Womens Artwork Sells for Just Half as Much as Mens Work

Womens Artwork Sells for Just Half as Much as Mens Work A recent analysis of auction data from 1.5 1000000 auction transactions in 45 countries between 1970 and 2013, representing works by 62,665 artists, suggests that the perception of artists genders consistently influences the value of their art.Researchers at the University of Luxembourg asked thousands of participants to rank works of art, and the results show a consistent bias. They did this via two experiments. In the first experiment, they asked 1,000 respondents to guess the genders of the artists behind unlabeled works and then rank how much they liked the work. The second experiment asked 2,000 participants to rank artworks generated by the DeepArt algorithm that had been arbitrarily attributed fictional creators half male and half female.Respondents ranked works they believed to have been created by female artists lower than those thought to be made by male artists even when the works were generated by an artificial int elligence. Affluent male respondents who frequently visited galleries tended to rank works they believed to be by male artists higher. The study also found that art by women typically sells for about $25,262 on average, which is just 47.6 percent of the price male artists typically sell for at auctions, which is about $48,212.Both experiments provide evidence that participants who are mora likely to represent typical art auction participants potentially value art by women less, the researchers conclude. This perpetuates the industrys gender pay gap.The results of this study deliver proof for the disadvantages women face in the art world solely based on their gender, Professor saga Kraussl of the Luxembourg School of Finance, one of the studys authors, said in a statement. Male buyers are a driving force of the auction market and yet we see that they are also more likely to think that womens art is inferior. Our research adds to the mounting evidence of discrimination towards women t hat is systemic to so many industries.The researchers do note that the prospects for women artists seem to be better in countries with less gender inequality, as the discount is higher in countries with greater gender inequality. Besides, the latest executive directors in the Denver metro area are female. Just Theres only one woman included in the top 10 living artists based on total value of secondary market sales (2011 to 2016), and there are no womenamong the highest-selling individual lots for living artists for the same time period.The fact is thatmuseums and galleries arent giving female artists shows or featuring them nearly as much as men. As a result, their collections are undervalued. And becausemen still control most of the wealth, andbecause their collectionsoften reflect themselves, mens artwork is consistently ranked higher than womens artwork. Its up to collectors, then, to dictate how our culture is represented in the art world the more they collect womens artwork , the more its exhibited and the more its valued.While gender inequality is a serious policy concern, it is often challenging to argue that economic outcomes for women are a product of culture, not biology, the studys conclusion reads. Using the market for art, we highlight the importance of continuing to eliminate gender inequality.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solotravel. Shes an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.