In a new column published in the latest issue of Ópera Actual magazine, our Executive Director, Paulina Ricciardi, addresses the challenges surrounding gender equity and women’s participation in cultural organisations. “Within OLA organisations there is parity in general management and on boards, but glass ceilings persist in the core areas: the artistic and the technical. The good news is that, according to a survey in which 22 OLA members participated, 60% of organisations have gender equity policies, protocols or actions in place,” she notes.

By Paulina Ricciardi Mondino, Executive Director of Ópera Latinoamérica (OLA)

The glass ceilings of theatres have begun to crack and, in recent years, women have increasingly reached leadership positions. We observed this at Ópera Latinoamérica (OLA) in 2022, when more than 50% of OLA organisations were led by women, which prompted us to promote an agenda to get to know one another and build networks in order to better understand and strengthen professional trajectories.

The year 2025 was particularly active in this regard: at the annual conference at Palau de les Arts we held the third Women’s Forum; we organised the Abram Alas gathering at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo; and we launched the first OLA Women’s Mentorship Programme, in which more than 50 professionals from 12 countries took part. But not everything is rosy, and Women’s Month offers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges that remain.

According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB, 2023), although women’s participation in culture is higher than in sectors such as agriculture or industry, challenges in achieving gender equality remain. Within OLA organisations there is parity in general management and on boards, but glass ceilings persist in the core areas: the artistic and the technical. It is worth remembering that only almost 100 years ago, in 1930, Antonia Brico became the first woman to conduct an orchestra—seven decades after the first woman qualified as a doctor. The good news is that, according to a survey in which 22 OLA members participated, 60% of organisations have gender equity policies, protocols or actions in place.

One of the largest gaps lies in the presence of works created by women. In another OLA survey, answered by 18 members, during the 2024 season only 12% of the operas were written by women, while at the other end of the spectrum 38% of the choreographies were created by female choreographers. Globally, according to UNESCO, only 5% of the music programmed by orchestras is composed by women. The goal is not necessarily to achieve parity—centuries of a canon dominated by male creators make this very difficult—but rather to encourage the creation of works by women artists, as well as to programme works by female creators from previous centuries. In this regard, 53% of OLA theatres are already integrating a gender perspective into their programming.

The turning point will come when a cultural change takes place within organisations, involving entire teams so that this vision can be sustained over time. At OLA, for example, we transformed the Women’s Forum into a mixed space, where we have found a genuine interest from directors—strategic allies in this agenda—in advancing gender equity.

Is this merely a symbolic issue? Not at all. According to the IMF, the GDP of emerging and developing countries could increase by almost 8% if the gender gap in the labour market were reduced. Breaking glass ceilings is therefore a task for everyone.