Linz, January 2004

FIFTITU% presented the newly revised catalog of demands "frauen.fordern.kultur" in 2004

This package of cultural policy demands addressed to the state of Upper Austria summarizes the measures urgently needed to achieve gender symmetry in the arts and culture sector.

As with the appointment of the artistic director of Lentos, many words in the interests of women must now finally be followed by action - a package of measures is urgently needed to do justice to the scope and quality of female cultural work in Upper Austria in structural terms as well.

The most important focal points of this 4-page list of demands:Gender parity
Despite the implementation of gender mainstreaming, it is still not possible to speak of gender parity at all levels. FIFTITU% calls for equal representation on juries, advisory boards and the state cultural advisory board. The age restriction must be abolished for talent promotion and scholarships.
In the entire state cultural administration and in the outsourced cultural institutions, an increase in the proportion of women, especially in management positions, must be achieved through targeted measures for new hires and restructuring.Programme design and funding policy
As a first measure, applicants and state-owned cultural institutions should be required to address gender issues when designing projects and activities. Gender parity must be an issue in both the application and the accounting process. This primary collection of gender-sensitive data is also necessary in order to be able to compile gender-equitable statistics in a state cultural report that is to be reintroduced. In the medium term, gender-sensitive project management must be established in all cultural institutions, whereby the province should set a widely visible example by hosting established major cultural events (provincial exhibitions, Ars Electronica, Festival of Regions, ...) with a focus on women.

Networking
The FIFTITU% networking center for women in art and culture must be financially secured in the long term.

Full text:
women.culture.demands

"Feminism is politics; a politics that aims to change the real social power relations between men and women. These power relations determine all areas of life: Family, education, care, the world of work and politics, culture and leisure. They determine who does what for whom, what we are and what we can become".
(Chris Weedon, Knowledge and Experience)

Reducing the different power relations between women and men leads to gender democracy, the establishment of democratic relations between the sexes. This not only addresses the opportunities for political participation, but also the distribution of social resources between men and women. Gender democracy necessarily implies a change in existing power relations, even in democratic systems. In the rejection of domination over others, the equal participation of women and men is about a changed, positive concept of power - positive as the right to access and control resources as well as the opportunity to make and shape decisions in the public sphere (politics, culture, business, science, etc.) and in the private sphere. Democracy includes the recognition of equal rights for different people, is characterized by openness and avoids homogenization within the group of women as well as that of men (Cf. gender democracy - a new feminist model? Femina politica - Journal for feminist political science. Issue 2/2002)

We demand from the state of Upper Austria:

• Land Cultural Advisory Council

  In the spirit of gender mainstreaming, we demand gender parity in the composition of the Upper Austrian Provincial Cultural Advisory Council, including the advisory boards, as soon as possible. Each individual advisory board must have equal representation. Unless they are employees of the Province of Upper Austria, members of the Provincial Cultural Advisory Board must receive an appropriate expense allowance for their work

• Awarding of prizes and scholarships

  In the medium term, a bundle of measures is to be implemented to ensure that prizes and scholarships of the province of Upper Austria are awarded with gender parity:

  We call for gender parity in the composition of juries and advisory boards for the awarding of Upper Austrian state prizes, scholarships, studio grants and talent grants. Information on the composition of juries must be made public (e.g. in the provincial cultural report) before a decision is made. In particular, the Provincial Cultural Advisory Board and the interest groups of creative artists as well as the Networking Office for Women in Art and Culture must be involved and have the right to comment. The call for proposals must be made in such a way that it is accessible to a broad public.
  The call text must be formulated in such a way that women are explicitly invited to apply.In the specific case of talent promotion and scholarships, the age limit should be abolished.
  The term "young artist" is misleading, as many artists only begin their artistic work at a later age or their creative phase is interrupted by "childhood".

  At the level of establishing parity on the State Cultural Advisory Council and in juries etc., migrants should be considered in proportion to their share of the population. Here too, women should be included to the same extent as men.

  Other bodies of the province of Upper Austria in the arts and culture sector, e.g. advisory boards, supervisory boards, must also have equal representation, even if they are outsourced institutions and even if they are only set up for a certain period of time.
• Personnel policy of the province of Upper Austria

  In the entire state cultural administration, in the outsourced cultural institutions of the state of Upper Austria (state theater, OK, state museum, music school, etc.) and in all municipal cultural institutions, an increase in the proportion of women, especially in management positions, should be sought. In every job advertisement, it should be pointed out that women should be given preference if they have the same qualifications.
  The numbers of employees, broken down by rank and gender, should be published in the reintroduced state cultural report.

  The increasingly extensive use of employment on the basis of contracts for work and services or freelance contracts in state-affiliated and municipal institutions must be restricted. Employees must be offered permanent jobs.

• Landtag

A permanent cultural committee should be set up in parliament, whose meetings and minutes are open to the public. In order to achieve gender parity in the state parliament and its committees, party funding must be linked to the number of women's mandates (financial cutbacks if too few women are represented)

• Programme design

  In the medium term, the conscious promotion of women should ensure that all cultural institutions of the province of Upper Austria and the organizations that receive subsidies for cultural activities from the province of Upper Austria are required to design their programmes with gender parity Gender-sensitive project management must be introduced and implemented at state institutions. Independent institutions and initiatives are encouraged to design their programs in the same way through targeted measures.
  Gender parity must also be visible in the design of cultural media and the public relations work of cultural institutions.

• Subsidies

  Gender parity must be addressed when applying for subsidies. When accounting, it must be shown how many women and how many men were involved in an artistic activity and in which roles. (artist, curator, organization, auxiliary staff, ...)

• Reporting system

  The publicly accessible state cultural funding report provided for in the State Cultural Funding Act must be reintroduced.
  This report must show in a comprehensible and internationally comparable manner how taxpayers' money is used in culture. Gender-segregated statistics - in the sense of gender mainstreaming - must be kept.

  The Provincial Directorate of Culture is required to report regularly and publicly on the progress of gender mainstreaming and the measures taken in this context.
• Cultural documentation, cultural heritage

  Women must be given equal consideration in the documentation of cultural life in Upper Austria. Special attention must also be paid to the achievements of women when reappraising the cultural past. These women must be given a platform - be it through exhibitions, scientific work, documentation - but also by honoring them in public spaces. (Commemorative plaques, naming of streets and squares)

• Major cultural events

  In order to create gender parity, the numerous major cultural events in Upper Austria (provincial exhibitions, Festival of the Regions, Bruckner Festival, Ars Electronica, ...) must be planned and organized in a gender-sensitive manner in the future.
  In order to counteract the particularly noticeable discrepancies in this regard, another established major cultural event should be held every two years specifically to focus on women.
  Otherwise, a similar amount of funding should be allocated to women's cultural projects.

• Funding for childcare

  The Province of Upper Austria is setting up its own funding pot to provide childcare during cultural events, seminars, workshops, etc. (this mainly applies to events taking place during the day). In the longer term, childcare costs should be anchored in the current budgets of cultural initiatives and projects; the budgets should be increased by this amount.
  More gender-sensitive children's culture should be offered.
  In general, the range of high-quality childcare facilities for all age groups should be expanded, particularly in rural areas.

• Educational opportunities for art and culture

  Women-specific aspects must be taken into account in the content and organization of existing and developing education, training and further training measures for cultural workers and artists. The basics of feminist theory should be part of the training in every comprehensive educational program, and gender-specific further training courses should be particularly promoted.
  The public sector must particularly support such educational measures and create structures that make new offers possible.

  It must be taken into account that women are usually the ones who are financially worse off, so it is necessary to offer training and further education in the arts and cultural sector that is also affordable. The preservation and expansion of the OÖ. Education Account is therefore essential.
  Tuition fees at (art) universities have a counterproductive effect.
• Honorary work

  An above-average number of women also work as volunteers in the cultural sector. Employees who provide their services free of charge should be supported through targeted further training opportunities and measures to certify qualifications acquired through voluntary work.
  Building on the model of educational leave, a year of "cultural leave" should be set up; the Upper Austrian government is called upon to lobby the AMS and the federal government for this. This year would enable interested parties with basic financial security to participate directly and more extensively in cultural work than is feasible alongside a full-time job. Educational and cultural leave must be credited to the pension in addition to the existing securities and the amount of the protection must be increased to at least the equalization supplement reference rate

• Networking

  In order for FIFTITU%, the networking center for women in art and culture in Upper Austria, to be able to fulfill its tasks and the demands placed on it, a medium-term funding commitment from the state of Upper Austria is essential. It is about securing and expanding the range of services and information for women working in the arts and cultural projects that make an important contribution to gender parity. Above all, a regular office structure with at least one permanent employee needs to be financially secured.

• Land Cultural Promotion Act

  The above-mentioned areas are - as far as legally possible - to be bindingly anchored in the Upper Austrian Province of Upper Austria Cultural Promotion Act

• Women's referendum

  We also demand the immediate implementation of all points of the women's referendum signed by over 600,000 Austrians. In particular, we demand a minimum wage of EUR 1200 gross (adjustment of the demand of the women's petition to the consumer price index, for a full-time job, as of 8/2003). This minimum wage would benefit many women, especially in the cultural sector. The public subsidy providers must ensure that this expenditure in cultural institutions is also guaranteed in the budget.