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A CALL TO ACTION: Promoting and Preserving Women in the Field of Choral Conducting

One of the biggest problems that we see with Action Item
cultures of genius is that we have a specific In your community, advocate for equal representation
prototype of who is a genius, a prototype of by ensuring women are considered as guest clinicians
who’s going to be successful in these different at the same rate as their male counterparts. If you’re
environments. What we’ve seen across decades unable to accept an engagement, recommend a
of our work now is that while these prototypes qualified woman conductor. Allyship for women on the
can vary by industry, we find that most people, podium at the local, regional, and national levels are
when you put in the word genius into Google some of the most effective ways to drive lasting change.
images, the images that come to mind are
people like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison … 2) Family Leave Policies
Bill Gates, right? This is a pretty homogenous In 2021, The Washington Post compared paid family
group. When we’re in these cultures of genius, leave in the United States to that of other countries.
we look for people who are going to match our Although the United States is one of the richest
genius prototypes, and these are the people countries in the world, “it is one of the few countries
who we seek out, who we hire, and who we to not offer some form of paid family leave for new
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promote in different organizations. It’s really parents.” In addition to the lack of government
why cultures of genius often overlook and miss support for new families, pregnancy places a significant
out on identifying and recruiting people from physical and emotional toll on a woman’s body. In
diverse groups. 18 the field of choral conducting, sustaining traditional
workloads and rehearsal hours can be particularly
Murphy’s “culture of genius” can be applied to challenging throughout family planning, pregnancy,
our choral community when considering prominent and caregiving responsibilities. For women seeking
choral icons (e.g., Robert Shaw, Weston Noble, and tenure or working with organizations that do not offer
Joseph Flummerfelt) and looking at our history of maternity leave packages, they are often forced to take
guest clinicians. In addition to advocating for women unpaid time off and/or return directly to work.
conductors in higher education, community, and It is also important to assess the quality of advocacy
professional arenas, it is important to consider who we for and communal support for maternity leave. A 2023
are bringing in as guest clinicians for local, regional, study on women professors’ experience with maternity
and national events and what type of ensembles these leave revealed that “women continued to undertake
clinicians are conducting. core academic work duties during maternity leave
William McLean studied all-state conductors for SATB such as writing grant applications and journal articles,
ensembles from all fifty states between 2000 and 2020 supervising doctoral students, teaching, and responding
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and found that women represented only 23.2% of guest to emails.” The authors emphasized that many

conductors for these high-profile events.Of the repertoire women relinquish their rights to maternity leave to
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programmed, only 7.3% were composed or arranged sustain their academic productivity. For women who
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by women. McLean also discovered that women are caregivers, these issues may be compounded by
conductors were 35.24% more likely to program works by the added challenge of balancing family expectations
women composers than their male counterparts, stating, with professional demands, reinforcing the stereotype
“the results regarding gender are a sobering indicator that women must choose between their careers and
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that continued inquiry and advocacy are necessary.” To family. In her 2021 book, Fair Play, author Eve Rodsky
change these statistics, administrators, event facilitators, emphasized the negative impact of women leaving the
and selection committees must collectively advocate for workforce due to the challenges of balancing a career
gender equity. and family:

Consider the cost to our society, robbed of

36 CHORAL JOURNAL May 2025 Volume 65 Number 8