Rebecca Mitchell
For my final year professional project, I wanted to research problems women have faced and continue to face working in the music industry. The music industry covers an extremely broad spectrum of careers, but the problems of gender imbalance seem to be prevalent in every area. I wanted to research this problem and attempt to find solutions.
The main objective of this project was to research the claim that 'gender imbalance still exists in the music industry' and, if it was true, suggest solutions to the problem. I chose to interview four different women, all at different stages in their career in the industry, about this. I was able to gain an insight into their personal experiences and in turn, offer some solutions, as it became clear that the problem of gender imbalance continues to exist in the music industry.
It became clear the problem still exists, and some solutions can be quite simple. Things like access to childcare, more support for mothers, and making a conscious effort to involve women as much as men are all things that can be actioned tomorrow to make the music industry more equal. Unfortunately, a lot of the problem stems from societal issues. Society has allowed and still allows for the existence of the harmful stereotypes that are damaging to women and feed into the existing imbalance in the industry. This is something that cannot be changed overnight. The idea of gender equality should be taught from a young age, and this can take years to notice a change.
I am a musician living in Carlow and I am currently working at writing and performing my own music. I have always had a big interest in music and have studied Creative Music Production and Practice. My main interest is performing and I would like to do that full time in the future. I currently play in a band in Carlow and I perform my own music as much as possible. I have just finished recording my debut EP to be released this summer, and hope to perform my own music more this year. As a woman that actively works in the music industry, the idea of gender imbalance is not new to me, and is something I am very interested in.
