GENDER AND THE SMT

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GENDER AND THE SMT

• Report on gender statistics within the Society
  for Music Theory

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Overview

• SMT gender statistics membership, conference
  participation and journal publication
• Challenges to SMT
• Review of gender imbalances in other societies

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Statistics

• Sources Society records, archived newsletters
• 2001 - 2007
• Statistical significance of percentages
• Record of gender in the SMT

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SMT Membership

• Overall membership
• Comparison to AMS and SEM
• Membership in administrative structures

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AMS and SEM Membership

• SMT average 28 female
• AMS average 46 female
• SEM average 50 female

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Female Administration

• Ad hoc committees and ex officio members excluded
• 3 categories
• Executive Board
• Editorial Boards
• All other committees

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SMT Conference Participation

• Female participation relative to female
  membership
• Proposal submissions
• Acceptances --gt representation
• Female vs Male acceptance rates

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SMT Journal Participation

• Music Theory Spectrum, Music Theory Online
• Female participation relative to female
  membership
• Article submissions
• Acceptances --gt representation
• Female vs Male acceptance rates

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Conclusions

• Female membership rates in the society have
  declined over the past seven years, from 31 to
  27
• Administration
• Relative to female membership rates, women are
  over-represented on some SMT committees
• Women are under-represented on SMT editorial
  boards.

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Conclusions (cont.)

• Conference participation
• Relative to female membership rates, women are
  under-represented in proposal submissions and
  paper presentations at SMT annual meetings
• Rates of acceptance for paper proposals by women
  are comparable to those by men.

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Conclusions (cont.)

• Journal publication
• Relative to female membership rates, women are
  under-represented in journal submissions and in
  publications, both in MTS and MTO
• Rates of acceptance for article submissions by
  women are significantly below those of men.

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Challenges for SMT

• Raise the membership rates of women by attracting
  more women to the Society
• Include more women on editorial boards
• Encourage women to submit paper proposals for
  annual meetings
• Encourage women to submit journal articles for
  publication
• Examine reasons why journal acceptance rates for
  women are significantly lower than those for men.

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ACLS Strategies

• Relying heavily on the societys leadership to
  achieve the objective of gender balance
• Electing more women to governing council
• Deliberately promoting women as president of the
  Society
• Appointing women to influential committees and
  boards within the Society, including the program
  committee and the nominating committee

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ACLS Strategies (cont.)

• Insisting there be at least one women on all
  program panels
• Introducing new prizes specifically for women
• Exploring ways to include childcare at
  conferences
• Aggressively recruiting women at graduate
  student level.