Have you ever experienced the feeling of being the only person in the room that is different? I have regularly by being the only female. Even when watching videos from experts only Caucasian men were on the panel.
Masculinity and male dominance have prevailed in the prevalence of the world over the years.
Masculinity has been described as “intrinsic authority. It never ceases to exist [and] dependent upon the promise of power he embodies” (Craib I., 1998 p.89). Femininity instead is described as being taught to repress feelings and needs and instead care for others in particular men and children (Craib I., 1998 pp.92-93).
These ideals have crossed over in to the career ideals. These have affected people’s mentalities to some industries. Work environments can be described as single-sex dominated or inclusive. People are found to be naturally hostile to the opposite sex in environments that are single-sex dominated, though women are more likely to stay in these jobs (Hakim C., 2016 pp.172-173).
Case studies have occurred to understand the reasoning for the isolation of women in the work force. It was discovered that majority of the reasonings were the ideology of sexual difference in men (Hakim C., 2016 p.174). These societal standards held by people towards women makes their interests diverse making the male dominance easier (Hakim C., 2016 p.223). In the Audio Industry where everything is fast-paced it does not allow for the ideals of family that women are excepted to carry out.
This is reflected in the industry as in a survey by the Audio Engineering Society showed on 5 percent were women, in 2016 the percentage was 7 however there was the choice to opt-out of gender (Lazendorfer J., 2017). Lazendorfer interviewed several women in the industry and found that they were denied jobs consistently due to musicians’ partners being uncomfortable with women touring and that it is a cross section of two male dominated industries, STEM and Music (2017). Emily Lazar stated in her interview that “if you don’t deal with the sexism you get excluded from sessions and jobs” (Lazendorf J., 2017). Another professional stated that musicians have also refused to work with them and having to adapt to be ‘one of the boys’ (Ncube R., 2013).
The Grammy’s have been one of the worst offenders of sexism. In the history of the Grammy’s only six women have been nominated for ‘Producer of the Year (non-classical)’ of which none have won (Lazendorfer J., 2017). They have also overrepresented men with nominations as on 10.4 percent of nominees from 2013 to 2019 have been female (Kelley C., 2019). People have noticed this and have got the hashtag ‘#GrammysSoMale’ trending last year (Kelley C., 2019).
I never realised how much this affected my self-confidence. I struggle to conform to both the ‘masculine’ expectations of the industry and the more ‘feminine’ ideals I enjoy. I have tried to mask this but as I was researching it made me sad at how the industry I love is unwillingly against my success.
References
Craib, I. (1998). Experiencing Identity [Ebook] (pp. 88, 89, 92, 93). London: Sage Publications. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sae/reader.action?docID=537794&ppg=1
Hakim, C. (2016). Key Issues in Women's Work : Female Diversity and the Polarisation of Women's Employment [Ebook] (2nd ed., pp. 172-174, 223). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sae/reader.action?docID=4693086&ppg=8
Kelley, C. (2019). The Music Industry Still Has A Long Way To Go For Gender Equality. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/caitlinkelley/2019/02/06/music-industry-study-annenberg-gender-equality/#4ab590615f81
Lanzendorfer, J. (2017). Why Aren’t There More Women Working in Audio?. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/08/why-arent-there-more-women-working-in-audio/537663/
Ncube, R. (2013). Sounding Off: Why So Few Women In Audio? |. Retrieved from https://www.soundonsound.com/people/sounding-why-so-few-women-audio
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