Re: Re: Re: Women in orchestras


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Posted by Rick Denney on February 14, 2001 at 11:15:32:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Women in orchestras posted by Joe S. on February 14, 2001 at 08:45:44:

An unavoidable principle in all these discussions is the natural lag time required for changes to work through the system.

For example, I'm an engineer, which is a traditionally male profession. I've been asked why there are so few women engineers in high management positions. The assumption is that it is the result of prejudicial discrimination. But this is not the case. In every company I've worked in, we would welcome women and go out of our way to attract them to our company.

Here's the deal. When I was in engineering school in the late 70's, men outnumbered women by about ten to one. Now, they are about equal. Looking at companies, it is therefore not incriminating when men in high management positions outnumber women ten to one, but they are equal in the fresh-out-of-school new hires. The greater numbers of women just haven't had time to progress in their careers to the leadership roles. Engineers with 20+ years of experience, who get the high management jobs, are the same ratio of men to women that they were in college. And they were that ratio in college because of the choices women made, however they might have been encouraged to do so. Come back in a couple of decades, and you'll see parity up and down the line.

Last night at rehearsal, my two usual band mates were replaced by two high-school girls; sisters, no less, with matching Yamaha tubas. But it takes a long time, barring the occasional prodigy, to progress to the big time. I suspect the passage of years will see a steadily increasing proportion of women in the ranks of orchestral tubists.

There is one nagging thought, however. It might be that women look at career potential a bit differently than men, with a bit less idealism and a bit more pragmatism. This is consistent with my observations over the years. If this is the case, then perhaps not so many women are pursuing orchestral tuba playing because it is a rather low-percentage career option. That might explain a decline in the female proportion with the career progression from high school to college to the professional ranks.

Rick "who sees the trend moving in favor of women" Denney


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