2.4 million Australian women participate in craft activities — the most popular cultural activity in the country. 95,000 earn some income from it. The average is $12,330 a year. Artists’ incomes haven’t moved in forty years. The ABS has been counting these women for years. The system has not yet decided to count them as workers. Here is what the data actually shows — and what infrastructure would change it.
Tag: Women’s Economic Participation
Meet the Women in Culture Awards
The Women in Culture Awards are Australia’s first national awards to recognise women’s cultural work as a distinct professional field — presented on 17 October, the International Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage. CWA is seeking a founding partner for the inaugural 2026 ceremony. Here is why these awards exist, and why they matter now.
Women Deliver 2026
Australia hosted Women Deliver 2026 and the Melbourne Declaration — a global call for states to recognise women’s work. But Australia has not ratified the UNESCO convention that would make that recognition binding. The Creative Women’s Association examines the gap between declaration and action, and what comes next.
Counting Cultural Contribution
Australia’s creative economy is already carrying significant economic weight, but much of that value remains unmeasured and unprotected. Without recognising domestic and care load, creative labour—particularly women’s—continues to subsidise the economy invisibly, resulting in systemic loss rather than shared wealth.
Into 2026
From creative practice to Creative Authority: how the Creative Women’s Association moved from grassroots creativity to national workforce reform in just three months, reshaping how Australia recognises creative labour, women’s work, and economic value.