Gender Representation at North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conferences from 2008 through 2020

Summary

Abstract

This work reports the demographic information of the North American Saxophone Alliance’s membership, as collected when membership is renewed, and presents the gender makeup of performers and presenters at the NASA biennial conferences from 2008 through 2020. The collection of this information facilitates the identification of data trends to support and better serve underrepresented groups within the NASA membership, as well as to seek opportunities to diversify. The author collected digital versions of biennial program books and individually typed names and performance/presentation type for all presenters listed. First-name information was then run through the tool “genderize.io,” an application programming interface (API) that predicts the gender of a person using their name. The author adjusted the predicted gender in cases where it was known to be incorrect. Participation of women+ at biennial conferences increased over the evaluated time period. While there is variation from one conference to the next, women often give a proportionate number of presentations compared to men, especially in the chamber music and solo performance categories. Women are more often overrepresented in ensembles, masterclass performances, lectures, and panels, and they are underrepresented as featured evening performers, jazz soloists, masterclass clinicians, and as concerto performers during a small number of the conferences examined.

Many groups collect demographic information on their membership and participants. This is especially true in organizations associated with academia. Music organizations that collect such data include the American Musicological Society, College Music Society, National Association of Schools of Music, Society for Ethnomusicology, and Society for Music Theory, among others. Academic music societies are unsurprisingly at the forefront of demographic analysis. Instrument-specific organizations, such as NASA, could benefit from comparable analysis and from using membership demographics to inform expectations for representation in leadership and participation.

Keywords: CSW, gender, demographics, biennial conferences

Gender and Student/Professional Demographics of North American Saxophone Alliance Membership

NASA began soliciting gender information from members during membership renewal at the behest of the Committee on the Status of Women, which was created at the 2018 NASA biennial conference. The term “women+” will be used to inclusively address underrepresented genders within NASA: cisgender women, non-binary individuals, and transgender individuals.