EWA_Empowering Women in the Arts

EWA_Empowering Women in the Arts focuses on the unequal conditions faced by women* in managerial positions in the cultural sector. EWA empowers through mentoring, capacity building and cross-regional and interdisciplinary community building. The overarching goal of EWA is the equality of women* working in culture at the management level.

Current studies show that women* are underrepresented in managerial positions in the cultural sector, especially in executive and artistic management. They are usually visible in subordinate roles and often earn less than men. Gender-segregated careers are particularly pronounced in Switzerland, which makes change difficult. Despite selective approaches, the discrepancy remains, leading to frustration and uncertainty. This is where EWA comes in. Through its mentoring programme, EWA promotes overarching networks and gender-equitable structures and drives change and long-term equality in the cultural sector. The mentoring programme is aimed at ten mentoring tandems each year. Five of them come from the performing arts.

Women*: EWA understands the term “woman” in the sense of a political position. This refers to all people who are affected by discrimination due to patriarchal structures: cis women, transfeminine and transmasculine or non-binary people. In the following, we use the female form for all designations (e.g. mentors, experts, etc.) and thus imply all women*.