Wage gap in Art: Indian women artists paid less for their work

When it comes to arts, one expects it to be above caste, creed, religion and sex. And even though most of the time it is above all this- yet, when it comes to pricing, women artists still face an unfair situation in India.

According to a report by The New York Times, art critic Gayatri Sinha believes, that even though women have equal access to galleries  and garner equal appreciation and critical praise; because their prices are not set as high as that of men- women rarely feature in the top five artist list of the country.

“Despite the fact that we have so many women gallerists and artists, the ones who are taken more seriously are the men. As a society, we take women less seriously. When you look at artist couples — Atul and Anju Dodiya, Bharti Kher and Subodh Gupta — both might be taken equally seriously by critics, but for a long time, the pricing was completely different. It’s an unconscious bias,” says art critic Deepanjana Pal.

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A Mumbai based artist, Anjali Purohit, who has been in the business for 30 years, feels that when it comes to pricing, Indian women aren’t the only ones who face problems; women artists around the world have the same issue. She adds that male artists are taken seriously right from the beginning, women; however, have to prove their credibility.

Former critic at the Delhi Art Gallery, Kishore Singh, agrees with Purohit. But he also believes that the industry is now becoming more and more equal. He reminds you that in India, the male female ratio of contemporary artists in the beginning was 70 male artists to 4 female artists; this has changed drastically in the past few decades. He added that as Indian art gets more and more international, the gender-blind pricing may work in women’s favour.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/world/asia/01iht-letter01.html?_r=0