#966350 - 07/07/01 04:45 PM
FEMALE sound engineers (live or studio)
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pja12
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Registered: 07/07/01
Posts: 3
Loc: greensburg,PA,UNITED STATES
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Female sound engineers: Not enough of them (and why)? Or too many? Are they growing in number? Is the biz a boy's club? Or is the male dominence of the field self imposed by intimidated ladies?
This topic will feed into an article I'm writing for the Baltimore City Paper. I may ask your permission to contact you and get a quote...
Thanks for all replies...
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#966351 - 07/07/01 06:58 PM
Re: FEMALE sound engineers (live or studio)
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Anonymous
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Not enough of them (and why)? Or too many?
I don't think one can say that there are too few or too many, just that there are a certain number. The ones that want to be engineers should be, and the ones that don't want to be shouldn't be. I don't think we're missing anything by not having a larger number of female engineers, but I don't think that we would suffer from having more. I really do wonder why we humans (especially in the US) want to try to balance everything...
Is the biz a boy's club? Or is the male dominence of the field self imposed by intimidated ladies?
I think that the "biz" is best described as being a tech-heads club. Because of many factors (societal norms, upbringing, etc., etc.), being a tech-head seems to come more naturally, and is more desirable to males than females. Almost by default then, sound engineering attracts males more than females.
To further illustrate what I mean, I'll use some anecdotes:
Back in high-school, I was a theater tech. (Audio and lighting, although I did more lighting back then.) Most of the other techies were male. The lion's share of the females in the theater department were actor types who would react with an eye-rolling "boy's and their toys" when the techies would talk about cool things like big speakers, intelligent lighting, bigger speakers, special effects devices, and even bigger speakers. 
If a girl with this attitude got into tech (for whatever odd reason), she generally didn't have a great time. Most of the girls of this type didn't make an effort to understand or appreciate the techie mentality, so they were seen as foreigners by the team.
A very small number of girls with an appreciation for tech and the culture within it were almost instantly treated as "just one of the guys." Because they had, or at least understood a techie mentality they were seen as team members, no different from anyone. Only a few of these types were more "man" than the guys on the crew, by the way. We had a couple of very feminine stage managers who got a lot of cooperation and deference because they were willing to work with the rest of the team and understand what made it tick.
To address another issue, there were some complaints that only guys got the top jobs on the crew. This was, in fact, true. Why? None of the girls working in any sub-department other than stage management showed the same level of dedication, hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, grit (otherwise known as the ability to be cool in tense situations and handle anything thrown at you), and competency as the guys did. If you can't beat the lead dogs, don't expect to run at the head of the pack. I must reiterate that stage managment was a much different issue. Our female stage managers showed every bit as much of the aforementioned qualities as any of the guys, and were treated very well for it.
The bottom line to me is that if someone, male or female, demonstrates a willingness to do what they have to do, then they will get my utmost cooperation and consideration.
-Danny
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Of all the things that I have lost, I miss my mind the most.
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#966352 - 07/07/01 07:03 PM
Re: FEMALE sound engineers (live or studio)
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Lee Flier
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Registered: 09/13/00
Posts: 15398
Loc: Atlanta,GA,UNITED STATES
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pja -
I'm a female engineer and I've responded to your question over on David Frangioni's forum.
--Lee
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