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Catherine Xiong

Understanding Gender Roles through Music

Most of us share some sort of relationship with music—listening, playing or both. Music is a prominent symbol of expression, voicing inequalities as well as bringing people together. However, our music taste and the instruments we play can also reflect conventional gender base behaviour, sometimes subconsciously driving separatism between sexes as well as perpetuating acts of discrimination against (frequently female) musicians. Nevertheless, when we take a step back to examine the architecture of the music industry, we can see traces of a gender reformation, where more female artists are participating in conventionally male music genres such as jazz and rock—quite similar to how things are with sports, politics, and other socio-cultural activities. This makes us wonder, just how much of today’s gender roles are corroding or strengthening? And how can we understand this through music?


The instrument you play may not be a complete coincidence, as parents often prefer to have their children play certain instruments depending on their gender. Girls are more likely to play the flute, violin, and clarinet, while boys play drums and brass instruments (Able and Porter). Additionally, many studies found that girls tolerated classical music more than they did jazz and rock, and boys the reverse. (These results are general and based on one study on gendered instrumentation, so it’s not entirely applicable for everyone.) These assignments were cultivated through historically conventional gender behaviours that conditioned women to reject some of the more “intense” forms of music and instruments. However, these gendered choices are far less impactful on today’s youth. As the media expands its influence, so does its capability to normalize unconventional traits to the public eye, making a young female musician playing the string bass far less stigmatizing compared to decades before where women rarely concerned themselves with such masculine instruments.


Associating instruments and music genres with gender is dangerous as it can fuel gender roles and undermine the progress towards gender equality. The complexity and severity of this issue can be best reflected through jazz. (Yes! Jazz!) Historically, this genre is often a medium of dividing and reinforcing gender roles with its patriarchal standards, ostracizing female artists by discrediting their skills and treating them as novelties to beautify the stage. One may look at an all-male jazz band and think women aren’t made for the complexity of the music without considering the systematic discrimination that keeps female artists from the industry. This is synonymous with many socio-cultural activities where majority groups delegitimize minority groups due to the fact that they’ve never participated before. The question arises, what makes them think they can now?


Gender roles continue to actively (and subconsciously) influence the way we make decisions. The notion that music is gendered in the first place can feel restricting, since we are often torn between wanting to defy gender expectations and choosing what we truly enjoy. By acknowledging gender roles, we can accept the need for change, and by making choices based on your passions (no matter if they are gendered or not) you are defying them.


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