Examining the Place of Female Musicians in Zimbabwe’s Music Industry

Abstract

The study focused on the involvement of females in the Zimbabwe music industry particularly music performance, music production, and sound engineering. It explored females’ experiences and how they interacted with their male counterparts. Further the research considered the different ways in which females were perceived and subjected in the society. The researchers utilised the qualitative methodology to solicit data and used face-to-face interviews and explored the participants’ challenges, their struggles, and how they endeavoured to avert them. Participants were selected through purposive sampling in order to gather relevant data. A total of fifteen females were interviewed and subjected to focus group discussions to solicit pertinent information. The research was guided by the African Womanist and Liberal Feminist theories. Findings from the study show that females were treated as not equal to their male counterparts. The involvement of females in the music industry was quite difficult. Females were viewed as belonging to the house to look after the family. However, some females in the music industry had survived stereotyping due to support from their spouses and family members. It was concluded that females encountered difficulties hence they needed support to succeed. Immediate families, society and the government can do more to support female aspirants in the music industry than what is there to date. In order to realise their goals in the music industry females also need to be open-minded and overcome gender stereotypes with less reliance on males.