Why AWITA Exists

Through new research and data, global convenings, and a rich programme of events, AWITA helps members build networks, develop professionally, share knowledge, and advance women’s leadership across the sector.

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STATS AND FACTS

Women represent approximately 75% of the visual arts workforce - a powerful global majority shaping institutions, markets and cultural narratives worldwide. Across the sector, women exercise significant influence over how culture is produced and sustained.

Yet structural imbalance remains. Leadership representation declines in many large institutions, the gender pay gap persists, and care responsibilities continue to reshape careers. Most workplaces still lack consistent, measurable equity interventions. 89% of respondents to the AWITA x artnet survey 2025 attributed career barriers directly to gender.

The arts sector remains largely unregulated, making accountability inconsistent across geographies. Without data, progress cannot be clearly measured or sustained.

AWITA exists to support women building careers and exercising leadership within this global landscape.

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Survey

Our Hardwiring Change survey in partnership with artnet aims to clarify the structural challenges shaping the sector and to lay the groundwork for practical, solution-focused approaches that strengthen women’s careers and the institutions they shape

Our first survey, with over 2,000 respondents worldwide, found that 89% of women attribute career barriers directly to gender.

The 2026 survey moves from diagnosis to solutions - exploring how women can reclaim time, reshape leadership and influence the systems emerging around us.

READ THE REPORT