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. 2019 Aug 16:10:1760.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01760. eCollection 2019.

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

Desmond Charles Sergeant  1 , Evangelos Himonides  1
Affiliations

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

Desmond Charles Sergeant et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: classical music; gender; gender equality; gender representation; music performance; sex; sex representation; symphony orchestra.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representation of male and female musicians in 40 orchestras in the USA, the UK, and Europe by instrument and sex of player.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of women in each orchestral section in “Big 5” and regional orchestras in the USA.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Male and female occupancy of “Principal” and “co/sub/associate-Principal” chairs across 40 orchestras.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Years of engagement by male and female musicians of four orchestras.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Growth trends in women’s orchestral membership during the period of 1970–2015 compared with growth trends in women’s presence in the overall workforce.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Percentages of girls and boys receiving tuition on each orchestral instrument.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Relationship between student instrumentalists (data from Hallam et al., 2008) and musicians in orchestral post.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Comparison: change in societal attitudes to gender roles with appointment to orchestral positions of males and females.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Comparative representation of women in orchestras and women in general labor force by regions 2018.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Acceptances of applicants for admission to the UK Music Conservatoires 2010–2016.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Admissions to the UK Music Conservatoires over a 5-year period of 2012–2016 by instruments.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Comparison of conservatoire student instrument choice with needs of orchestras.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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