Arts prizes just for women are still useful spotlights in a post-feminist world

In early June, just days after Britain's Orange Prize for a novel written by a woman celebrated its 10th year, the MaxMara Fashion Group and the Whitechapel Gallery here announced a new art prize for women. Meanwhile, Mslexia, a British literary quarterly, has just judged its annual Women's Poetry Competition. And in France, Canon and the Association of Women Journalists will award their annual Woman Photojournalist Award in early September. What's going on? Years after feminism was declared history, is there a new trend to single out women for special recognition? The major prizes in the creative arts, in Europe and the United States, are still awarded without gender considerations. There is also a certain post-feminist - and conservative - resistance to the idea of helping women through positive discrimination.