History of the Feminist Art Movement

History of the Feminist Art Movement Before the twentieth century, women artists struggled to participate in the male-dominated art world. Male domination forbade female learning in general. Women had minimal access to courses in art history, philosophy, and anatomy of the human body. Not gaining any perspective of the human anatomy hindered the women artists from creating realistic portraits or accurate majestic scenes. Along with the educational limitations, female artists were forbidden to sketch from live models because it compromised their integrity. Proper social protocol would suggest that self-expression of a female was limited to bearing children, conforming to proper social etiquette and lace making. Some women artists rejected social protocol of marriage to pursue freedom within their artistic expressions. These female artists laid the foundation for equality of artistic freedom despite the harsh regulations placed on their paintings. These pioneering female artists would discreetly incorporate feminist meanings into their work and wanted to remove the gender label from their artworks. The purpose of de-gendering their art was to compete and find recognition of their talents within the art society. By de-gendering their paintings, female artists started to gain recognition of their talents. During the early nineteenth century, female artists reputations affirmed their talents and they slowly achieved success. The twentieth century marked a major social and cultural movement for them. Female artists insisted equality within society by protesting the gender biases and limited opportunities within the art community. Their disapproval provided a foundation for women artists to fight for equality and justice within museums and art galleries. Along with verbally fighting for equality, these women designed their art to cross gender, sexual, and social norms. Early generation feminist artists inspired future generations o f female artists to break the stereotypes of art. Pioneering female artists had the courage to create artistic masterpieces, expose the gender biases within the art community, and shatter creative boundaries within society. This path for womens equality in art was received with criticism and objectification. Noticeable separation of male to female artists is illustrated in Johann Zoffanys group portrait of the newly founded Royal Academy in 1772. Female artists Kaufmann and Moser are not included among the male artists but their portraits hung on the academys walls (Chadwick 7). Their artistic talents were comparable to the gentlemen within the academy, yet, Zoffany treated these women as objects, not equals. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, women were barred from the study of the nude models that formed the basis for academic training. The lack of academic training provided to these women did not stifle them from succeeding within the art community. Sofonisba Anguissola illustrated in fifteenth century that women could challenge the male artist, even with the limitations placed on their artistic boundaries. Women were confined to paint only self-portraits or respectable landscapes. Sofonisba Self-Portraits exemplifies her techniques in painting by the contrast, lights, and colors used in her portraits. These portraits incorporate her place within society, culture, and her own virtuoso. Sofonisbas father stifled her paintings when she became of age to marry. She refused to stop painting and defied society by continuing to paint when she was married and was bearing children (Chave). Her portraits still astound the art community with her brush techniques. Artemisia Gentileschi challenged society with her portrait of Susanna and the Elders created after the conviction of Artemisias rapist. She lived a horrible life of torture, rape, and deception. Her father was a great artist and ran his own studio for inspiring male artist. Her father taught her how to paint within the boundaries of properly raised females. During one of her fathers sessions a young student lured Artemisia to an outside room and raped her at the age of twelve. The charge of rape was unheard of and the case was taken to the high courts. At the trial, her thumbs were bound and tightened with each question asked by the court. This torture was to ensure the court that she was telling the truth under pain. The young gentleman was convicted, which embarrassed her fathers reputation. Artemisias father disowned her for many years over the judges ruling. She was able to transform her passion and personal pain over the years to create artistic masterpieces. With her success, s he opened a school for women artist at the young age of 14 (Mieke). Womens liberation was still considered absurd through the 1800s, but one woman artist took the world by surprise. Rosa Bonheur was an extraordinary woman that was restricted to drawing and painting wildlife portraits and landscapes. Rosa incorporated messages of empowerment and rebellion in The Horse Fair, which illustrates horses being pulled and shoved by the male handlers. The message of The Horse Fair was translated over the years as the horses represented the womens struggle for equality and freedom. In her personal life, she broke the mold by dressing as a man, having a female companion, and controlled her own money (Madden). Rosas conviction to be a woman artist and self reliant demonstrated early ambitions of womens liberations. The womens liberation movement started to gain momentum in the early 1900s with the Womens Suffrage Movement. This movement involved women uniting for equality within the social and political organizations. These rebellious women uprooted themselves from the daily tasks of cooking and cleaning to picket the White House for equality. The feminist movement for equality did not gain much political ground and many of these organizations disbanded over the inequality frustrations. This movement influenced many women to start exploring their own freedoms within society. This female exploration developed into various feminist organizations that promoted carefree attitudes of dancing, smoking, and enjoying life. Enjoying life was short lived for the early feminist groups due to the Great Depression in the 1930s. During WWII, feminist started to pull out of the depression and began performing masculine rolls within society. Rosie the Riveter was an image of the powerful women supporting their family and the country while at war. The image of Rosie fueled the sense of independence and freedom within women lives. Unfortunately, the war ended and men returning home from war wanted their positions back as the family provider. Women returning to the role of homemaker did not sit well with the feminist organizations because they started to gain social and political freedoms (Nguyen). The early 1900s laid a foundation for women rights and freedom of self-expression and liberation. However, it took another twenty years for the feminist movement to gain any ground within society or the art community. Through the 1960s and 1970s, America was facing the Vietnam War and social changes within the largest social structure, the Catholic Church. Women realized their lack of representation within society and the art community. They began to organize themselves into support groups in order to raise awareness of equal opportunities. A new wave of feminism gained momentum by actively questioning gender norms and tackling stereotypes. The Womens Liberation Movement in the Sixties started with the fight for Civil Rights among blacks, the left-wing political student revolution of 1968, and the demonstrations against the Vietnam War (Humm 132). In addition, these protests included the struggle for abortion-rights, sexual freedom, social, and economical equality. The Womens Liberation and female artists became intimately joined forces in fighting for visualizing the injustices of society. The inequality of women expanded into the artistic community that escorted the first protest on the American art world. These protests focused on racism and sexism within the art community that enraged many feminist. The progress for equality was beginning to become organized and powerful, which allowed for all injustices to be fair game. One of the organizations was the Art Workers Coalition that was formed by artist George Takis. He removed one of his sculptures from the Museum of Modern Art or MoMA in 1969, which drew attention to his disapproval of the treatment of various artists (Gross). However, his protest for women artists equality was not as important to him as other causes. This infuriated the women artists within the group to strike out on their own. The Women Artists in Revolution or WAR was an established as a fragment organization to protest the male dominated Art Worker Coalition. Cindy Nemser is an art historian and critic, who published numerous journals in the 1970s about the liberation of women artists. She attended one of the first meetings of WAR. They gained recognition as artists and not as objects within the art community (Russell and Spencer 112). One of the crucial topics during the first meeting was the debate whether to have an all womens artist exhibition. A few women felt fearful that they would be stigmatized by exhibiting their artwork with only women. Within moments the debate resolved to the resolution to have a exhibit featuring twelve women artists, which they would call X12:X. The intention of this exhibit was to illustrate the power and talents of women artists and it became a milestone for equal artistic rights. These twelve women artists conducted their exhibition on the roof in the East Village, NYC in 1970. Artists were: Iris Crump, Lois DiCosola, Maryann Gillies, Silvianna Goldsmith, Helene Gross, Doloris Holmes, Arline Lederman, Inverna Lockpez, Carolyn Mazzello, Vernita Nemec, Doris OKane, and Alida Walsh (Bock DiCosola). That same year of the X12:X exhibition the A.W.C. and W.A.R. collaborated to protest the actions of the Whitney Museum. The Whitney Museums Annual opening in 1970 featured 143 artists and only 8 of the artist were women (Gross). This lack of women artists representation in the museum piloted demonstrations by the Women Artist in Revolution and the Art Workers Coalition. These organizations advocated equal opportunities by direct open letters, demonstrations, and media interviews. The purpose of these demonstrations was to insist that all the art institutions reorganize the museums exhibition agenda. These demands included topics of feminism, anti-racism, and anti-war movements that needed to be incorporated into the museums exhibitions. In addition, these demands included the participation of the art institutions to exhibit and place minorities and womens artists within society. Due to the intensive fight for equality of female representation at the museums the Whitney Museum raised from 5% in 1970 to 22% in 1971. These protests opened many avenues for social and artistic equality within society (Tobias). Another organization fighting for women artists rights was AIR or Artists in Residence. The AIR Gallery open in 1972 and is the first non-profit gallery that exhibits women artists in America. These female artists would determine what programs and exhibits would be illustrated in the gallery. Also, each female artist would have the opportunity to demonstrate their works by designing and installing their own show. Some of these exhibits would attract some commercial venues but the majority of the exhibits would challenge the view against the stereotypes of women in society (Chave). This artistic evolution opened numerous opportunities for writers to focus on the history of womens equality within the artistic society. Moreover, these writers wanted to expose the tainted past with the historical perception of women artist. Linda Nochlin published an essay in 1971 called, Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? This essay inspired women artists to reject art history of women because of the injustices within the educational and cultural opportunities. These rejections offered women the authority to reject the customary artistic education, which was held in reserve for male artists. She communicates that the fault for the lack of women artist did not lie within their stars or hormones. Linda explains that women artists do not have the golden nugget of genius and continues to state that women artists were not born with the genes to be a great artist because of the lack of a penis (Nochlin). Lindas publication encouraged many women artist to reject the past and re ach within their soul to find new inspirations within female art. Judy Chicago read Nochlins essay and began to re-educate herself in art history by rejecting the tilted observations of male art history. Judys earlier exhibitions of her work at the Jewish Museum included paintings as the Rainbow Pickets and Primary Structures. These earlier artworks utilized the Minimalists approach (Chave). However, this approach to art was abandoned with the awareness of the fight for womens equality within the artistic community. Nochlins essay inspired women like Judy to move toward the feminist art faction and to usher in aspirations of artistic creativity. The female artists of the revolution went beyond gender bias to create a new generation of stirring and proactive art. This evolution of womens expressionism facilitated the new wave of liberating topics that was incorporated into paintings, sculptures, and education (Lucie-Smith 196). Miriam Schapiro embraced the female experience of crafts and developed a new median of art. She was inspired by this feminist movement to demonstrate and elevate the status of crafts to a fine art through sewing, collage, and painting. The use of embroidery and cross-stitching within art has come to be known as femmage. Femmage was a word that stood for hand sewn art that incorporated different fabrics and textures. This unique use of crafts elevated her work to the high-art of collages, which is seen in the Dolls House at the Womanhouse project (Bock DiCosola). Schapiro wanted to encourage the ordinary housewives to be inspired and made aware that their daily tasks could be turned into beautiful art. Her popularity within the womens community allowed her to challenge the establishments of injustices and encouraged women to emerge from the isolation of the housewifes persona. Schapiros enthusiasm for liberating the housewife included educational projects with Judy Chicago. Judy and Miriam became acquainted by their recognition of each others earlier artistic challenges in the male dominated art society. They first met at a dinner held in the home of Allan Kaprow, where they discussed the possibility of Schapiro lecturing at the university where Judy resided. Both of these women embraced the emancipation of women and women artists. The first advancement of educational programs for women in art was created by Judy at California State University. Judy and Schapiro integrated their talents to design the first Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of Arts (Lucie-Smith 194). It was the intention of this school to create a new generation of artists, who had an expanded knowledge of the feminist self awareness. These challenges and recognition of each others work encouraged Judy and Miriam to have an exhibit that allowed the women artists to express their new femininity. In 1972, Womanhouse project was a brainstorm of Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro and integrated the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts. This exhibition encouraged students of the Feminist Art Program to participate. The intention of the Womanhouse is to showcase womens performances and art outside of the school environment. Projecting the students into the social community gave a new purpose for their art and a chance to open the minds of the public to liberating womens artistic abilities. This exhibition joined forces with all the students to prepare a dilapidated house in a suburban area of Hollywood. Students that worked several jobs had to prioritize their lives to create new pieces for the exhibit. Beyond their own works of art, the students became laborers in repairing windows, rewiring electric and other carpentry related tasks. Unfortunately, the undertaking of this project became overwhelming for the students and staff. Numerous students were pushed to their limits and suffered sleep deprivation and exhaustion in preparation. Judy became the general of this project by yelling, poking, and pushing students to their limits (Sider). The students and staff managed to convert this house into a month long art exhibition for the public. Each woman was given a room to create whatever they wanted, providing it followed the parameters of the females experiences. The Womanhouse exhibition was received with mixed reactions by the critics. These participating artists were less concerned with the critics and more concerned with raising the conscious awareness in femininity. Each night of the show, the media and spectators filled the exhibition rooms to interact with many talented artists. The general, or Judy, created the Menstruation Bathroom that included a waste basket overflowing with dirty, bloody pads. She also scattered around the bathroom various feminine hygiene projects. Another inventive use of household items is the Linen Closet designed by Sandra Orgel. The Linen Closet illustrates a women trapped inside the closet or incorporated into the closet next to the folded towels. The head of the females appears to have been chopped off and placed on the self. The one leg appears to be outside but also attached to the body, it seems to be that she was stuck inside the boundaries of traditional womens duties. The traditional womens duty was challenged by a room called Waiting at Womanhouse. Waiting at Womanhouse was performed by Faith Wilding, which involves her sitting in a room with her hands folded while she rocks back and forth reciting words that stereotyped women. Faith would mutter words like, waiting for someone to feed me, put me on the toilet, or waiting for menopause. The message provided by this piece demonstrates the outdated suppression of females but also provides a powerful voice to break the cycle of oppression. Nurturant Kitchen was a combined insulation by Susan Frazier, Robin Weltsch and Vicki Hodgetts. The Womanhouse exhibit provided a creative outlet for the artist to explore the feminist view of unequal opportunities in society. Moreover, it illustrates the talents that women possess when they are not muffled by the male dominated society (Sider). During the Womanhouse exhibit, another organization for womens equal rights was beginning to assemble. In 1971, the Women in Arts Foundation or WIA became a structured foundation that addressed the discriminations against women artists. This foundation challenged the unfair practices of jurying female artists for shows. Also, they provided educational and professional information to these artists, so that they could govern their careers with knowledge. A majority of these educational programs tackled topics dealing with various law practices, grants, art dealers, and coping with critics (Morgan). The WIA organization also contributed in protests that took to the streets of New York. They would have television interviews, speeches, and even picketed events that were unjust to the female artist. WIA conducted a protest in front of MoMA, which included numerous open letter campaigns to the New York museums to reorganize their ignorance toward women artists. The result of this protest led to the Women Choose Women exhibition that opened in 1973. This show included only 109 of nearly 500 WIA members (Tobias). Although the percentage of women was low, it still set a precedent for future womens exhibitions. Women Choose Women was essential not only because it was the first womens museum exhibition but it gained recognition by the art community. It was important because it demonstrated that women artists were no longer under the control of the male influences and these males could no longer determine what works of the females would be exhibited. Also these women artists would decide how these exhibitions would be interpreted. Inverna Lockpez was one of the artists featured in this exhibition with an untitled painting. Lockpez was always involved with the womens movement since the early sixties and felt that this show was overdue. Buffie Johnson, Betty Parsons, and Mary Frank were among some of the diverse artists that were featured in this exhibit. This show illustrated various womens artistic abilities and was hosted by the New York Cultural Center (Jolly). The Women Choose Women show set precedence for other women artists to unify and take control of their artwork. The Women Choose Women and the sexual revolution aided in the liberation of homosexual and bisexual female artists. However, the fight for womens freedom was still ongoing and to tackle another issue for female homosexual equality would be challenging. The League for the Advancement of Lesbianism in the Arts was founded in Los Angeles. This foundation provided a safe environment for their members to explore the freedom of sexuality through their art. In New York City lesbian artists protested the lack of support within the art community. Ellen Turner, Maxine Fine, Flavia Rando, Ellen Turner and Fran Winant would target high traffic populated areas and saturate them with copies of their artworks. These artwork flyers would have the female artists drawings, which was stamped with the word lesbian art across the flyer. In 1974, the Lesbian Herstory Archives was founded in New York City by Joan Nestle and Deborah Edel. The undertaking of this foundation was to gather and preserve records of lesbian lives and activities so that future generations will have access to the material. Moreover, lesbian artists were gaining some recognition in 1978 with A Lesbian Show exhibition (Jolly). Harmony Hammond created the A Lesbian Show which was an exhibition that featured lesbian artists. In the early 1970s, she exhibited art pieces that resembled the feminist attitudes of the times. Beyond the confronting of the current feminist agenda, Harmony came out as a lesbian and became a strong voice for future generations of lesbian artists. She is an accomplished artist that incorporates lesbian feminism into her paintings, sculptures, and writings. Her artistic works incorporates the female stereotypical household materials into her sculptures and paintings. Some of these materials included the use of blankets, curtains, and any recycled cloths that were transformed into crocheted painted rugs. Harmony also experimented with latex and rubber materials in her sculptures which are illustrated in her bag collection. Today, this pioneer of womens art is still an accomplished artist, writer, curator, and publisher on the topic of lesbian art (Russell and Spencer 220-221). In the 1970s there were many foundations that supported the feminist fight. However, lets go beyond the organizations or exhibitions and explore a few of these pioneering feminist artists. These women used their artistic creativity to express unique insights within feminist art. It is important to recognize each of these following women as courageous and bold women within their own convictions to broaden the artists awareness to female art and equality. Cindy Sherman established her reputation as an artist by using Untitled Film Stills to provide a different prospective on photography. In the late 1970s, she created a series of black-and-white photographs which the artist depicted herself dressed in the guises of clichà ©d B-movie heroines. Another artist that used film within the artistic community was Joyce Wieland. She was a painter, writer, and director of her own movies, which include The Far Shore. Joyce is called the pioneer of the idea of women working together to create art. She was the first artist to hire outside individual quilters to quilt various pieces for her Reason Over Passion(Chadwick 383). Joyce was considered one of the most important artist figures with the U.S. and Canada. Judy Chicago used other female artists to aid her creation of the 1979 piece called The Dinner Party. She had taken the idea of getting other women to help her from Joyce Wieland, but unlike Wieland, Judy Chicago never paid the people who worked for her. This Dinner Party took five years to complete and she has since received a bad reputation for exploiting the work of other artists by taking the credit for herself (Chadwick 229). Judys efforts and drive helped the feminist movement toward a positive direction but after this show her past accomplishments were over shadowed by her greed. Benglis is the next feminist artist that rocked the artistic community. Her creations are very unusual concepts of the use of latex. During the feminist movement, she poured latex and foam to create sculptures. Benglis angrily created these works of art to represent the male dominated fusion of paintings and sculptures that had taken place within Process Art and Minimalism. Movement of the material was the purpose for creating these sculptures with the foam and latex. Benglis work was met with controversy over the critical awareness of the abstraction of content and the gesture of the mass (Tobias). Her creations of sculptures were very formal but used unique materials that captured the audience imagine. The sculptures during the feminist movement varied from latex to fiberglass. Hesses preferred material was fiberglass, which incorporated organic geometric elements into the sculptures. Most of her sculptures were rigid and contained mechanical shapes and forms. Unfortunately, during her peak of artistic genius, Hesse discovered that she had a brain tumor. It has been said that her unique situation gave her the inspiration to boldly use materials like latex, rubber, and cheesecloths to define movement within the sculptures (Chadwick 340). The last feminist artist that inspired this research for the liberating art movement was Betye Saar. She began creating artworks that incorporated the social injustices arranged within boxes with windows. Saar used mixed media collages, assemblages, and installations to illustrate her message of freedom. Saars work had a methodic element of passage of life, death, and rebirth. Each of her artworks conveyed stories of equalities, her own mixed culture, and the fight for civil liberties. The majority of her art work deals with issues of race and gender equality. The Liberation of Aunt Jemima forces the audience to see the injustices within the social boundaries of life(Barko). In closure, the evolution of the artistic freedom illustrates the level of bias within the education and opportunities offered to the early pioneer women artists. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, female artists began to organize and fight for equal artistic and personal freedoms. These early struggles for equal exhibitions led many female artists to conduct protests and boycotts of various museums to gain recognition. Various female artists that had the opportunity to exhibit their works opened new avenues for future feminist artists. These artistic pioneers illustrated that females are just as talented, bold, and provocative as male artists. The golden egg theory that males had a gift from God to be great artists was trampled by the feminist artistic movement. Moreover, these feminist artists demonstrated that their artworks were just as marketable as the male artists works. The organizations formed by these women were used to provide support and advancement within the artisti c community. Many of these feminists artistic organizations still exist today. They still continue to fight for equality and equal exposure for the female artist and their artworks. Nowadays, women artists are able to benefit from these pioneers of liberation; however, to benefit from the past is to maintain the level of artistic freedom in the future. Work Cited Anguissola, Sofonisba. Self Portrait. 1561. Painting. http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/phillippy/_women_artists/anguissola/. 30 Nov. 2009. Barko, Cortney Cronberg. Rediscovering Female Voice and Authority: The Revival of Female Artists in Wendy Wassersteins The Heidi Chronicles. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 29.1 (Mar. 2008): 121-138. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Westmoreland County Community College Learning Resources Center. 23 Aug. 2009 . Benglis, Lynda. Quartered Meteor. 1969. Photo.http://www.cheimread.com/exhibitions/2002_10_bettina-rheimslynda-benglis/. 30 Nov. 2009. Bock DiCosola, Lois Ann. Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975 . 2007. 13 September,2009. . Bonheur, Rosa. The Horse Fair. 1853. http://www.shepherd.edu/englweb/artworks/A8.jpg. 30 Nov. 2009. Chave, Anna C. I Object Hannah Wilkes (Feminism). Art in America 97.3 (Mar. 2009): 104. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Westmoreland County Community College Learning Resources Center. 23 Aug. 2009 . Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society . 4th Ed. Canada: Thames HudsonWorld of Art, 2007. Chicago, Judy. The Dinner Party. 1974-79. Photo. http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/spring07/sp2007exh_03.htm. 30 Nov. 2009. Chicago, Judy. Menstruation Bathroom. 1973. Photo. http://feministartrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/womanhouse-1973.html. 30 Nov.2009. Chicago, Judy. Rainbow Pickett. 1965. Photo.http://www.lewallencontemporary.com/judychicago. 30 Nov. 2009. Frazier, Susan, Hodgetts, Vicki, Weltsch, Robin. Nurturant Kitchen. 1973. Photo. http://feministartrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/womanhouse-1973.html. 30 Nov.2009. Gentileschi, Artemisia. Susanna and the Elders. 1610. Painting. http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/susanna.html. 30 Nov. 2009. Gross, Alexander. The Artists Branch of the Movement. Inside the Sixties Book. 2009.September 15,2009. . Hammond, Harmony. Bag XI. 1971. 1973. Photo. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/harmonyhammond.php?i=832. 30 Nov. 2009. Hammond, Harmony. Floorpiece VI. 1973. Photo. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/harmonyhammond.php?i=832. 30 Nov. 2009. Hesse, Eva. Right After. 1969. Photo. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/eva_hesse.php?i=1700.30 Nov. 2009. Humm, Maggie. The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. 2nd ed. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1995. Lucie-Smith, Edward. Movements in Art Since 1945. 1st Ed. Canada: Thames Hudson World of Art, 2001. Jolly, Margaretta. Lesbian Herstory Archives. 2009. LHEF, Inc..13 September,2009. http://www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org/index.html. Lesbian Herstory Archives. Lesbian Herstory Archives Photo 1974. Photo. http://www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org/index.html. 30 Nov. 2009. Lockpez, Inverna. Untitled. Movements in Art Since 1945. 1st Ed. Canada: Thames Hudson World of Art, 2001. Madden, Gerry. Rosa Bonheur, a Boy in Petticoats. Hopscotch 16.6 (Apr. 2005): 36. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Westmoreland County Community College Learning Resources Center. 22 Aug. 2009 . Mieke, Bal. The Artemisia Files: Artemisia Gentileschi for Feminists and Other Thinking People. 1st ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Morgan, Ann Lee. Feminist Art. Art Journal 54.3 (Fall95 1995): 102. MasterFILE Premier. Westmoreland County Community

Financial Performance and Bank Efficiency: Comparison Between Conventional Banks and Sharia Banks Essay

This study aims to compare the financial performance and bank efficiency between conventional banks and sharia banks in Indonesia in the period of 2008-2011 by using financial ratios to measure the financial performance, as well as SFA (Stochastic Frontier Approach) to the measure bank efficiency. Financial ratios that are used are consisted of CAR, NPL, ROA, ROE, and LDR. Meanwhile variables that are used to measure the efficiency are receivables, placements with Bank Indonesia and other banks, third-party funds, and issued capital and fully paid capital. The samples consist of 11 conventional banks and 11 sharia banks. T-test is conducted to determine whether there is any significant difference in financial performance between sharia Banks and conventional Banks. The results of hypothesis testing and multiple regression analysis indicate that there are significant differences of CAR, ROA, ROE, profit efficiency between conventional banks and sharia banks. Keywords: financial perfor mance, bank efficiency, SFA, conventional banks, sharia bank. ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan perbandingan kinerja keuangan serta efisiensi Bank Umum Konvensional dan Bank Umum Sharia di Indonesia pada periode 2008-2011 dengan menggunakan rasio keuangan untuk mengukur kinerja keuangan, serta SFA (Stochastic Frontier Approach) untuk mengukur efisiensi bank. Rasio keuangan yang digunakan terdiri dari CAR, NPL, ROA, ROE, dan LDR. Sedangkan variable untuk mengukur efisiensi laba diantaranya Pembiayaan yang diberikan, Penempatan pada Bank Indonesia dan bank lainnya, Dana pihak ketiga, dan Modal yang disetor dan dibayar penuh. Sampel yang digunakan adalah 11 Bank Konvensional dan 11 Bank Sharia. Uji t dilakukan untuk mengetahu apakah terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan kinerja keuangan antara Bank Konvensional dan Bank Sharia. Hasil dari uji hipotesis dan regresi berganda tesebut menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan CAR, ROA, ROE, efisiensi laba diantara Bank Konvensional dan Bank Sharia. Kata kunci: kinerja keuangan, efisiensi bank, SFA, bank konvensional, bank syariah. INTRODUCTION It has been almost a quarter of century since the first sharia bank was established. Sharia banks not only have big expansion in Muslim countries, but also in Non-Muslim countries. Some people choose sharia banks because of the differences between conventional banks and sharia banks. Actually there are not many differences between them but, the main reason why people choose sharia banks is because there is no riba system like in conventional banks. In the discussion of banking in Indonesia, it is important to analyze the performance. Performance represents the condition of the bank, it represents whether the management of the bank can run the operational well or not. It is important for banks to measure their performance in order to be able to improve its service to satisfy the customers. There are several ways to assess bank’s performance. Performance evaluation is an important tool to assess the success of any business including sharia financial institution. In the performance evaluation, setting the bench mark is vital in order to make comparison between the desired and the actual performance. In 1979, the use of the CAMEL factors in evaluating a bank’s financial health has become well known among regulators. Piyu (1992) stated that financial ratios are often used to measure the overall financial sound of a bank and the quality of its management. Bank regulators, for example, use financial ratios to evaluate a bank’s performance as a part of the CAMELS system. CAMELS system consists of Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity, and Sensitivity to market risk. An overall composite CAMELS rating, which is ranging from one to five is then developed from this evaluation. As a whole, the CAMELS rating, which is determined after an on-site examination, provides a means to categorize banks based on their overall health, financial status, and management. Another important aspect in measuring performance and competition in banking industries is efficiency. Efficiency is improved by reducing cost in production process or by increasing revenue. If there is a rapid change of financial structure, we have to identify the fund efficiency and revenue. Banks which is more efficient is hoped to be able to derive maximum profit and give better service quality for costumer. One of the ways to measure the efficiency of a bank is by using parametric approach with Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) through alternative profit efficiency. SFA has an advantage, which is it is able to compare other measurement methods that involve disturbance term. Disturbance term is representing disturbances, measurement error and exogenous shocks beyond the control, environment variables which are easily treated, possibility to conduct hypothesis testing by using statistical test, and ease in identifying the outliers. SFA efficiency value range is between 0 and 1. If the value of SFA equals to 1, it means that the bank’s performance is efficient. Meanwhile, if the value of SFA equals to 0, it means that the bank’s performance is inefficient. Banks’ efficiency is also needed as an important indicator to analyze bank’s performance and as a tool to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy. Generally, there are 3 basic concepts of efficiency model in banking sector. They are cost efficiency, standard profit efficiency, and alternative profit efficiency. PREVIOUS RESEARCH Islamic Banks Sole (2007) on his journal entitled Introducing Islamic Banks into Conventional Banking System. From his journal, can be concluded that over the last decade, Islamic banking has experienced global growth rates of 10-15 percent per annum. It has been moving into an increasing number of conventional financial systems at such a rapid pace that Islamic financial institutions are present today in over 51 countries. Despite this consistent growth, many supervisory authorities and finance practitioners remain unfamiliar with the process by which Islamic banks are introduced into a conventional system. Banks Performance Wirnkar (2008) on his journal entitled CAMELs and Banks Performance Evaluation: The Way Forward, said that the findings revealed the inability of each factor in CAMEL to capture the wholistic performance of a bank. Also revealed, was the relative weight of importance of the factors in CAMEL which resulted to a call for a change in the acronym of CAMEL to CLEAM. In addition, the best ratios in each of the factors in CAMEL were identified. For example, the best ratio for Capital Adequacy was found to be the ratio of total shareholders’ fund to total risk weighted assets. The paper concluded that no one factor in CAMEL suffices to depict the overall performance of a bank. Among other recommendations, banks’ regulators are called upon to revert to the best identified ratios in CAMEL when evaluating banks performance. Banks Efficiency Majid (2010) in his journal entitled Efficiency in Islamic and Conventional Banking: An International Comparison, can be concluded that he was with Saal and Battisti investigated the efficiency of a sample of Islamic and conventional banks in 10 countries that operate Islamic banking for the period 1996-2002, using an output distance function approach. They obtain measures of efficiency after allowing for environmental influences such as country macroeconomic conditions, accessibility of banking services and bank type. While these factors are assumed to directly influence the shape of the technology, we assume that country dummies and bank size directly influence technical inefficiency. The parameter estimates highlight that during the sample period, Islamic banking appears to be associated with higher input usage. Correlation between banks performance and banks efficiency Kosmidou (2008) on his journal entitled Measurement of Bank Performance in Greece can be conclu ded that banks have been forced to be more competitive and to implement bank rating systems to evaluate their financial risks. The present study evaluates the performance and efficiency of the commercial and cooperative banks in Greece for the period 2003-2004. The results obtained indicate that commercial banks are tending to increase their accounts, to attract more customers and ameliorate their financial indices, thereby becoming more competitive and maximizing their profits. Concerning the cooperative banks in Greece, the conclusions are not so uniform, since there are banks that are enjoying considerably increased profits and market shares, and others whose financial indices seem to be deteriorating. RESEARCH METHOD Type of Study This research use secondary data which gathered from several sources such as website of Bank Indonesia, website of each banks and contain all information needed. Then, the data analyzed by using SPSS. Population and Sample The populations in this research are conventional banks and sharia banks. Meanwhile, the samples are the banks (11 conventional banks and 11 sharia banks) listed in Bank Indonesia which have been published their financial report from 2008-2011. Research Variables In this study, the dependent variable is SFA (Stochastic Frontier Approach) while the independent variables are CAR, ROA, ROE, NPL, LDR, receivables, third party fund, placement in Bank Indonesia and other banks, and issued capital & fully paid capital. ANALYSIS Classical Assumption Test Multicollinearity Test: The result showed that all of the independent variables used in this research have tolerance value greater than 0.10 and VIF less than 10. Thus, , independent variables are free from multicollinearity symptoms or there is no multicollinearity among the independent variables. Autocorrelation Test: Based on the result of Durbin Watson test, it is known that Durbin Watson value is 1.368 which is between -2 to 2. It means that there is no autocorrelation in the regression model. Heteroscedasticity Test: The graph scatter plot shown that that there is no clear pattern and the points spread above or below the number 0. Then, it can be stated that there is no heterocedasticity. The result of T-Test The independent t-test result obtained for CAR is -2.329, with the probability of 0.022 which less than ÃŽ ±=0.05. Thus, the first hypothesis in this study which states that â€Å"There is significant difference in CAR between conventional and sharia banks in Indonesia† is supported. The independent t-test results obtained for NPL is 1.494, with the probability of 0.139 which is greater than ÃŽ ±=0.05. Thus, the second hypothesis in the study which states that â€Å"There is significant difference in NPL between conventional and sharia banks in Indonesia† is not supported. The independent t-test results obtained for ROA is 2.278 with a probability of 0.025 which is less than ÃŽ ±=0.05. Thus, the third hypothesis which states that â€Å"There is significant difference in ROA between conventional and sharia banks in Indonesia† is supported. The independent t-test results obtained for ROE is 4.040 with the probability of 0.000 which less than ÃŽ ±=0.05. Thus, the fourth hypothesis in the study which states that â€Å"There is significant difference in ROE between conventional and sharia banks in Indonesia† is supported. The independent t-test results obtained for LDR is -1.275 with the probability of 0.206 which is greater than ÃŽ ±=0.05. Thus, the fifth hypothesis which states that â€Å"There is significant difference in LDR between conventional and sharia banks in Indonesia† is not supported. The independent t-test results obtained for efficiency ratio (SFA) is 4.345 with the probability of 0.000 which is less than ÃŽ ±=0.05. Thus, the sixth research hypothesis which states that â€Å"There is efficiency difference between conventional banks and sharia banks in Indonesia† is supported. Multiple Regression analysis result The equation is as follows: SFA = 0,368 – 0,001CAR + 0,071NPL + 0,022ROA + 0,008ROE + 0,001LDR + 0,002REC + 0,00018PBI + 0,00004TPF + 0,002ISSUED + ÃŽ µ The the relationship between bank’s performance and bank’s efficiency is indicated by the multiple correlation coefficient (R) which is equal to 0.674. This means that there is a strong relation ship between the bank’s performance and bank’s efficiency. To clarify whether the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables are significant or not, it can be tested with the F test. The test showed that F value is 7.213 with the probability 0.000 which is less than ÃŽ ±=0.05. This shows that the Sig F is smaller than the 0.05 value thus, the performance of banks as measured by CAR, NPL, ROA, ROE, LDR, receivable, placement with Bank Indonesia and other banks, third parties fund, and issued capital and fully paid capital are simultaneously related to the efficiency of banks. Thus, the seventh hypothesis which stated that â€Å"There is influence between bank’s performance and bank’s efficiency† is supported. CLOSING Conclusion Based on the result of data processing, there are some conclusions: 1. There is significant difference between sharia banks and conventional banks in terms of CAR. This study finds that sharia banks’ CAR is greater than conventional banks. 2. There is no significant difference of financial performance between sharia banks and conventional banks in terms of the NPL ratio. This means that NPL in sharia banks are equal to conventional banks, which all banks have NPLs below 5%. 3. There is significant difference between sharia banks and conventional banks in terms of ROA. The difference that occur shows that the conventional banks’ ROA is higher than sharia banks which means that the ability of conventional banks in earning profit based on the owned asset is higher than sharia banks’. 4. There is significant difference between the profitability performances of sharia banks and conventional banks in terms of ROE. The difference that occurs shows that conventional banks’ ROE is higher than sharia banks. It means tha t the ability of conventional banks in earning profit based on the owned equity is higher than sharia banks. 5. There is no significant difference in the performance of banks on LDR (Loan to Deposit Ratio). This means the liquidity of sharia banks and conventional banks are equal. 6. There is significant difference in bank efficiency between sharia banks and conventional banks in terms of SFA. In this case, conventional banks are more efficient compare to sharia banks because their SFA value is higher compare to sharia banks’. 7. Banks’ performance has influence on banks’ efficiency. This means that the higher performance of the bank, the more efficient the bank in conducting its operations. Among all of the performance ratios, they are NPL and ROE that have significant influence on efficiency. Meanwhile for the CAR, ROA, LDR, Receivable, Placement with Bank Indonesia and other Banks, Third Parties Fund, and Capital Issued does not have significant influence on bank’s efficiency. Research Limitation This research focused on comparing conventional bank and sharia bank on the basis of financial performance by using CAEL only, because the data used is just financial ratio and effectiveness using SFA. The financial performance and effectiveness can be assessed by analyzing the annual report published by Bank Indonesia. This research uses annual reports from 2008 to 2011 and quarterly data, taken from 11 sharia Banks and 11 well known conventional banks. Recommendations Some suggestions for the future research on this topic based on the limitation that researcher found are mentioned as follows: 1. For Sharia Banks, this research found that sharia banks have lower profitability ratio and efficiency compare to conventional banks. Thus, the researcher would like to recommend sharia banks to increase those ratios by minimizing bank’s operational costs, improving the market to get more customer through innovative sharia products. 2. For Conventional Banks, this research found that conventional banks have lower capital aspect compare to sharia banks. Thus, they need to reduce credit risk by improving credit management in order to reduce the value of risk-weighted assets (RWA). 3. For Banks in general, to improve the efficiency of the bank’s performance, banks should improve the overall performance, both from the capital, assets, management, earnings and liquidity 4. For the Future Researchers, this study uses only five ratios in measuring the bank’s financial performance, the future researchers should use more ratios to measure performance. REFERENCES Abustan. (2009). Analisa Perbandingan Kinerja Keuangan Perbankan Sharia dengan Perbankan Konvensional, Retrieved December 24, 2012, from : http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_eUXttjW3VgJ:www.gunadara.ac.id/librar y/articles/graduate/economy/2009 Alphonsius, W. & Tanko, M. (June 24, 2008). CAMELs and Banks Performance Evaluation: The Way Forward. Social Science Research Network. Retrieved April 15, 2012, from http://ssrn.com/abstract=1150968 Endang Sumachdar and Hariandy Hasbi. (2010). Financial Performance Analysis for Islamic Rural Bank to Third Party Funds and The Comparation with Conventional Rural Bank in Indonesia. International Conference on Business and Economics Research. Retrieved April 18, 2012, from http://www.ipedr.com/vol1/67G00011.pdf Mohd, I., Mazlina, N.,

History of Human Cloning in China Essay

Human Cloning has been one of the most intriguing topics in modern day Science. It has fascinated scientist and researchers alike. Cloning is a process of asexually reproducing identical individuals with similar genetic make-up. It also refers to a process in biotechnology that generates multiple copies of a DNA fragment. The term clone comes from the Greek word, which means twig or a branch. It was derived from a process in horticulture where in a plant is cutting a branch and replanting it. Many countries around the world focus their research in cloning particularly, on humans. China is one these countries to fund a research program for cloning. In the 21st century, China has proven itself as one of the powerful nations in the world. It was thought as a â€Å"sleeping giant of the east† but after the recent Beijing Olympics, China was considered the â€Å"rising dragon of the east†. During the 1980s, Zhangjiang HiTech Park of Pudong District in Shanghai provided the Chinese National Human Genome Center. This marked the start of the Genomic Era in China. In the late 1980s, the scientists of Fudan University were funded by the Chinese High Technology Research and Development Program The program was also called the 863 program. The aim of the project was to construct a map of the human genome. The scientist constructed a DNA library for mapping genetic related diseases. This project was later developed into another project also funded by the 863 program. Fujian University, Ruijin Hospital and the Cancer Institute of Shanghai were assigned to produce a new genomic technology by means of molecular genetics. The research aims to look for cures for genetic diseases including cancer. They were also trying to utilize medical genetics in their research. The institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Science was independently doing another research on another genome project. They were developing a rare cutter restriction enzyme to help in the analysis of massive DNA fragments of human genome. These efforts and processes were the spark of the genome research in China. The early 1990s was the beginning of the Human Genome Project (HGP) for the U. S. A. , but China responded by participating in the International Rice Genome Project led by Japan. China, the largest developing country in the world was concern of food security, because they consider rice as their staple food source. Mapping the genome of rice is easier than of humans. It is only 400Mb. It is a nice model for monocotyledon plants, which may be useful for other grain crops. On the other hand, some of China’s scientist still conducts researches on the Human Genome Project independently. A prominent character during that time was WU Min, who at that time was the director of the Department of Life Science, National Natural Department of Life Science in China (NSCFC), suggesting the NSFC committee to lead some major projects for the Human Genome Project. Thus, the project pushed through and it was the considered the first major human genome project in China. It was funded to study the gene variation of 56 Chinese individuals. Meanwhile, the Chinese scientists who were studying medical genetics accepted the concept of genomic. They made outstanding breakthroughs in their research particularly on cancer genes. They successfully cloned and identified genes that are related to leukemia and solid tumors and other genetic diseases such as deafness. These researches contributed a great deal for the scientific community. An academician named Tan Jia-Zhen to speed up the human genome project in China in July 1997. The petition attracted the attention of JIANG Ze-Min, President of the People’s Republic of China. The president officially inaugurated the Chinese National Human Genome Center in Shanghai. It was the first national research center located in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park of Pudong District. Another research center was established in the city of Beijing. The National Genome Center of Beijing was created with the support of the Beijing Municipal Government and the Ministry of Science and Technology. The rice genome project was not abandoned during the climax of the human genome project. The â€Å"Huada† Genome center was found by the Institute of Genetics. It aims to look for the connection between the rice genome project and the human genome project. The basic gene sequencing was compared. The Human Genome Project is the backbone of human cloning. However, the United Nations banned human cloning due to ethical issues and the undiscovered dangers it may post to our race. Cloning the entire human being is prohibited but there researches that aims to clone only several organs in the body. This is beneficial for organ transplants because it provides a near perfect compatibility to the patient. The Human Genome Project is also interested in the study of stem cells. These are cells which are responsible for the development of the body during conception. The scientists are interested in looking for specific genes that are responsible for hereditary diseases. If they can actually pin point those genes, they may be able to create a disease free human. It is still debatable, if cloning is ethical. Religious groups still protest because it is an intervention to nature. Human cloning is plausible but it may not be possible in this lifetime. There are more issues that have to be resolve for it to become a reality.

Teaching Students With Disabilities Through...

Teaching Students with Disabilities Through Differentiation Using a Co-Teaching Model The researcher believes that all individuals are able to learn to read. Granted, because of the range of disabilities affecting people, this will look different for all individuals. In choosing a topic, the researcher decided to examine the idea of differentiation by looking at it through the lens of special education. All learners come to school at different levels, therefore differentiation of content, process, and/or product is needed to allow all students access to the information being taught. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires, by law, that all students with disabilities be educated in their Least Restrictive†¦show more content†¦53). Epps and Tindal’s research (as cited in McLeskey Waldron, 2011), also support the claim that the setting is not the key factor in student achievement, rather there are many variables that can impact instruction (p. 49). Variables impact all instruction, not just instruction of students with special needs. When co-teachers are collaborative, provide intensive instruction, and plan lessons based on data, it is the belief that all students will benefit. In examining the co-teaching model more in depth, the researcher would like to discover more information regarding best practices, successful implementation, and why this model is necessary as an option. When beginning to work with a new teacher, be it general education or special education, in a co-teaching model, it is best for the teachers to have an open dialogue and communicate their expectations. In doing so, this will avoid conflicts over pedagogy (Gà ¼rgà ¼r Uzuner, 2010, p. 316). Shared planning time is crucial to develop lessons that are differentiated for the needs of all learners. It is during those planning sessions that educators are able to delve deep into the data collected about students and create lessons that will capitalize on their unique needs. Cook and Friend (1995) provided five variations of co-teaching which include one teaching/one assisting, station teaching, parallel teaching,