According to research by Zaprokul, the only cultural institution that deals with trends and the current state of culture, gender equality in Serbian culture is constantly improving, but it is necessary for women to be even more visible and interconnected.
“Women in public institutions of culture”, the most comprehensive, statistical study on the position of women in culture, consistently showed that women are more dominant in culture than men, and that as many as 59% of women are employed in it. To a greater extent, women are also visitors to cultural events, so 61% of women visit theaters against 39% of men, while in museums the figures are even higher – 63% of women against 37% of men. Women read more often and visit libraries more often, and the typical profile of such a reader is a young, highly educated woman living in an urban area.
For the first time in Serbia, Zaprokul also conducted research on “Women’s Identities in Contemporary Visual Creativity” on a sample of 256 respondents, visual artists from Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Croatia and North Macedonia, and the goals of the research were the affirmation and greater visibility of the female creativity.
The results maintain our reality, so slightly more than 40% of visual artists believe that they are still insufficiently visible today. Although women have always been a part of art history, they have not been present with the same intensity and continuity as men. As many as 72.8% of visual artists believe that more active and closer cooperation with curators, as well as other artists on joint projects, is very important for their professional affirmation.
The position of visual artists – as well as women in other arts – should never be a taboo topic, and all cultural institutions should provide them with even more intensive public support to speak freely about social stereotypes, overcoming prejudices, strengthening gender identity and the position of women in general. art of contemporary Serbia.
