THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST: EQUITABLE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

 Research Column | Brooke Downey

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Introduction

This month marks the end of a very long year. This article is also the end of this Research Column series focusing on labour in the GLAM sector.

In my first article, I discussed the feminization of labour in museums. In the second, I looked at the impact of the 2008 global recession on the GLAM sector in Canada. First, let’s recap what 2020 has brought the GLAM sector. Then, we will look ahead to the new year and beyond, imagining what a feminist recovery for the Canadian cultural sector could look like.

2020’s Impact on the Canadian GLAM sector

Ongoing closures and restrictions mean that museums have not been receiving admissions, one of their largest sources of revenue. As museum attendance declined, so did gift shop, programming, and food revenues. As a result, museum workers across the country have been asked to take unpaid leaves, salary cuts, or were permanently let go. 

The Toronto Foundation’s recent Fallout Report found that arts, cultural, heritage, and tourism organizations in Toronto were more likely to report a risk of permanent closure than all other types of organizations (18% vs. 10%). Workers in this sector also saw their hours decrease by 34% compared to the previous years. This is especially troubling when viewed against the average reduction in Ontario of only 7%.

From the Toronto Foundation's 2020 Fallout Report | Image Source

Earlier in the year Dr. Vanda Vitali, Executive Director and CEO of the Canadian Museums Association made the argument that “If  [government] funding was at the appropriate levels and if what the [National Museum] policy covers was modernized, museums could ostensibly be better poised to weather the situation.” As we advocate for new policies and funding models in the GLAM sector, what would the recovery look like using an intersectional feminist lens?

A Feminist Economic Recovery

Early in the pandemic, Canadian economist Armine Yalnizyan dubbed the COVID recession as a “she-cession.” Compared to men, women lost their jobs earlier, recovered their jobs more slowly, and were more likely to give up work for childcare reasons. For all these reasons, we need a feminist recovery plan.

Anjum Sultana & Carmina Ravanera, in A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada: Making the Economy Work for Everyone, lay out an intersectional gendered analysis. They also recommend a series of policy changes that governments across Canada can adopt. They argue that “there are systemic barriers and structures that have made some groups more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic than others, due to structural factors such as systemic racism, income inequality and inequitable distribution of power, wealth and resources” (p.2). This means old models of economic recovery, like investments in shovel-ready infrastructure projects or cutting social programs, will not work from an equity building standpoint. Even worse, they may harm the people who rely on social services more.

Armine Yalnizyan discussing the "she-cession" | Source

Looking Ahead

Zahava Doering from the Smithsonian recently asked the following questions in her article:

“What if museums challenged themselves to fill every vacancy, including newly created positions, for the rest of this tumultuous 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, with women and men of color and from other marginalized minorities? The talent, breadth, depth and nuance that this would bring to programmatic offerings, in addition to the workplace, would revitalize the sector” (p.485).

 A feminist recovery plan for the cultural sector would take up this call to action. 

Yet, we also need to acknowledge who this sector chose to put at risk this year. When security and cleaning staff were asked to increase their efforts, which museum workers were put at risk of contacting COVID? When museum educational programs couldn’t be digitized, which staff were cut? And when internships couldn’t be offered, what happened to the future professionals of the GLAM sector? Unfortunately, no organization seems to be tracking these impacts in Canada. 

What we need is an across-the-board approach to recovery for the cultural sector from all those invested – governments, directors, staff, volunteers, and our community members. A feminist intersectional lens looking at the impacts on our workers and communities will make for an equitable recovery for the GLAM sector.