Going to computer music conferences, lectures about electronic music
or hi-fi shops etc., one learns that electronic music (1) is a man's
world. One can react to this in different ways. Here, I will give a limited
overview of some possibilities.
First of all, one can ignore the fact that most people in the world of electronic
music are male, or at least one can try to do so. Considering the topics
which are raised in conferences, books, journals etc., this is what most
people do. But this is changing a little. Last year, for instance, the International
Computer Music Conference encouraged to submit papers on women and computer
music; and with the ICMC'96, this is again the case. But although there
was a lively discussion about women and computer music at the ICMC'95, only
three papers on this topic were actually presented. And in the programme
of the ICMC'96, I can only find two papers on the issue of women and computer/electroacoustic
music.
One can ask: why are there so few women in computer music? This is what
Mary Simoni did in her paper at the ICMC '95. The question is related to
questions like: why are there so few women working in the field of (specialized)
technology? why are there so few women working with (the more specialized
aspects of) computers? why are there so few women composers? The answers
are complex. Simoni also gave suggestions for ways to get more women into
computer music. Central here seems the ideal of equality between men and
women.
