"Why Aren't There More Women Conductors?"

By Clemency Burton -Hill
bbc.com/culture
August 21, 2013

As a classical music lover, I have often wondered what would be the highest level of achievement a woman can accomplish in this arena. Perhaps a music teacher or even performing in a prestigious classical orchestra was the answer I always ended up with. Marin Alsop’s discussion with Clemency Burton-Hill in Why aren’t there more Women Conductors? opened my eyes to the harsh reality of gender inequality that exists not only in classical music also throughout society today. Marin Alsop is the first female to conduct Britain’s Last Night of the Proms concert in 118 years. However, Alsop did not reach these great heights overnight. After finishing her studies at New York’s Julliard’s Art School, Alsop had to establish her own orchestra in order to become a conductor, since the opportunities for female conductors were very scarce. Alsop believes women have to overcome a great prejudice as well as a general lack of comfort that society feels about women in leadership positions. She states that women have to be superb at what they do also look gorgeous while they do it. Society expects women to have superhuman strengths to accomplish all this. Her dream is to see the glass ceiling of women’s achievement in classical studies shattered. Recently, Alsop has launched a highly successful fellowship for young female conductors.