ABSTRACT
Why are there so few women composers? The question provokes eternal interest among researchers, musicians and the general public alike. In 2011, music critic Fiona Maddocks noted that ‘[c]lassical music, however much it has changed for the better, remains a predominantly male haven’. She went on to ask whether this was due to ‘Prejudice? Misogyny? Lack of habit or confidence or education?’ before concluding that it was ‘all these things’ (Maddocks 2011). She also noted that the emblematic BBC Promenade Concerts herald annual soulsearching: ‘When the new season is announced next month the cry will go up, as it does each year as surely as the huntsman’s tally-ho: “Where are the women composers?” ’ (Maddocks 2011). In 2012, a mere 14 per cent of the members of the Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation – the section for composers, songwriters and music publishers – were female (Andrew 2012). Practising composers periodically offer answers. Composer Amy Beth Kirsten recently suggested that women are now well represented among composers and that the label ‘woman composer’ should be retired as ‘highly insulting’ (Kirsten 2012). Belinda Reynolds reported of her own experience that, while few women may be found studying composition,
in school I thrived. Even though all my teachers (save one guest) were male, they never singled me out for being a woman. . . . Yes, I have encountered stereotypical sexism and discrimination from time to time. But that’s true for most professions, and I have not found it to be unduly more so in music.
