The first thing I did as a college student was a program for women in science and engineering (I was at the time an Astronomy major). There aren’t many women in science and engineering programs in schools, and many of those switch majors, so there are even less women working in these fields. The reason? Women don’t take failure well, so when (for example) you’re in a physics class for physics majors only, and the class average on the first exam is a 16/30 and you get a 15/30, you freak out, drop the class, and switch majors. This program was meant to be a support system for women in these male-dominated fields, so eventually the numbers will start to even out.
A few years later, after switching majors a few times, I found myself in a similar situation. I wanted to be a recording engineer and eventually producer. My classes at Temple in this field were all small, and the upper level classes were all taught by males. In the first level class, there were 3 girls in a class of 25; second level, 2 in 20; third level, 1 in 20. Yes, I was the only girl there. And though I can try my damnedest to be one of the guys, they still will never fart in front of me, and they watch their words when they talk about nailing some chick over the weekend.
Last summer, I came to LA for two months on an internship program, where I was the uber-minority. Though the program was pretty even male-female, I interned at a recording studio where I was the only girl, and at an indie label where there were three (now two) full-time female employees.
Women are still having a hard time being taken seriously in certain positions. Though I could go on a political rant, or go back into math and science, what I know most is music, so I’ll stick to that. I wasn’t taken seriously in my recording/mixing/mastering classes (even though I was consistently in the top of the class, if not the top), and there are times when I’m not taken seriously in my job (and in my past internships). And there a lot of tour folks who don't want girls on tour: they're not as strong and need to shower more than the guys.
My friends and I are trying to start up a promotions company that will help up-and-coming musicians, photographers, graphic designers, and any manner of other artists start up a fan base. Though the artists we work with are not necessarily all female, the people who are running the show are. A lot of us aren't taken seriously by friends and family, and it's going to be a while before we see how the scene treats us. But I'm not going to lie, I'm a little concerned.
Because the music scene in general doesn't like girls. And I think it’s something that needs to be discussed a little bit more.
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4 comments:
That's the feminist I raised. I'm so proud of you.
Your mama
A couple things - first, I'd disagree with your comment about girls don't like failure. Though I think it's hard to argue either way, I would think that men actually have a harder time dealing with failure than women (bruising their masculinity), though I'd agree that the type of girls who generally go into math or science at a prestigious university are more likely to have a hard time with failure - but I think that's more a comment on their personality rather than gender.
I actually though have another question which has been bugging me for a while - why are there so few female singers/bands (and most to my knowledge are of the singer-songwriter variety), and why don't men like the ones that there are? I was having this conversation with some male friends, who were quick to point out that they like Aimee Mann or some other female musician, but then couldn't name any others. Do you think the lack of women behind the scenes is a contributing factor? Also, is the situation you describe - of a lack of women in the backstage positions - the same with the rest of the entertainment industry?
Katie-
First, in terms of failure, what we kept being told is that in the academic arena, women do not deal with failure (and more a changing of standards) as well as men do. Thus for me, getting a 50% on an exam is terrible, even if that was the class average, however the guys in that class handled it just fine.
As for singers, that's something that I've been talking to people about as well. Though I can point to quite a few lead singers who are female (Paramore, Hey Monday, No Doubt, my friend's band MinorMass...), they are still the minority. I don't know if that has anything to do with women being behind the scenes or if it's similar to the idea of women handling failure. Most bands have to deal with a *lot* of failure before they get anywhere. And a lot of women get discouraged before that point.
As for other parts of the entertainment industry, I don't know for sure. I do know of all my roommate's friends I've met, everyone who has a more technical job that I've met (except for one person) has been male. Women have been in charge of certain design elements (mostly costume/make-up), but for the people in charge of running cable and holding the camera, for the most part it was male.
But there used to be a lot more women in the music scene in the 60s/70s, particularly in folk music. Has music taken a turn for the worse, or is the folk scene more woman-friendly?
But it's true on the production side; when my cousin was doing camera and engineering for TV in the 70s, she was about the only one
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