Feminism 2.0

I had wanted this piece to coincide with March 8, but I don’t think it’s lost its relevance. Recently, rankings and historical exhibitions that demonstrate the classical “glass ceiling” - the higher the level of symbolic hierarchy, the fewer women - have become popular in Ukrainian contemporary art (which is slowly becoming simply “normal” art). Hidden gender discrimination has yet to become a topic of discussion in artistic discourse and so I would like to get this issue out in the open.

If you look at women’s participation in major events and art groups, sex discrimination isn’t that obvious: R.E.P has 4 women and 2 men, SOSka has 1 woman and 2 men. Artists shortlisted for the PinchukArtCentre Prize (2009) included 6 women, 10 men and 4 groups. The Malevich Prize was awarded to a woman in 2008. Women are given support from institutions and opportunities to present their projects on equal terms with men. But if you analyze status and financial aspects of art, the proportion of women decreases: among the 10 participants at the Kyiv.Fine Art Gallery’s opening exhibit “TOP-10” (2007) only 1 was a woman. The list of 10 most expensive Ukrainian artists according to “Focus” magazine (2009) includes 1 woman (Evgenia Gapchinska’s 3rd place deserves special attention), and there was also only one (Zhanna Kadirova in the category “Youth, forward!”) in the “Ukrayinska Pravda” (2009) list of 10 most successful artists.
http://korydor.in.ua/en/blogs/686-feminizm-20