Geteilte Zeit: Fragen und Antworten
Shared and/or Divided Times: Questions and
Answers
Gabriele Kämper (Senate Department for Business, Technology and Women's Issues)
Equality - a
call to and from all politicians
It gives me great pleasure to be a guest at this exciting conference and to explain to you the Federal State of Berlin's policies on equality and cultural affairs. As the invitation was sent to me personally and not to the Senate Department of Science, Research and Culture, I am not really addressing you as a representative of cultural politics but as an employee of the women's political section, and moreover as someone who supports cultural policy in women's issues as much as possible.
This 'double identity' is not a coincidence. I have frequently become involved in funding and supporting feminist projects which, even though they are genuinely about cultural politics, are not directly supported by the Senate's cultural administrative section. For instance, last year we staged a celebration and symposium in honour of the film director and feminist, Helke Sander. We also supported the exhibition on the anniversary of Frida Kahlo's 100th birthday. And we stepped into the breach in the case of this conference. There's nothing wrong with that, because it's important to feminist politics, but it goes to show that questions of cultural policy on feminist issues have not yet acquired sufficient respect within mainstream cultural politics.
My involvement in this kind of event concerning women's and cultural politics has led me to work with Gisela Weimann from time to time and to assist her in carrying out projects she has initiated. I was delighted by her invitation to become involved in the book project Geteilte Zeit in the section 'Thoughts on time' which also gave me the impulse to look back at my own feminist past, a process which I found very enjoyable. The section 'Thoughts on time' demonstrates impressively to what extent the creation of artworks has to do with struggles and opportunities of histories and political movements.
One constant factor in this area is the exclusion of women artists from the cultural consciousness, because they are considerably worse hit by the upheavals of history. Women artists tend not to be represented by institutions, and hence are less well connected and canonized than their male colleagues. Extreme disruptions such as exile, banning or even annihilation, but also social upheaval or even just changes in art fashions mean that women artists in particular often become excluded from any artistic tradition.
Das Verborgene Museum (The Hidden Museum) and the Inselgalerie are two places in Berlin where work by women artists can be exhibited, rediscovered and publicized. Both institutions have been awarded the Berlin Women's Prize, das Verborgene Museum in the first year of the award and the director of the Inselgalerie, Ilse-Maria Dorfstecher last year. In making these awards, our organization highlighted the importance of this rediscovery of women artists. However, our organization is not a substitute for adequate funding of these two institutions: this is up to the cultural authorities of the Federal State of Berlin.
I would like now to talk to you about the politics of art and culture in Berlin from the perspective of the economic and employment market and follow this up by describing the situation of women artists working in creative fields and finally, beyond this, the main elements of current equal opportunity policy.
Art and culture as relevant economic factor and job market
Art and culture represent a key economic factor of growing importance.
The creative industry in Berlin comprises over 18,500 businesses with
approximately 75,000 employees liable for social insurance producing a
turnover of over 8 billion euros. In a nationwide comparison, Berlin has
the highest proportion of tax-liable companies in the creative industry
sector.
If the industrial components such as the printing industry are excluded,
the core of the creative industry - over 13,400 businesses employing
45,000 permanent staff - achieves turnover in excess of 4 billion euros,
in other words, around 51% of the total creative industry of Berlin. In
spite of their diversity, the individual segments of the creative industry
have several things in common:
In order to function, all businesses within the segment require artistic/creative potential, which they find in Berlin.
A number of branches of the creative industry - such as the film and music branch - contribute significantly to Berlin's image-building capacity. For businesses in this sector, Berlin is the place to be. Culture and the creative industry dictate the quality of a location and form the basis of decisions such as where to locate, set up or expand a company. Without the relevant creative environment, many companies such as Universal Music, the music channel MTV and many other service industries would not have made the move to Berlin.
The potential of the creative industry lies in its above-average effect on employment and, compared to other branches, its fast growth rate. Women contribute an enormous potential to this field, which is not yet being used optimally.
Women artists and women in the creative sector in Berlin
Women working in artistic and creative fields in Berlin are not just
participating in shaping its cultural life, they are also influencing it
in a unique way.
In spite of this there is still a great deal to do in order to improve
equality for women artists and women working in the creative sector as a
whole.
Many young women aspire to an artistic career, but it is obvious that they do not receive a share of the art funding or promotion commensurate with their professional artistic training. The program for women artists run by the Department of Culture - which the locals among you will already know about - works to ensure that women artists are adequately represented in line with the appropriate funding provision. Women are also underrepresented among the upper echelons of art institutions, as a study in 2004 by the German Arts Council showed. To give one example: in Berlin there are only two women in top management positions in the 20 largest art institutions as opposed to 28 men.
In spite of the problems obtaining sufficient data for this area, some statements can be made about the economic situation of women artists using figures from the KSK (Social Insurance for Artists) and the BBK (Berlin Artists' Association) as a basis. It is undeniable that women artists' income is 10-30% less than that of their male colleagues. This is true for both East and West Berlin. The figures for minimum earnings of 3,900 Euro per annum required for admittance into the KSK give an impression of the often highly precarious financial situation in which women artists find themselves.
In terms of art education, women are represented in above average numbers: in the academic year 2004/2005 4382 students qualified, the percentage of women being 59.63%. Yet if we look at their numbers in academic and artistic employment the picture is different: just 40%. Some catching up needs to be done.
For decades, a network has been growing in Berlin of of women's projects, groups and associations working specifically for women: this applies to the creative sector as well. With a great deal of commitment, work by volunteers and relatively modest means, they make an important contribution to the city's cultural activities. In addition these initiatives should not be underestimated as networks which women artists and creative workers can exchange information and give start-up help and support with the ups and downs in the life of the freelance artist.
Since 1992 the arts and culture budget has included an estimate which has a direct relation to women and is exclusively and unambiguously earmarked for promoting opportunities for women. These funds should and will be used directly to support women in areas in which they are still considerably underrepresented. Notable measures here are the awarding of grants and project funds to women artists based in Berlin: individuals and groups and art initiatives specifically for women, the latter including the Association for Feminist Film, Das Verborgene Museum , European Women's' Action, Association of Women Artists and Art Promoters (GEDOK Berlin), the Association of Women in the Film Industry and the Inselgalerie.
Our organization, the Senate Department for Business, Technology and Women's Issues, supports such cultural projects for women as the women's cultural center Begine or the Alpha Nova workshop which develops cultural activities for women.
One woman artists' support project which has been especially impressive and successful is the Goldrausch (Gold Rush) Project artIT, which is devoted to the systematic professionalization of women artists.
The Goldrausch Project for Women Artists was started in Berlin in
1989/1990 as a reaction to the situation that women visual artists were
underrepresented in public art life. The project's course lasts for one
year, during which time the participants acquire sufficient professional
skills to operate effectively as visual artists and receive support in
goal-oriented positioning and artistic practice within the wider scope of
a visual arts career. One important element of the training project is the
individual website and catalogue which are produced during the course as
well as the group exhibition at the end. The results are seen by
professionals in the field as effective presentation tools and are a key
publicity factor in further artistic development.
The figures for sales and grants after the training course confirm the
program's success. Goldrausch is thus a good example of how effective
targeted support and further training can be.
In order to improve the opportunities for women in the art and culture industry, the Berlin Senate has committed itself to securing within the key areas of the whole concept of cultural politics the conditions needed for putting into practice measures to ensure equal opportunities for men and women. The Senate has declared itself willing to contribute to developing conditions whereby both sexes can participate in artistic and creative practice and cultural activities.
The gender issue continues to impinge on all key questions in cultural politics and art and culture sponsorship in Berlin. This means for example:
Social program for equality
Equal opportunities for women and men in all areas of life and work belongs, as expression of a democratic self image, to the central responsibilities of the Senate, which has responsibilities in every area of politics.
Berlin has assumed a leading role in its equal opportunities policies in many areas, for instance with the proportion of women professors at its higher education establishments, the large amount of childcare available comparatively speaking, and innovative and effective anti-violence measures. In spite of all this, no one would say that women and men in Berlin have equal opportunities in their lives. Images of women and men in public and the media are still heavily influenced by gender stereotypes and sexism.
The new social program for equal opportunity policies hopes to revive the debate on gender equality, to combine it with current issues across the board and pinpoint the most important areas to tackle during the coming legislature period. When the social program is put into practice there should be a notable improvement in gender equality over the next four years. Until now, equal opportunity policies have usually been directed towards improving the situation for women and girls and this will remain the case in future. Women are still at a disadvantage in many respects and it is mainly women themselves who campaign for greater equality.
Campaigning for equal opportunities cannot afford to stand still. Apart from anything else, more equality means a change in the relationship of the sexes to each other. What's at issue is to extend the perspective of equal opportunity politics systematically to the point where men's role in the necessary changes to gender role limitation is more sharply emphasized, and where awareness of problems and disadvantages connected with the male gender role is raised.
In a series of key debates on topical subjects such as, for example, the one on education and integration, it is clear that the relation of the sexes to one another is of central importance. We will not find a suitable answer, and thus a satisfactory solution, if the traditional division of work between the sexes, and the social structures dependent on it isn't reexamined in a whole new light. The equal society which we are striving for is based on the free and individual development of men and women, boys and girls, without restrictive, gender-typical allocation of roles.
In Berlin we have initiated an open process, with workshops, surveys and the conference 'Equality: thinking ahead'. In the coming years we will take this slogan onto the political, governmental and public arena to collect knowledge, creative ideas and energy. I am confident that this way we can create vital building blocks for a gender-equal society.
This paper was presented at the Symposium Geteilte Zeit: Kunstgeschichte als Internationaler Dialog / Shared Times: Art History as International Dialogue, at the European Academy in Berlin, 25 - 28 March 2008
Copyright © : Gabriele Kamper
N.Paradoxa : Issue No. 20, 2008