Female choral conductors in the Netherlands: their experiences in relation to leadership and their gender

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed an increased awareness of the underrepresentation of women in the conducting profession. Research on female conductors has often connected the areas of gender studies, leadership studies, and musicology and focuses on orchestral conducting. Nevertheless, the topic of female choral conductors is widely under-researched and mainly focused on the USA. This thesis contributes to research on the Dutch choral profession and provides understanding of female choral conductors in the Netherlands, which has a rich choral history. It uses a qualitative, historical, and comparative method to investigate how female choral conductors perceive their positions in the choral field in the Netherlands in relation to leadership and their gender. In so doing, it distinguishes between female choral conductors at the start of their careers and those who are further advanced in their careers. By providing the viewpoints of female conductors in the Netherlands, it points out that they mainly conduct at the amateur level. Women are outnumbered by men at the professional level. It is argued that the main reason for this can be found in the conductors’ search for a balance between their families and their careers. In relation to leadership female choral conductors experienced prejudices with regard to gender. Nonetheless, problems with authority were rare, and were limited to young respondents. In addition, though some of the respondents were reluctant to see their gender as an advantage, others saw it as a fact.