Re: The lives they lived

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From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 12/31/02-10:17:54 AM Z


Judy,

> The front page had no woman's byline.
>
> So what if a woman, Condi, or HP or other, appears on occasion? Today's
> first section had between 30 & 40 pictures of men -- not counting the
> group shots.

Let's go back to your other post about art forum (which I don't have any
more--sorry). Why do you think women are under-represented in their survey
of 2002? (I haven't looked at this issue yet so I don't really know the
article you are talking about.) Does this reflect an actual
under-representation of women in the arts? Or Art Forum's failure to
recognize the achievement of women in the arts? Or the fact, maybe, that
there are a lot of women making art, but relatively few who achieve the kind
of notoriety that men do, at least in the eyes of the editors of Art Forum?

Thirty years ago there may have been actual discrimination against women in
the arts, and there may have been institutional barriers to women then. But
if such things still exist, they are hard to detect. It seems to me that in
academia especially, and in the larger art world too, being a woman can be a
real advantage, in that art departments are seeking women for faculty
positions. If there is a choice between two candidates who are equally
qualified, a man and a woman, most departments nowadays will choose the
woman. I know this happened at my former university.

So why this apparent lingering scarcity of women of high achievement in the
arts? I think it may have to do with the fact that even when institutional
barriers to achievement are lifted, women still have their own biology to
deal with: childbearing for women has to happen between the ages of about
20 and 40, which are also the years where most people of high achievement
are building their careers. I think in my next lifetime I might choose to
be childless. I'm glad I had a child this time, and I'm glad I put all the
time into it that I did, and the results were great; but if I really wanted
to be a very successful, recognized artist, I would have to let that go. I
think this may be true for men too, since nowadays fathers are expected to
be very involved with the raising of their children.

--shannon


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