Feminist perspectives and cultural policies in Barcelona

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of feminist perspectives in the cultural policies in the city of Barcelona during the period 2015–2019, attempting to identify potential resistances to gender-focused cultural policies. Based on a literature review and interviews with cultural policy and gender experts, the article reveals that resistances to gender-focused cultural policies remain in the cultural administration of the city, despite its feminist discourse. There are two key reasons for this resistance and for the lack of change to public cultural policies: the inertia in the organisation of cultural policies by the responsible department of the City Council and large cultural institutions, which are dominated by institutional cultures that protect male privilege and power; and the City Council’s failure to consider the feminist movement in the design and development of cultural policies.