Have you noticed how male success is chalked up to some kind of structural advantage, or undeserved privilege; whilst female success is championed, and celebrated as some kind of achievement? You see it everywhere – in the areas of physics, maths, engineering and technology, where men and boys have historically been over represented, and such imbalances are treated as an national emergency; a problem to be corrected. An “Old Boys Club” to be broken apart, opened up, and conquered; within yet another epic saga of patriarchy-smashing, by the noble feminist movement. And yet in the many areas where women and girls dominate, it’s seen differently, and such shrill squarks for equality fall silent. In two thirds of degrees for example, women and girls are now overrepresented, and yet this is not seen as an “Old Girls Club”, but is instead heralded as a kind of utopian ideal of equality. Overrepresentation of women in psychology, biology, or teaching, is never the subject of intervention, never discussed, and certainly isn’t seen as part of some cartoonish, tyrannical oppressor class of women. You can see it in the news today, where in piano competitions men continue to dominate. 80% of piano competitions are won by men; yup, the patriarchy has donned its black tie and shiny shoes, and brought it’s regime to the classical music world. Or that’s what Caroline Criado Perez would have you believe, in yet another one of her fragile, one-sided whines. And it’s one sided because almost the exact same disparity exists in reverse within violin competitions – where 75% of winners are women, and guess what, nobody bats an eye. So why do we keep doing this? Why is male success so grotesque to us, and thus a target for intervention? Why is such a view not expressed when women are more successful? And maybe men are just better at piano, and women are better at violin? What do you think? ~ Images by Ambreen Hasan, Kamran Abdullayev, Malik Skydsgaard, Johanna Vogt, Midas Hofsta. #piano #classicalmusic #genderequality

2024-04-02