Cheers to women artists worldwide

Whether music, art or film, there are many successful women artists. For a long time, however, it was difficult for women to embark on this career path.

Women were excluded from art academies for a long time

Whether Charlize Theron, Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Saville, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, Katherine Jenkins, Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, Scarlett Johansson, or others: if you look at the names of contemporary female artists, you'll find many with a global reputation. Today, this seems self-evident. But until almost the middle of the 20th century, the desire for women to become artists was difficult to realize. Women were even excluded from art academies until after the First World War. And even when these gradually opened to them, there were heated discussions about their «creative aptitude».

In their day, world-class painters were called «painting broads»

«Malweiber» (painting broads) was the name given to artists such as Käthe Kollwitz and Paula Modersohn-Becker. And this even though the two are now among the best-known German artists of the 20th century. Käthe Kollwitz was nominated for the «small gold medal» at the time. But Kaiser Wilhelm II rejected it because he did not want to «degrade» the award by having a female laureate.

Ban on music making and restriction of musical instruments for women

Female dancers, singers, and musicians had an even harder time. Until the 18th century, there was a general ban on women making music in many Catholic societies. In Protestant regions, only the piano, plucked instruments and glass harmonica were considered acceptable for women, while wind and percussion instruments as well as instruments such as the organ or cello were considered unseemly because of the leg work involved. To be sure, there was no lack of talented women. But they remained in the shadow of their male colleagues and were only noticed in the second half of the 20th century.

The first Harry Potter volumes hid the first name of the female author

In 1997, the example of the now world-famous Harry Potter books showed that prejudices are persistent. This was because the publisher of the books advised author Joanne Rowling not to appear under her female first name. The reason for this was that it was feared that boys would be reluctant to read books written by a woman. Accordingly, the first Harry Potter volumes were published in Great Britain under the author's name J.K. Rowling. To date, the Harry Potter novels have been translated into 70 languages. And Joanne K. Rowling is one of the most successful female writers in history.