‘It’s a Kind of Macho Culture’: Changes and Continuities in Young Female Musicians’ Talk about Inequalities

TY - CHAP

T1 - ‘It’s a Kind of Macho Culture’

T2 - Changes and Continuities in Young Female Musicians’ Talk about Inequalities

AU - Scharff, Christina

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Dagmar Abfalter and Rosa Reitsamer; individual chapters, the contributors.

PY - 2022/1/1

Y1 - 2022/1/1

N2 - This chapter explores musicians’ increased awareness of inequalities in the classical music profession. Based on 18 qualitative in-depth interviews with female, early-career musicians conducted in London in early 2019, I show that inequalities have become ‘speakable’. Comparing these study findings to research I conducted in 2012-2013 (Scharff, 2018), I trace shifts and continuities in female musicians’ sense-making of inequalities in the classical music profession. I demonstrate that some research participants expressed awareness of gender inequalities but employed individualist rhetoric to present themselves as unaffected by wider social structures. However, this disarticulation of inequalities was not a common feature of the data I collected in 2019. By contrast, numerous research participants provided detailed and insightful accounts of gendered, racial and classed hierarchies in classical music education and the industry at large. Far from being unspeakable, inequalities were explicitly named. I argue that the move towards a more open discussion of inequalities, and the ways in which they affect individual educational trajectories and career opportunities, marks an important shift. At the same time, I caution against providing an overly celebratory account of this shift. More specifically, I suggest that analyses of the turn towards diversity in classical music practice must examine the extent to which existing debates and initiatives facilitate social change and inquire into the wider cultural and discursive context in which these conversations and campaigns are embedded.

AB - This chapter explores musicians’ increased awareness of inequalities in the classical music profession. Based on 18 qualitative in-depth interviews with female, early-career musicians conducted in London in early 2019, I show that inequalities have become ‘speakable’. Comparing these study findings to research I conducted in 2012-2013 (Scharff, 2018), I trace shifts and continuities in female musicians’ sense-making of inequalities in the classical music profession. I demonstrate that some research participants expressed awareness of gender inequalities but employed individualist rhetoric to present themselves as unaffected by wider social structures. However, this disarticulation of inequalities was not a common feature of the data I collected in 2019. By contrast, numerous research participants provided detailed and insightful accounts of gendered, racial and classed hierarchies in classical music education and the industry at large. Far from being unspeakable, inequalities were explicitly named. I argue that the move towards a more open discussion of inequalities, and the ways in which they affect individual educational trajectories and career opportunities, marks an important shift. At the same time, I caution against providing an overly celebratory account of this shift. More specifically, I suggest that analyses of the turn towards diversity in classical music practice must examine the extent to which existing debates and initiatives facilitate social change and inquire into the wider cultural and discursive context in which these conversations and campaigns are embedded.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142065441&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781003150480-10

DO - 10.4324/9781003150480-10

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85142065441

SN - 9780367713614

SP - 144

EP - 158

BT - Music as Labour

PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.

ER -