Tone Deaf: Gendered Barriers to Women’s Music Performance Careers

Women are significantly underrepresented as leading music performers, a gap sometimes attributed by industry gatekeepers to an audience preference for male artists, despite limited supporting evidence. This study investigates the gender biases among audiences, leaders and gatekeepers surrounding music performance and discusses their implications for women’s careers. A web-scraped analysis of 510 venues reveals that male performers are booked at four times the rate of female performers, reinforcing evidence of structural inequality. An implicit bias test shows that audiences identify the performer of gender-ambiguous music as male nearly five times more often than female, reflecting assumptions about who is a “typical” performer. Contrary to industry claims, audience preference tests revealed no broad bias toward male over female performers. However, women participants attached less value to women’s’ performances than men’s’, even when the music was identical and only the performer’s gender label differed. These findings have implications for women and leadership in the creative industries, suggesting that both implicit bias and women’s own internalized devaluation of female creativity may hinder women’s success. The study calls on industry gatekeepers to acknowledge and address gender bias, challenge stereotypes, and adopt equitable, transparent booking practices.