Jessalyn Miller
A Literature Review on Gender Inequality in the Music Industry
Jessalyn Miller
April 6, 2020
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Introduction
Music is a way of life for many. From a young age, the majority of people are exposed to some form of music at home, school, or out in public. Research throughout the years has shown how valuable music is in not only education, but in the human experience. Why is it then that women only make a small percentage of contributors in the music industry? What exactly is preventing women from becoming a part of the music industry? Research is limited on individual aspects of gender inequality music industry, so I chose to look at some of the most common subcategories that women tend to pursue along with one of the most popular genres of music.
Gender can be defined as “a social construction as ‘ways of being’ considered appropriate”[1]. Gender dictates all domains of social life – how you are supposed to act, dress, move, and conduct oneself, including what music and instruments a person should or should not like [1]. Boys are raised to be tough, independent and show no emotion, whereas girls are raised to be social, flexible, and romantic. Gender norms and social norms tend to dictate a system of expectations that men and women must live up to, or else feelings of uneasiness, fear, discomfort, opposition, and other negative emotions for nonconforming can arise in society [2]. Gender inequality specifically can be defined as “a system of social practices within society that constitutes women and men as different in socially significant way, and organizes relations of inequality in the basis of these differences" [2]. it provides one gender different opportunities based on how they are perceived whether positively or negatively [3]. Gender inequality is still seen in the workplace, as 1.2% of mechanics were women, 1.6% as plumbers, 2% of electricians, 93.8% of all childcare workers, 92.2% of dental assistants, and 90.4% of receptionists and information clerks [4]. Gender bias and other forms of oppression have been seen to start at early ages in homes and schools further pushing the belief certain people should not be in the music industry and thus killing the love of music in many.
Education
In general education, girls tend to have advantages in reading, grades, noncognitive skills,
and consistently tend to outperform men in graduation rates, whereas boys tend to have an advantage in math performance [5]. Stereotypes of men and women are taught through the language used in the classroom and textbooks as well as the differentiated treatments children receive based on their gender, all of which contribute to the gender inequality in schools [6].
Oppressive teaching methods within primary and secondary schools in music education specifically tend to continue to be over-looked and under-reported [7]. Many students have been told that they were “tone deaf, “couldn’t carry a tune,” had an “ugly voice,” and further silencing young musicians. As Baines further states, research shows that most individuals can sing proficiently without formal training or tutoring and that singing can be as natural as talking. Instrumentally, students have also been told that they “have no sense of rhythm” or “no talent" [7].
Furthermore, gender biases in music education is extremely common and can be seen in instrument choices, occupations, pedagogies, etc. These stereotypes learned in the classroom are further repeated through the media and even experiences in retail stores [8]
In my experience, boys have been ridiculed and bullied for choosing “girly” instruments such as the flute or clarinet, whereas girls have been subjected to bullying in percussion and brass. In orchestra music, Davidson and Edgar point out that “In public examinations, girls do much better than boys... At University level, it is also well stablished that music departments have far greater numbers of female students, also achieving higher degree classifications than males...the musicians’ Union reported.... that women are outnumbered by four to one in the ranks of orchestras. The reasons for the larger numbers of men occupying the professional performing posts are largely allied to patriarchal values”[9]. In modern musical genres we listen to daily, unhealthy stereotypes of women are extremely prominent [10].
Composition
While there is not much research on women in music composition, women composers
have faced with intense judgement by musicologists for decades. Throughout history, female composers have had to minimize or hide their gender identities in order to get public, such as publishing under male pseudonyms or using initials [11]. Women composers constantly have the difficulties of becoming recognized, getting commission, and having their works be performed by professional musicians [12]. Some women who have achieved success as a composer were only able to because of networking and knowing the right people [12]. Hennekam further states that per industry culture, women tend to still experience sexism, the idea that women are to be taken less seriously than men, and to be held back by other gender stereotypes [12]. In Australia, women only represent 32% of musicians and 27% of composers [13].
Music Technology
In music technology, undergraduate student populations tend to be about 90% male,
whereas traditional music degree populations are roughly equal [14]. Born goes on to state that the gender gap in music technology could stem from the gendering of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields [15]. In music technology, women are constantly subjected to exclusions and have difficulty in achieving equal institutional standing in relation to male peers, too afraid of moving forward from historical beliefs [15]. Additionally, there seems to be the idea that electronic and loud instruments are considered more appropriate for boys than for girls, further adding the social constructs surrounding choices of instruments in schools as well as the inequalities in specific genres of music [16]. In a study done by Bennett, Hennekam, and Macarthur, they found that the disadvantages of gender were greatly intensified when technology became involved. One participant in the study is quoted with saying:
“I’ve been told multiple times over the past 20 years I wouldn’t know where to plug anything in and I should just give up/leave the studio/gig" [17].
Country and Pop Music
In my research, music genres were some of the top resources when in regards to gender
inequality and misogynistic views. One music genre in particular that I found to be known for gender inequality and objectification of women has been country music. Country music is believed to celebrate the “respectability of working-class people, whiteness, heterosexuality, rurality, and the Southern United States” [18]. In 2014, the duo known as Maddie and Tae released a song called “Girl in a Country Song.” When I first heard it, I knew what they were saying was right, and it made me look at some of my favorite country songs with a different perspective. While topping the Billboard’s country chart in the United States, it emphasized many of the inconsistencies between men and women in country music and highlights the gaps in research on country music and how women are viewed in the genre [19]. In country music alone, Rasmussen point out that only 8% of Billboard’s charting singles were sung by women in 2014 while the majority of country music listeners are female [19]. In the 1990s, there was a generational shift from a “neo-traditional” era to an “arena” era, mostly thanks to male country singer Garth Brooks; another shift occurred in the early 2000s by including attributes to pop music [20]. The most recent shift in country music, known as “bro country” happened before Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” and focuses mainly on “a bunch of guys singing about trucks, headlights rolled- down windows, jeans, alcohol, moonlit makeouts, and sex on river beds beside old dirt roads" [21].
Rigid gender roles have also been found in other genres that have been found to portray women as nothing more than sexual objects meant for men’s pleasure [22]. In pop music, women are generally underrepresented as pop musicians, and those that are a part of the British popular music industry occupy the low-status or entry-level positions while men tend to dominate the executive positions [23]. Pop music, in this context, stands for the music that is currently popular with listeners. Women tend to also be overrepresented as singers and not so much as instrumentalists, specifically with instruments such as guitar, bass guitar, and drums [24]. Berkers and Schaap also state that in early nineteenth-century Viennese music, women were told to not play wind instruments or the cello, and eventually the piano, because it would disrupt how the woman should use her body [25].
Music Videos
These misogynistic views of women in music, such as women being nothing more than
sex objects, is further shown in music videos and on social media [26]. In a study, it was found that teens endorsed more sex-role stereotypes when exposed to more music videos [26]. They further discovered that college students believed that rap videos especially portrayed women in a sexualized and derogatory way [26]. Rap, in this context, is a form of “popular” music with current listeners. Hennekam found in another similar study that many women believe that sexual harassment in the workplace is normal and a part of the culture and is a necessary part of having an established career in the music business [27].
The after-effects of having these unrealistic portrayals of women shown in music videos only harms our youth. The theme that women must be attractive and have a “sexy body” is shown so often that it becomes one of the most important goals for young women [28].
Concluding Comments
Throughout my research, I focused on the question of why women only make a small
percentage of contributors in the music industry. While I wanted to focus on just music production, there was not enough currently published research to dive deep into the reasonings of the gender inequality. Being a woman that is hoping to contribute to the music industry, it is important for me, as well as other women, to be aware of the social factors that may contribute to the difficulty in finding future employment.
The research that I found suggests that women make up a small part of the music industry because of the patriarchal views placed on children at a young age and adults showing tolerance for it. On a more positive note, there are initiatives starting to take place to decrease the gender gap in the music industry. In some universities, projects have been designed to “build, positively institutionalize, knowledge about women’s contributions as musicians, composers, artists, and feminist activists, in this way counteracting the institutionalized absence of women form the prevailing histories of music and sound" [29]. Such projects include, Her Noise archive and the postgraduate initiative Sound::Gender::Feminism::Activism, both of which deal with gender inequalities in music and help to create networks of researchers and practitioners in these areas in order to create new work and widen participation both inside and outside formal education [29]. However, there is still a gender imbalance in the music industry that must be addressed, and further research needed on solving it.
Bibliography
Aragonés-González, MarÃa, Ana Rosser-Limiñana, and Diana Gil-González. “Coeducation and Gender Equality in Education Systems: A Scoping Review.” Children and Youth Services Review 111 (April 1, 2020).
Aubrey, Jennifer Stevens, and Cynthia M. Frisby. "Sexual Objectification In Music Videos: A Content Analysis Comparing Gender And Genre". Mass Communication And Society 14, no. 4 (2011): 475-501.
Baines, Sue. “Abrief Anti-Oppressive Analysis of Music Pedagogy, the Professional Musician, and the Music Business: A Case for Music Therapy.” Journal of Communications Research 5, no. 4 (November 2013): 415–30.
Bennett, Dawn, Sophie Hennekam, Sally Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Talisha Goh. "Hiding Gender: How Female Composers Manage Gender Identity". Journal Of Vocational Behavior 113 (2019): 20-32.
Berkers, Pauwke, and Julian Schaap. Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production. Emerald Studies in Metal Music and Culture. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018.
Born, Georgina, and Kyle Devine. “Gender, Creativity and Education in Digital Musics and Sound Art." Contemporary Music Review 35, no. 1 (February 2016): 1–20.
Bourdage, Monique. ""A Young Girls Dream": Examining The Barriers Facing Female Electric Guitarists". IASPM@Journal 1, no. 1 (2011): 1-16.
Burgess, Melinda C. R., and Sandra Burpo. “The Effect of Music Videos on College Students’ Perceptions of Rape.” College Student Journal 46, no. 4 (December 2012): 748.
Davidson, Jane W., and Richard Edgar. “Gender and Race Bias in the Judgement of Western Art Music Performance.” Music Education Research 5, no. 2 (July 2003): 169–81.
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Fleischmann, Fenella, and Cornelia Kristen. “Gender Inequalities in the Education of the Second Generation in Western Countries.” Sociology of Education 87, no. 3 (July 1, 2014): 143– 70.
Hennekam, Sophie, and Dawn Bennett. “Sexual Harassment in the Creative Industries: Tolerance, Culture and the Need for Change.” Gender, Work & Organization 24, no. 4 (July 2017): 417–34.
Hennekam, Sophie, Dawn Bennett, Sally Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Talisha Goh. “An International Perspective on Managing a Career as a Woman Composer.” International Journal of Arts Management 21, no. 3 (Spring 2019): 4–13.
Leap, Braden. “A New Type of (White) Provider: Shifting Masculinities in Mainstream Country Music from the 1980s to the 2010s.” Rural Sociology 85, no. 1 (March 2020): 165.
Newton, David E. Gender Inequality: A Reference Handbook. Contemporary World Issues: Gender and Ethnicity. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2019.
Raine, Sarah, and Catherine Strong. Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry: Education, Practice and Strategies for Change. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.
Rasmussen, Eric, and Rebecca Densley. “Girl in a Country Song: Gender Roles and Objectification of Women in Popular Country Music across 1990 to 2014.” Sex Roles 76, no. 3–4 (February 2017): 188–201.
Citations
[1] Berkers, Pauwke, and Julian Schaap. Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production. Emerald Studies in Metal Music and Culture. Bingley (2018), 5-8.
[2] Newton, David E. Gender Inequality: A Reference Handbook. Contemporary World Issues: Gender and Ethnicity. (ABC-CLIO, 2019), 4.
[3] Newton, David E. Gender Inequality: A Reference Handbook. Contemporary World Issues: Gender and Ethnicity. (ABC-CLIO, 2019), 5.
[4] Newton, David E. Gender Inequality: A Reference Handbook. Contemporary World Issues: Gender and Ethnicity. (ABC-CLIO, 2019), 88-89.
[5] Fleischmann, Fenella, and Cornelia Kristen. “Gender Inequalities in the Education of the Second Generation in Western Countries.” Sociology of Education 87, no. 3 (July 1, 2014, 144. 6 Aragonés-González, MarÃa, Ana Rosser-Limiñana, and Diana Gil-González. “Coeducation and Gender Equality in Education Systems: A Scoping Review.” Children and Youth Services Review 111 (April 1, 2020).
[7] Baines, Sue. “Abrief Anti-Oppressive Analysis of Music Pedagogy, the Professional Musician, and the Music Business: A Case for Music Therapy.” Journal of Communications Research 5, no. 4 (November 2013), 418.
[8] Berkers, Pauwke, and Julian Schaap. Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production. Emerald Studies in Metal Music and Culture. Bingley (2018), 11.
[9] Davidson, Jane W., and Richard Edgar. “Gender and Race Bias in the Judgement of Western Art Music Performance.” Music Education Research 5, no. 2 (July 2003), 170.
[10] Baines, Sue. “Abrief Anti-Oppressive Analysis of Music Pedagogy, the Professional Musician, and the Music Business:A Case for Music Therapy.” Journal of Communications Research 5, no.4 (November 2013), 422
[11] Bennett, Dawn, Sophie Hennekam, Sally Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Talisha Goh. "Hiding
Gender: How Female Composers Manage Gender Identity".
Journal Of Vocational Behavior 113 (2019), 1.
[12] Hennekam, Sophie, Dawn Bennett, Sally Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Talisha Goh. “An International Perspective on Managing a Career as a Woman Composer.” International Journal
of Arts Management 21, no. 3 (Spring 2019), 4-6.
[13] Bennett, Dawn, Sophie Hennekam, Sathy Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Talisha Got. "Hiding Gender: How Female Composers Manage Gender Identity,"Journal Of Vocational Behavior 113 (2019), 2.
[14] Born, Georgina, and Kyle Devine. “Gender, Creativity and Education in Digital Musics and Sound Art.” Contemporary Music Review 35, no. 1 (February 2016), 2.
[15] Born, Georgina, and Kyle Devine. “Gender, Creativity and Education in Digital Musics and Sound Art.” Contemporary Music Review 35, no. 1 (February 2016), 6.
[16] Born, Georgina, and Kyle Devine. “Gender, Creativity and Education in Digital Musics and Sound Art.” Contemporary Music Review 35, no. 1 (February 2016), 7.
[17] Bennett, Dawn, Sophie Hennekam, Sathy Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Talisha Got. "Hiding Gender: How Female Composers Manage Gender Identity,"Journal Of Vocational Behavior 113 (2019), 13.
[18] Leap, Braden. “A New Type of (White) Provider: Shifting Masculinities in Mainstream Country Music from the 1980s to the 2010s.” Rural Sociology 85, no. 1 (March 2020): 165.
[19] Rasmussen, Eric, and Rebecca Densley. “Girl in a Country Song: Gender Roles and Objectification of Women in Popular Country Music across 1990 to 2014.” Sex Roles 76, no. 3–4 (February 2017), 188-189.
[20] Rasmussen, Eric, and Rebecca Densley. “Girl in a Country Song: Gender Roles and
Objectification of Women in Popular Country Music across 1990 to 2014.” Sex Roles 76, no. 3–4
(February 2017), 192.
[21] Rasmussen, Eric, and Rebecca Densley. “Girl in a Country Song: Gender Roles and
Objectification of Women in Popular Country Music across 1990 to 2014.” Sex Roles 76, no. 3–4
(February 2017), 191.
[22] Rasmussen, Eric, and Rebecca Densley. “Girl in a Country Song: Gender Roles and
Objectification of Women in Popular Country Music across 1990 to 2014.” Sex Roles 76, no. 3–4
(February 2017), 188-189.
[23] Berkers, Pauwke, and Julian Schaap. Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production. Emerald
Studies in Metal Music and Culture. Bingley (2018), 8.
[24] Bourdage, Monique. ""A Young Girls Dream": Examining the Barriers Facing Female Electric Guitarists." IASPM@Journal 1, no.1 (2011), 10.
[25] Berkers, Pauwke, and Julian Schaap. Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production. Emerald
Studies in Metal Music and Culture. Bingley (2018),10.
[26] Burgess, Melinda C. R., and Sandra Burpo. “The Effect of Music Videos on College Students’ Perceptions of Rape.” College Student Journal 46, no. 4 (December 2012), 748-749.
[27] Hennekam, Sophie, and Dawn Bennett. “Sexual Harassment in the Creative Industries: Tolerance, Culture and the Need for Change.” Gender, Work & Organization 24, no. 4 (July 2017).
[28] Aubrey, Jennifer Stevens, and Cynthia M. Frisby. "Sexual Objectification In Music Videos: A Content Analysis Comparing Gender And Genre." Mass Communication And Society 14, no. 4 (2011), 2.
[29] Born, Georgina, and Kyle Devine. “Gender, Creativity and Education in Digital Musics and Sound Art.” Contemporary Music Review 35, no. 1 (February 2016), 9​.