Orchestrated Sex: The Representation of Male and Female Musicians in World-Class Symphony Orchestras

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Desmond Charles Sergeant¹  Evangelos Himonides¹ 

[1] UCL Institute of Education, University College London, United Kingdom

关键词: sex;    gender;    music performance;    classical music;    gender representation;    symphony orchestra;    sex representation;    gender equality;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01760

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

This study examines the representation of male and female musicians in world-class symphony orchestras. Personnel of 40 orchestras of three regions, the UK, Europe, and the USA, and distributions of men and women across the four orchestral departments, strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion, are compared. Significant differences in representation between orchestras of the three regions are reported. Practices adopted by orchestras when appointing musicians to vacant positions are reviewed and numbers of males and females appointed to rank-and-file and Section Principals are compared. Career patterns of male and female musicians are also compared. Increases in numbers of women appointed to orchestral posts in the last three decades are compared with increases in the proportion of women in the general workforce. The data of orchestral membership are then compared with the numbers of young people receiving tuition on orchestral instruments retrieved from a large national database ( n = 391,000 students). Implications for the future of male and female representation in orchestral personnel are then considered.

【 授权许可】

CC BY