Persistent Gender Gap: Representation in Australia's Galleries

The National Gallery of Australia has implemented a five-year gender equity action plan, including the Know My Name initiative, aiming for a 50-50 gender representation target. (Supplied: NGA)

The latest national report has identified a continued significant under-representation of women artists in Australia's taxpayer-funded galleries, despite women and non-binary individuals representing the majority of visual arts graduates. According to the 2022 Countess Report, women artists feature in only 33.6% of the programs at state galleries.

This disparity exists even though almost two-thirds of visual arts graduates are female or non-binary, with male graduates making up just 21%. The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) has called for immediate action from galleries and governmental bodies to achieve gender parity.

The Countess Report, an independent, artist-run initiative started in 2008 by Melbourne-based artist Elvis Richardson, aims to address the lack of accessible data on gender representation in major galleries. Now supported by a team of four researchers and backed by institutions like NAVA, Creative Australia, and the Sheila Foundation, this report marks its third comprehensive sector-wide survey. It covers over 21,000 artists and arts workers from more than 450 galleries.

Co-editors Miranda Samuels and Shevaun Wright observed that gender representation has either stagnated or declined across various gallery types compared to previous years. For instance, the representation of women artists in state galleries dropped from 37% in 2014 to 33.6% in 2022. Despite commitments from major galleries to address these inequities following the 2018 Countess Report, progress has been insufficient. Men not only outnumber women in gallery exhibitions but also in acquisitions and prize money distribution, with men earning higher average amounts from major art prizes.

The report also highlights economic disparities, showing that women artists earn on average 25% less than their male counterparts, a gap that exceeds the national gender pay gap. While state galleries and major museums lag behind, other segments like commercial galleries, university art museums, contemporary art organizations, public galleries, and Aboriginal-owned arts centers have achieved or exceeded gender parity. First Nations-owned arts centers, in particular, reported the highest representation of women artists at 75.9%.

However, the representation of First Nations artists, especially women, remains low in terms of solo shows and acquisitions by state galleries. The latest Countess Report also includes, for the first time, data on First Nations representation in the Australian art sector, shedding light on the substantial challenges they face in gaining recognition and representation in the art world.

The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) have introduced gender equity programs following the 2018 Countess Report. The NGA has implemented a five-year gender equity action plan, including the Know My Name initiative, aiming for a 50-50 gender representation target. This has led to a significant increase in the representation of women artists in their exhibitions, reaching 84.4% in 2022, up from 25% in 2018.