Recognising Cultural Work: Why Women’s Creative Labour Matters for Health, Economy and Society

By Penelope Thomas | Creative Women’s Association

Across Australia, thousands of women are engaged in cultural work every day.

They make garments and textiles, run small creative businesses, design cultural programs, teach craft and music, preserve community knowledge, organise events, and support cultural life in their communities.

Yet much of this labour remains structurally invisible — and often unpaid.

In economic statistics, it is rarely measured. In workforce policy, it is often classified as informal activity or a hobby. In health systems, the contribution of cultural practice to wellbeing is frequently acknowledged but rarely supported through practical infrastructure.

At the same time, women continue to perform the majority of unpaid domestic and care work in Australia — labour economists estimate contributes over $650 billion annually to the national economy, despite rarely appearing in workforce statistics.

The Women in Culture initiative, developed through the Creative Women’s Association, seeks to address this gap.

The program establishes national infrastructure to recognise cultural work as a legitimate form of economic participation while strengthening the growing field of creative health and social prescribing.

At its core, the initiative focuses on a simple principle: cultural work is work.

Textile production, cultural design, heritage knowledge, creative health programs, and small-scale cultural manufacturing all contribute to local economies, community wellbeing and cultural continuity. Yet many of the women who undertake this work do so without recognition, income security, or pathways into sustainable enterprise.

The Women in Culture program introduces a structured approach to addressing this challenge.

Participants gain access to certification pathways, enterprise development support and a national Cultural Work Certification Registry that documents and recognises cultural contributions. This creates measurable workforce participation where previously much of this activity remained unrecorded.

Alongside workforce pathways, the initiative also contributes to emerging research on the Domestic and Care Load (DCL) — the cumulative impact of unpaid care responsibilities and invisible labour on women’s economic participation.

Through collaboration with universities and international researchers, the program aims to build stronger evidence on how these structural factors affect women’s workforce participation and economic security.

Importantly, cultural work is not only an economic issue. It is also deeply connected to health and wellbeing.

Across Australia and internationally, there is growing recognition that cultural participation supports mental health, strengthens community connection and contributes to preventative health outcomes. Creative health programs, arts engagement and cultural practices are increasingly being integrated into social prescribing models.

The Women in Culture program will support approximately 20,000 women annually, reaching an estimated 60,000 participants over a three-year pilot phase.

Each year the program will culminate in the Women in Culture Awards, held on 17 October at the Sydney Opera House in alignment with the International Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The awards recognise cultural leadership across First Nations communities, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, disability leadership and outstanding contributions to cultural production, heritage practice and creative health.

Recognising cultural work is not simply about visibility.

It is about ensuring that the knowledge, care and creative labour that sustain communities are properly valued — economically, culturally and socially.

Because when cultural work is recognised, communities become stronger and the cultural life of a nation becomes more visible and more resilient.

Find out more:

Creative Women’s Association
https://creativewomensassociation.org/

Women in Culture initiative
https://creativewomensassociation.org/verified-cultural-workforce-registry

Add your voice.

The Creative Women’s Association is taking the Minimum Standards for Cultural Work and Provenance to the Australian Senate. The more organisations and individuals who endorse before the committee process, the stronger the case that women’s cultural work belongs on the national agenda — and on the Budget table.

Endorsing takes two minutes. It costs nothing. And it sends a clear signal that the sector exists, that it matters, and that it is time Australia built the infrastructure to recognise it.

Endorse the Minimum Standards here → https://creativewomensassociation.org/endorse-the-minimum-standards/

Image credits: All – Creative Women’s Association (CWA)

Written by Penelope Thomas.

Posted by Elyssa Sykes-Smith.