Gender Gap in Art: Women Represent 36.5% of Artists, 11% of Museum Acquisitions

A study published in Nature Communications, 'Quantifying Institutional Gender Inequality in Contemporary Visual Art', analyzed over 65,000 artists and 20,000 institutions, revealing that men constitute about 63.5% of artists versus 36.5% women. The disparity widens in prestigious exhibitions and career opportunities. Networks play a key role: access to inclusive circuits boosts recognition, while male-dominated networks perpetuate imbalances. Separately, an Artnet News and In Other Words survey of 26 major US museums found that only about 11% of acquired works over a decade were by women artists, indicating systemic access barriers rather than lack of production.