Tate Britain | Turner Prize History | Issue: Women in the Turner Prize

Women in the Turner Prize

The Turner Prize has sometimes been criticised for favouring male over female artists. Here are some facts to allow you to make your own decision:

Between 1984 and 1990 the work of thirty-six contenders was exhibited. Of these only seven were women.
Between 1991 and 2002 the work of forty-four artists has been exhibited. Of these nineteen were women (One of these was in fact two women working together, Jane and Louise Wilson).
There was an all female shortlist in 1997.
There no women included on the shortlist in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1996.
There have only been three women prize winners; Rachel Whiteread in 1993, Gillian Wearing in 1997 and Tomma Abts in 2006.

From this it can be seen that although the situation has improved in recent years women artists continue to do much less well than their male counterparts. This can be seen as part of a trend going back through the centuries when women were neither expected nor allowed to pursue their own careers. Even though this has long ceased to be the case it has proved difficult for women to achieve true equality with men in art as in other fields. This is clear from the fact that while there are at least as many practising female artists in Britain as men, there are more male directors of art galleries and art schools and more male art critics.

Artists are short listed for the Turner Prize on the basis of previous exhibitions which means that they have already received a degree of recognition. If male artists are more prominent in society at large, the Turner Prize is likely to reflect this situation. To achieve improvements in the diversity of candidates generally, for example more culturally diverse artists represented as candidates, a wider range of critics, publications and venues is needed for the discussion and display of the visual arts in Britain.

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