Music and Gender

The role of music within the genders have shifted drastically throughout history and even in my short life span. For a while, there were these “unset” rules that females had to play certain instruments or lean towards a specific type of genre/artist. Growing up I noticed most girls would listen to artists such as Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez while playing instruments like the violin and the flute. The boys, on the other hand, listened to Eminem and Taio Cruz while playing instruments like the trumpet and cello. To even emphasize that point, the orchestra teacher at the time was a female and the band teacher was a male. I didn’t blink an eye or realize this connection until I was much older but it didn’t bother me at the time.

In middle school is really when I began to see the gender pendulum shift towards a more neutral state. Social media sites such as YouTube allowed for my generation especially to explore music from the top artist at the time but also around the world. I clearly remember both girls and boys fangirling about male band groups like One Direction and Five Seconds of Summer. I think because we were just so intrigued by the concept of YouTube that there just wasn’t a clear distinction in what girls listened to or what boys listened to. In terms of orchestral settings, I had two very distinct experiences. At school, the orchestra was primarily female. The few males involved played instruments like the viola, cello, and bass but even then those sections were dominated by females. In the youth orchestra I was involved in, the gender dynamic changed. Males dominated the orchestra there and specifically the violin section. This took me by surprise but I didn’t feel the character changed between the two groups even with the uneven ratios.

It wasn’t until high school when I truly grasped conscious awareness of gender inequalities in music. Male artists dominated the Billboard charts and streaming statistics. As of this very second, the top artist is Post Malone, a male rapper. On the flip side, according to Forbe’s, Taylor Swift was the world’s top-earning artist in 2019. The most-streamed album, according to Spotify, was by an 18-year-old called Billie Eilish. In terms of an orchestral setting, in American alone according to Classic FM, males dominated. Leadership roles within the orchestra, like being concertmaster or the conductor, males once again dominated. Even though these things anger me, I do recognize that through time females have gotten more recognition. We are also currently seeing more artists coming out as non-binary, which many of us probably couldn’t have even imagined back in elementary school.

Now that I’m at Converse, I’ve noticed that nothing has changed. I’m still playing in orchestras which are dominated by females, males are still dominating the aspects I mentioned above. What I hope to see these next year is higher female involvement in the music industry. I want to be able to look at things like Billboard and see multiple females chart not just one or two. I also want to see females be treated with far more respect within the music industry. There’s so much I hope to see but the only way we will see this is if we work together and bring awareness to these issues.