Lifting every voice
"We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead."
Beyoncé
March is Women’s History Month (March 8 is International Women’s Day) and my upcoming gig at Golden Gate Bandshell is part of a monthslong series of shows featuring women-fronted acts. This week, the team of producers released a series of artwork promoting the performers in the series emblazoned with the words ‘Lift Every Voice.’
I was happy to see this. It took me many years to use my voice, then find it, and finally, have the gumption to use it. This was in no small part because of my own internalized sexism: I didn’t grow up with many role models when it came to women of all ages and sounds using their voices. And while I was a very creative kid who wrote songs and poetry, once I hit puberty, I learned that it was most important to be attractive to men. Personally, there’s been a lot to unpack. But it’s given me a sense of mission: Every time I’m performing and notice a little girl watching me play, I know I’m normalizing the fact women DO this. And that in itself is no small thing.
There is still real gender disparity in music: The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California released a study on gender inequality in the music industry which found that less than three percent of producers were women and less than 13% of songwriters were women! Women’s Audio Mission states that “Less than 5% of the people creating the sounds, music and media in the daily soundtrack of our lives are women/gender non-conforming (GNC) individuals.”
But the voices are out there. And here in the Bay Area alone, I know a large number of diverse and amazing women-identifying musicians. Throughout the 2010s, I put together several years-worth of regular songwriter nights — at High St. Station in Alameda and Oakland’s Octopus Literary Salon before they closed — and it wasn’t hard to ensure women were equally billed. More recently, in 2020, I took an Intro to Recording & Audio Production class through WAM (via Zoom) and was delighted to be among dozens of up-and-coming, very empowered women (most of them younger than me) who were writing, producing and recording all genres of music.
So I’m doubly happy my first full-band show in two years is part of a series highlight women songwriters. Lift every voice indeed!
Find out more about the Golden Gate Bandshell Concerts HERE