Recent decades have seen gender and feminist research emerge as major fields of enquiry in musicology and to a far lesser extent, music education. While these fields have increased awareness of the issues confronting women and other marginalised groups, the pedagogical practices and curricular design that might support aspiring women composers are in urgent need of attention. This article reports from an international survey of women composers (n=225), who in western art music continue to experience a masculine bias that has its roots in the past. The findings in the survey were focused on income, work and learning, relationships and networks, and gender. Numerous composers surveyed noted the under-representation of music composed by women in their higher education curricula. They also described their unpreparedness for a career in music. The article explores the issue of gender in music composition and makes practical recommendations for a more gender balanced music curriculum in higher education.

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开创女性作曲家的职业生涯：音乐在高等教育中的意义

近几十年来，性别和女权主义研究成为音乐学的主要研究领域，而在较小程度上，音乐教育也出现了。虽然这些领域提高了对女性和其他边缘化群体面临的问题的认识，但可能支持有抱负的女性作曲家的教学实践和课程设计迫切需要关注。本文报道了一项针对女性作曲家 (n=225) 的国际调查，她们在西方艺术音乐中继续经历着源于过去的男性偏见。调查结果集中在收入、工作和学习、人际关系和网络以及性别。许多接受调查的作曲家指出，女性创作的音乐在高等教育课程中的代表性不足。他们还描述了他们对音乐事业的准备不足。