For the fourth consecutive year, and in the context of International Women’s Day, the Barcelona City Council’s Institute of Culture (ICUB) is making public different data collected on gender and culture. The aim is to make visible the different realities about the presence of women in the culture promoted by the City Council.

One of the data in which the presence of women is more convincing compared to men is in the participation in the workshops organised by the civic centres. Of the 94,450 registrations in 2022, 82% were women and 17% men. In museums, women visitors also outnumbered men: 54.6% compared to 44.8%. Only the History Museum of the City  (MUHBA) and the Maritime Museum of Barcelona (MMB) had more male visitors (53.7% compared to 46.2% for the former, and 57.8% compared to 42.2% for the latter). On the other side of these is the Design Hub: 63.1% of its visitors were women (36.9% men). The Music Museum, the Monastery of Pedralbes and the Museu Picasso also had far more visits from women than men, with a ratio of 6 to 4.

In the city’s libraries, the predominance of women is also more than evident.  Of all those with library cards, 57% are women and 43% are men. 76% of the reading clubs are made up of women, and of all the activities organised by the libraries, 59% of the participants are women and 41% are men.

According to the Municipal Services 2022 survey, up to 27.2% of women are users of civic centres (22.2% of men), 45.5% of public libraries (41.4% of men), 54.5% of public libraries (41.4% of men), 54.4% of women (22.2% of women) and 76% of men (41.4% of men), 41.4%), 54.2% take part in public festivals (men a little more, 58.5%), and 51.7% of women take part in cultural activities (54.1% of men, according to the survey).

A very active role in festivals and programmes

The data collected also show that the presence of women is significant in the different festivals and programmes of the city, whether as a director of shows, as a speaker, as a commissioner, as a creator or, in the case of music for example, as the leader of a group or project.

At the last Grec festival in Barcelona, of the 86 shows programmed, exactly half, 43, had women as directors. At the Barcelona Biennial of Thought 2022, 53% of the speakers and participants were women. And in the Dansa Metropolitana, in 38% of proposals a woman was the creator or artistic director (compared to 32% of men and 30% of groups). Also in the Barcelona Cultural District, the majority of performances were directed by women (39%, compared to 32% of men).

In BAM, Mercè Música and Acció Cultura Viva, of the 71 musical performances in which there was a leader, 36 were by a woman (25 by a man, 5 by a man, 5 by a man, and 5 by 50% man and woman). However, of the 53 groups without a leader, in 35 of them all or most of the members were men, and only 14 all or most of them were women.

If we look at the management of cultural facilities, 83% of libraries and 77% of civic centres are run by women. Also, 50% of archives and exhibition centres are run by women. In contrast, only 26% of museums and heritage sites are run by women, 33% of theatres and 45% of creative fairs.

You can consult all the data referring to 2022 in this link.