Jasmine Ramirez, Dr. Lindsey Trimble O’Connor
Music is a powerful universal medium that transcends a variety of barriers. Unfortunately, the music industry reflects sex hierarchies as males outnumber females in: occupation, profits, professional acknowledgment and more. Researchers have studied these inequalities, but there is little research done over the self perception an artist has over their own musical control and whether that differs between males and females. I asked whether there are gender differences in artists’ perception of their musical control (in which I defined as their self recognition of their professionalism and their personal creative production control). I hypothesized that male artists will have higher perceived control over their music and a higher chance of calling themselves professionals than women. I conducted a secondary data analysis of “Taking Note: A Study of Composers and New Music Activity in the U.S.”, collected in 2008. I used a Chi-Squared Test and a T-test to examine whether or not there was a significant gender difference between the artists’ perceptions of their own musical control. I found that there was no significant difference between male and female artists’ in their self consideration as a professional, perhaps because of the selection effects (participants who were already professionals were selected for this study). In addition, I also found that females perform more of their own music than males. This could be the case as performing their own music may be a last resort for female artists’ who struggle more in getting hired for other musical professional positions. Change still needs to happen within the music industry as broader discrimination against females permeates the industry.