Post 4: Gender Gap in Classical music

Ever since our discussions about music (specifically Rap, Hip Hop and Rock), I've been curious as to how my own preferred genre of music (Classical) would fare when examined through the lens of gender. Fortunately, I was able to find an article pertaining to this topic!

The article, titled "The Gender Gap" addresses the lack of women in the composing field. While women are very prominent in other areas related to classical music (performance, management and publishing), statistics indicate that "14 per cent of the Performing Right Society’s (PRS) registered composers are women (in 2010)." Several female composers, including Janis Susskind (publishing director at Boosey & Hawkes), predict that due to specific efforts to encourage women become composers, this number will increase with time. However, one of the most interesting points raised in the article was the idea that many women who would otherwise become composers often feel as though it is difficult to see value in the work, especially when facing other burdens. Mira Calix (and electronic composer) sites Clara Shuman as an example: 

"‘You’re not saving lives, you’re not making the poor rich. You do ask yourself, what am I doing, does it have any value?’ I thought back to Clara Schumann: there’s a mentally unstable husband and six children to support, and she was the bread-winner; Schumann himself was ‘disturbed’ that her talent lay wasted, but had no doubt her priorities lay elsewhere."

I found this article to be very interesting and I would encourage anyone who is curious to read it. The link is: http://www.classical-music.com/blog/gender-gap