#Feminism

Isn't it very interesting to grow up in a time where female musicians still have not been fully accepted in the music industry? It sounds weird to me. As a young female musician I have experienced stigmatising where I felt it was an extra layer of work on top of the music career. Unfair in my opinion. Now that I am a little older, I see it is a "delay" due to circumstances outside of my own performance.

So, what causes these delays? There must be an explanation why female musicians are still battling for music-equality. Same situation for LGBTQIA2S+. Let's find out with some research.................

Is it the patriarchy? Is it the favourism of the gatekeepers in the music industry? Is it the media with it's social norms for women? Is it the lack of examples and guidance during/after school? Is there even prime-time for female musicians? I can imagine many factors that influence the music industry.
Why are there more male musicians in the music charts than female musicians?


BNNVARA, a Dutch public broadcasting association and network, made a topic about it in their podcast “Daily Questions” [Alledaagse Vragen] (ep. 261, s. 05) and interviewed two people.
First; Pauwke Berkers, professor sociology and pop-music explained 3 reasons why there are more male musicians than female musicians in the music charts.             
▶ Due to traditional, educational purposes - At a young age girls and boys are taught different instruments. There are not many role-models for girls in the instruments that boys get taught. For example: Girls will sing, play the flute, and boys play drums and play the guitar.               
▶ Due to society, we expect and see men and women in the music industry to behave differently. Rock artists who take risks, are dangerous and who are not on time - irresponsible behaviour - will be rewarded by the crowd if it comes to men. If we look at Amy Winehouse, we didn’t rewarded her at all; Instead we were worried about her and she didn’t fit in the rock artist genre.               
▶ In sociologic view, somehow women get judged more easily than men. It is already in the way they play an instrument, how they play the instrument, how they look on stage and their appearance and sex appeal. It is an imaginary scale that is not relevant.  And somehow that’s why most women drop out in the music studies, music jobs and music industry.
Second; Leo Blokhuis, one of the most famous Dutch journalists specialized in pop-music, mentions 2 historical viewpoints.               
▶ In the years ’60-’70-’80 the female musicians had less chances and less choices than men due to that the music industry was mostly ruled by men and male producers. It was not acceptable or at least very very strange if a woman had all control over the decisions and by being independent. It was “not-done”. For the public eye it was very uncomfortable, so why would they hire women? Nah.               
▶ Nowadays pop-music is getting more democratic. Back in the days you needed a label and a producer, and it was a business-concept. Nowadays you can record your own music and distribute your own music. The role of the recordshops and labels and producers was different back in the days. It looks like the patriarchy in music will be put aside -  Although, it is not completely possible. Most songs, 1/3^rdof the songs we listen to, are songs after 2000. So the old songs will still be of importance in the big charts. That’s why women are still not there yet.

Photo Attribution: Unsplash

In a report of the Dutch government called: "State of affairs in the Dutch pop music sector" [Stand van Zaken in de Nederlandse popsector] (2020), a rapport from Buma/Stemra (2018) "Women Music Creators In The Netherlands" [Genderongelijkheid onder muziekmakers in Nederland] - has been mentioned: - One of the points that is also related to biases is gender inequality. Research by Buma/Stemra showed that female musicians in the music industry more often experience that they are not taken seriously (34%) than male musicians (19%). There is often also stereotyping. For example, it is often assumed that the woman is a fan, or the partner of someone in the music industry, or it is automatically assumed that she is a singer. Another example given is that people often react with surprise when it turns out that a female musician has made a music recording herself. -

The research project from USC Annenberg made a report in 2022: “Inclusion in the recording studio”. This is the fifth annual report based on the music industry. They did research about 1100 songs recorded from 2012-2022 about the role of women in the music industry. They included that:
▶ 30% women musicians in Billboard Charts
▶ 65% women of colour underrepresented
▶ 14% women songwriters
▶ 43% women songwriters NOT credited
▶ 3,4% women producers
▶ 15,2% women nominees for music grammy awards 2023
▶ 32% women musicians NOT taken seriously.

One of the reasons why I have participated in the Women's Strike in 2023 in Reykjavík, Iceland. I hope that in the future more female musicians and LGBTQIA2S+ can demonstrate and create visability to conquer the gender gap in the music industry.