Art history is often taught with a focus on male and Western authors, thus making the construction of knowledge strongly influenced and modelled by stereotypes that reinforce dominant cultural codes. This means that the contributions of women remain invisible, with women being relegated at best to the role of muse (of men, of course), reinforcing the assumption that ‘good and important’ artists have been and still are mainly white, Western men.
Offering a balanced number of male and female role models in the arts, and other disciplines, allows girls to strengthen their sense of self-efficacy, having role models with whom they can identify. Feeling represented only as an object and never as a competent subject capable of presenting their own vision of the world does not encourage girls, and future women, to embrace the study of artistic subjects.
Fortunately, in schools today there is greater sensitivity and attention to these aspects than in the past. In this context, the arts represent an ideal field for promoting discussion on gender issues. They offer spaces for reflection and expression that go beyond words, also through iconographic analysis of the past and the present, and allow us to challenge preconceptions, enabling a more complex and truthful vision of the world system.