Where Them Girls At: Amongst all of the up-and-coming traditional music producers, where are all of the women?
History repeats and despite this being the 21st century it is hardly surprising that whenever there is an emergence of a new instrument or culture in the traditional music scene it always takes time for women to become established. With the advent of technology, there has been the emergence of a new wave of traditional music. Spearheaded by bands like Valtos, Niteworks, and Inyal the emergence of neo-trad (yuck! when will someone come up with a better genre name) begs one question. Amongst all of the up-and-coming traditional music producers, where are all of the women?
The gendered nature of music production upholds several patriarchal narratives which preserve barriers that restrict women’s access to technology. Music production is an intersection between two stereotypically male domains, composition and technology. Where composition has progressed away from being seen as a traditionally male field technology is still very much a man’s world. This is often ingrained into us from an early age with science and technological fields being presented as inharmonious with stereotypical female traits. Although in our modern world we are progressing away from gender norms this stereotyping contributes to spaces being viewed as masculine or feminine.
The gendering of space is particularly pertinent when you consider any space in which one may gain the skills associated with music production. In high school, we are presented with cultural tropes that discourage women away from technological spaces. An array of cultural factors contribute to a social setting where women are expected to pursue artistic or literary-based subjects while male counterparts pursue science or mathematics subjects. This coupled with other gendered connotations such as boys receiving more attention from teachers leads to places such as computer rooms being branded as “boys clubs”. This gendering of spaces is highly reminiscent of many professional spaces, particularly recording studios.
These masculine spaces restrict the point of entry to music production for many women. With contemporary studio spaces still dominated by men, these can be intimidating spaces for women to even enter let alone gain experience in. This results in a self-taught approach to music production, a route many men, women, and everyone in between often take to build their skills in this area. With technology becoming more accessible so to have the necessary tools to pursue music production, leading to the cultural phenomenon of bedroom producers. Alongside technology becoming more accessible, the traditional music scene has witnessed many artists utilising technology to expand on their current musical practice although one cannot ignore the gender imbalance present here.
As beneficial as this accessibility is it requires tremendous time commitments to learn the skills necessary to produce. Having this time available is reserved for those in privileged positions, be it financial stability or a lack of caring commitments amongst other things. This results in an additional discrepancy when traditional musicians are honing their music production skills. Traditional music is an inherently social music. Built around an aural tradition a considerable amount of traditional music-making takes place in social settings such as sessions, ceilidhs, or music lessons. To take the necessary time required to learn music production fundamentals requires a potentially isolating self-led approach that contrasts the musical settings many of us are familiar with.
The systemic barriers that prohibit female traditional musicians from pursuing music production become evident when one considers how deeply engrained many of these factors are in our society. The gendering of spaces is a barrier that many women have grown up with and continue to face in professional capacities. Although the advent of technology has presented means for women to overcome this, the self-led approach necessary to overcome this barrier comes with its own challenges. The time commitments necessary for obtaining music production skills require an individual stepping out of social domains which is a privilege many women do not have the capacity for.
By Jenna Macrory (Jen Mac).
