Women, culture and creativity: mixed global report card

Despite making up at least half of the creative workforce in many countries, women are still not equally represented when it comes to power, pay or visibility.

They’re also facing systemic biases in generative AI, particular barriers in tech-heavy fields like online game development, and increased abuse on social media, a 2026 UNESCO report has found.

Bridget Conor, an associate professor of communication at the University of Auckland, is the author of a chapter on gender equality in the latest Reshaping Policies for Creativity report.

“The report sums up the progress of the 115 states that have signed up to a legally binding framework that focuses on cultural policymaking, called the '2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions',” says Conor.

“The point is to develop dynamic cultural and creative industries worldwide.”

New Zealand is also a signatory so there’s a real opportunity for us to become more actively involved in the international work of the Convention, she says.

“There’s a track record of impactful mahi in Aotearoa, underpinned by Te Tiriti, that supports diverse cultural policymaking and is particularly attuned to human rights and fundamental freedoms, which are the Convention’s core tenets.

"But in my experience, Aotearoa is not nearly as visible in these conversations as we could or should be.”

Under the Convention, governments are required to report every few years across ten monitoring areas, including trade in cultural goods, artistic freedom, advances in the digital environment and gender equality.

“We were looking for where progress has been made, where’s it gone backwards and what the current threats are,” says Conor.
 

And the news is definitely encouraging, with caveats.

There’s been an increase in ministries and cultural agencies focused on gender equality and human rights, and an estimated 25 percent increase in mentoring and training programmes, quotas, pay equity requirements and improved data collection systems, says Conor.

“For example, in developing countries, things like targeted programmes for women filmmakers have helped them gain skills, produce work and reach festival audiences.

“And while there are barriers to women in some creative digital fields, there are interesting policy experiments in which digital skill development programmes are helping women creators acquire skills, produce and monetise their work,” she says.

However, progress is fragile as UNESCO – and its member states – is operating in a time of ‘conservative backlash,’ resulting in significant funding cuts, particularly from the US, and a rolling back of hard-won gains, especially for women.

Conor says that in several countries, initiatives that were highlighted as positive examples in earlier reports, have now since been defunded or dismantled.

For instance in Argentina, programmes supporting women and gender diverse artists and cultural workers have largely disappeared.

Covid-19 and its effects also resulted in women losing jobs in the cultural sectors at far higher rates than men, and some haven’t returned.
 

Another major concern is the mounting evidence of online violence against women, she says.

“Tech-facilitated, gender-based violence is really concerning on so many levels. Women artists online, for example, are much more likely to suffer from trolling, harassment, abuse and silencing, so that feeds into the backlash.”

The result is women and gender diverse artists are more likely to be pushed out of digital spaces that are increasingly essential for cultural careers, she says.

Recent UNESCO research on generative AI also shows biases based on gender, ethnicity and disability are endemic in large language models, so systemic offline inequalities are being replicated in the online world, says Conor.

The report is being released at a pivotal moment as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are reviewed and rewritten for 2030, and although the 2005 Convention is already mapped to existing goals on human rights and gender equality, there is still no standalone goal for culture.

“UNESCO’s work is underpinned by the belief that culture and cultural rights are fundamental to things like democracy, sustainability and equality, and that should be recognised in the next generation of global goals,” Conor says.

It’s a view shared by her colleagues at MONDIACULT, the world’s biggest cultural policy conference, hosted by UNESCO, which she attended in Barcelona last year.

She says creating a cultural landscape that includes everyone requires targeted policies and buy-in from governments, researchers, civil society and cultural organisations.

“In this moment of backlash, Aotearoa should be leading the way in reaffirming our commitment to diverse and equitable cultural policymaking and to supporting our cultural workers and artists.”

Watch the launch of UNESCO's 'Reshaping Policies for Creativity' Report, Paris, February 2026, featuring Associate Professor Bridget Conor.