Whilst the impact of gender inequalities has been studied in relation to music education, especially in the UK, relatively little has been written about their impact on higher music education (HME). This article compares data on HME programs and courses, in the UK and Sweden, from 2010 to 2014. It looks at similarities and differences in the numbers of men and women who applied to HME subjects, compared to those who were offered a place on their chosen program or course, in both nations. Through this it demonstrates that whilst a Swedish HME appears to show less institutional discrimination against women, there are still similar transnational divisions in men's and women's HME subject choices. However the article uses these data to build on existing critiques around a need for intersectional understandings of gender inequalities, before arguing that a critique of neoliberalism is essential to tackling gender inequalities in HME.
I n t r o d u c t i o n 1The subject of gender equality in music has long been a focus of feminist musicologists, 2 music educationalists and musicians. In many Anglophone nations, especially, women's 3 exclusion from music curricula (Citron, 1993;McClary, 1991), the marginalisation of 4 women composers (Macarthur, 2014) from Western art music traditions, and the exclusion 5 of women and girls from genre-oriented spaces (see Donze, 2010;Farrugia, 2012; Gavanas 6 and Reitsammer, 2013) have been well-documented. 7 Gender equality in higher music education (HME) is particularly important in that, 8 in neoliberal societies, universities are increasingly being seen as routes into professional 9 music careers (Allsup, 2015). Who studies which music subjects will therefore impact on 10 divisions in music professions and the music industries. Thus, inequalities in formal music 11 education relate to and further impact on inequalities in wider music practices.
12The UK, in particular, has come under scrutiny for its lack of attention to gender gender inequalities also exist in music education (Bergman, 2014; Björck, 2013; Kvarnhall, 18 2015), despite being more structurally equal in many other respects (Nyberg, 2012). A 19 critical look at HME in Sweden in comparison to other nations therefore has implications 20 for conceptualising and tackling gender equality in music.
1 S a m d e B o i s eThis article examines and compares data on HME in the UK and Sweden, from 2014. It looks at similarities and differences in the numbers of men and women who applied 23 compared to those who were offered a place on programs and courses in both nations.
24The quantitative findings outlined here are indicative rather than definitive and as such 25 are intended to raise questions around the conceptualisation of gender equality in HME 26 and to inform future research. By using these two national contexts the article hopes to 27 indicate the presence of transnational gendered discourses in HME. Through this, it intends 28 to use existing critiques of the problems in treating equality in music as on...