we are everywhere. We believe in an intersectional feminism that fights discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders. We undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. We have done hundreds of projects (posters, actions, books, videos, stickers) all over the world. We also do interventions and exhibitions at museums, blasting them on their own walls for their bad behavior and discriminatory practices, including our 2015 stealth projection on the façade of the Whitney Museum about income inequality and the super rich hijacking art.’

TERMS AND LEGISLATURE

  • Gender equity: The process of allocating resources, programs, and decision making fairly to all genders without discrimination.
  • Occupational segregation: The distribution of people across and within occupations and jobs, based on demographic characteristics, most often gender.
  • Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: passed in 2009, allows employees to challenge discrimination pay practices in court
  • Equality Act: A bill currently in Congress, that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federal programs, credit, and jury service. It passed the House in February 2021.
  • Paycheck Fairness Act: A bill currently in Congress, that, if passed, will give employees access to legal tools to challenge the wage gap.


HOW TO GET INVOLVED

  • Visit and support solo female and group exhibitions.
  • Contact your local legislators to support bills that empower women.
  • Encourage the acquisition of work by female artists where possible. Museums like the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts are so committed to addressing under-representation that they sold a famous Edward Hopper painting to acquire new works by women.


LOCAL NEWS

  • In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed four meaningful acts for women’s rights:
    Virginia Values Act is the first anti-discrimination law in VA, providing protections against discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, pregnancy, childbirth, age, etc.
    Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers with five or more employees to provide reasonable pregnancy accommodations and prohibits discrimination because a worker is pregnant or lactating.
    Seeking an abortion will no longer require a medically unnecessary ultrasound and a 24 hour wait.
    Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Right Amendment, pushing the US over the ¾ requirement to approve an amendment to the constitution.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

YWCA South Hampton Roads: https://www.ywca-shr.org/who-we-are/
Virginia National Org for Women: https://vanow.org/
Real Women Collective Action: https://rwcanow.org/
Junior Leagues: https://www.jlhr.org/ and https://www.jlnvb.org/
Women in Hampton Roads: https://leanin.org/circles-network/women-of-hampton-roads


VIDEO + PODCASTS

What people miss about the gender wage gap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XU4fMlN3w
Why are women paid less than men? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpE8ttCEd-w
Can you name 5 women artists? https://nmwa.org/support/advocacy/5womenartists/shareable-content/
VAM 2021, Andrea Crivello & Katie Reynolds, “5 Things to Know about Gender Equity”:  Session Recording: 5 Things to Know about Gender Equity 
Your Neighbor’s Hood Podcast (Episode 41: Complicated & Contentious-The Women’s March; March 2019): https://open.spotify.com/episode/7hECILivQUTCPgJXSPBt8D?si=U3u2n4aJT3eRp2v6MitZig  
Your Neighbor’s Hood Podcast (Episode 69: Health & Healing Part 1)  https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qlQLbk6i9JVIh2MSE34td?si=b57UFd8rSYOHBcWHJU56jQ

 

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