Local Eugene alternative-folk musician Samira Potts and Portland indie-jazz artist Kate Davis, who fronts her own band in New York City, agree that being a female musician can be challenging.
“However, if you grab life by the balls, gender differences will not hold you back,” Davis said. “A major part of the female identity in contemporary music centers on a woman’s physical beauty. While some musicians rely too heavily on sex appeal — sometimes sacrificing their musical talent — others use it in a way which can be respectable and advantageous.” Nevertheless, Davis acknowledges that there is a disparity between the number of male and female musicians who reach success and that women are “at a severe disadvantage if they aren’t deemed ‘pretty’ by their audience.”
Davis also mentions that the under-representation of female musicians starts at an early age.
“Girls gravitate towards particular spheres of music — more often than not it is things like choir. (And) they tend to miss out on a lot of musical training early on because they are expected to play certain instruments and avoid others,” she said. “I felt like a minority sometimes. But at the same time I kind of loved that feeling and now I make it work to my advantage.”
Potts, a singer-songwriter and guitarist for the band Confidant, agrees.
“There are gender roles assigned to particular instruments,” Potts said. “Parents are likely to dissuade their little girl from playing the drums but are totally supportive if they show interest in the piano.”
A girl’s inaccessibility to certain instruments and training puts her at a disadvantage later on if she ever wants to play something more “masculine.”
Potts also mentioned that “gender assigned musical roles are particularly obvious in the subject matter which female artists are expected to sing about.
“Women are expected to be emoting something all the time,” she said
The lack of accessible subject matter puts females at a disadvantage creatively, since breaking free from the confines of “love songs” and “breakup songs” is seen by many as a risk.
Melissa Randel of local dance-rock outfit The Great Hiatum shares a similar attitude. She said we don’t see as many female rock stars because “girls just don’t often grow up dreaming about being a rock star.”
However, Randel believes that females have the authority to control their own direction within the music industry.
“The women that aren’t where they want to be limited themselves,” Randel said. “Believe that you are more than a gender role and you will see that nothing is holding you back.”
Still, the music industry is not gender neutral by default. Randel says the disparity between male and female musicians is ingrained at a young age but can be overcome with a hungry ambition. On the other hand, Davis and Potts agreed that female musicians must often maintain particular images, messages in their songs and a position in the music industry consistent with their gender — which can be simultaneously empowering and limiting.