The Women and Minority Genders in Music report by Dr Felicity Wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon presents new, primary data about the lived experience of over 200 music creators of diverse genders in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. It provides a unique insight into present-day music creation from practitioners active across a wide spectrum of musical genre. A major contribution this report makes to the comparative literature on gender in music is through its consistent reporting on the professional experiences of music creators who identify as trans and/or gender diverse.
Co-designed and co-authored by a female and gender diverse research team, the Women and Minority Genders in Music report offers an important snapshot of the ‘matrix of barriers’ that prevents access to equal representation and achievement for women and gender diverse music creators. Through an online survey and in-depth interviews composers, producers, and songwriters share first-hand accounts of their lived experience in an industry where they are marginalised through structural inequity that has endured for centuries, and which is now coming under increasing scrutiny. Special focus areas the report delves into include: the impact of gender on producer careers; the impact of gendered care work; imagining a safer industry; the impact of ageism in music; and how intersectionality affects music creators.
This research was supported in-kind by music industry organisation, the Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS) and funded by the School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney. The two-phase study and data analysis was conducted from November 2021 to February 2023, resulting in the Women and Minority Genders in Music report, published in September 2023. The research team wishes to thank the many women and gender diverse individuals who so bravely shared their stories and experiences with us and who gave us their valuable time in the name of social justice.
Author bios:
Dr Felicity Wilcox (she/her) is a Senior Lecturer in Music and Sound Design at University of Technology Sydney. She publishes traditional research on music for multimedia and gender in music. Her main expertise is in creative-practice research; her decades of lived experience as a composer, performer, and music director facilitate her understanding of the challenges women face in building sustainable music careers. Since 2015 she has contributed her research on gender equity and diversity in music to various roles within the music industry, including for: the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC); International Council of Music Creators (CIAM); the Women in Music Mentorship Advisory Committee, Australia (AIR); and as Chair and co-founder of the Gender Equity Committee for the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, which she also served as a Director. Her broad outreach and advocacy have resulted in strong peer-to-peer networks that facilitate and inform the research in this report.
Dr Barrie Shannon (he/they) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of South Australia. Their research expertise is on trans and gender diverse Australians, and their experiences of sexuality education in formal and informal contexts. Their relationship to music and music practice is strictly via their consumption of music; they have never played or performed music and have had no formal training. They provide this research project with expertise on the experiences of trans and gender diverse people, in addition to a broad skillset of feminist analysis and sociological critique of casual and insecure labour.