I just read a very interesting post by artist Alexandra Tyng, who is represented by a New York Gallery, about discrimination women face in the art world. Go here to see what she has to say about contemporary figurative work:
http://alexandratyng.blogspot.com
One of the issues she discusses is age discrimination by galleries, asking, "doesn't age bias eliminate many female artists whose career trajectory takes a different path?"
Shouldn't choosing artists to show in a gallery be about the art?
Food for thought.