Great Art Does Not Discriminate Based on Gender

Published on November 28, 2023

Commentary In August this year, a new study emerged, entitled “Risky business: policy legacy and gender inequality in Australian opera production,” and published by the International Journal of Cultural Policy. The paper’s authors, Caitlin Vincent (Melbourne University), Katya Johanson (Edith Cowan University), and Bronwyn Coate (RMIT University), argue that between the years 2005 and 2020, state-funded Australian opera companies have discriminated against women. “We find that women experience gender-based disadvantage across the key creative roles of opera,” they wrote. In other words, there are not enough professional female conductors, directors, or set and lighting designers, and the industry must employ more. But my contention is that a lighting director, whether man or woman, must always be hired for their merit, not their biological sex....

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