It's not quite as bad as that - I can think of 3 female conductors in the UK before Ewa Strusinska: Marin Alsop was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2008, Jane Glover has been a professional conductor since 1975 (London Mozart Players, Glyndebourne, etc), and Sian Edwards since 1986.

Cynthia Woods of the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra (community orchestra outside of Boston)

she's my first woman conductor outside of grade school music teachers, and she really gets the music, & she's wonderful at getting us to play correctly without hurt feelings. (musicians are sensitive)

What didn't get mentioned was that Perkins was up against drum 'n' bass pioneer Goldie in the final. It was great Perkins won, but how many black conductors are there, by the way?

I think this story relates to an earlier Broadsheet article about the pay discepency between high level male and female executives. Could it be that because "feminists" have placed so much emphasis on making huge salaries in the corporate world that they have failed to encourage young women to consider lower-paying (but, possibly far more satisfying and useful) careers in the arts? One of the gaping flaws I see in the Women's Movement is it's unquestioning embrace of capitalism and success by male standards. How can any movement be truly revolutionary if it has the same goals as the establishment it claims to be attempiting to overthrow?

Don't forget that when Marin Alsop was hired, the musicians in the orchestra publicly complained of the choice (on record because they were not given more say). A private letter, however, was leaked: "90 percent of the BSO musicians oppose [Alsop's] appointment," because "she either does not hear problems or--because her technical limitations prevent her from fixing them--that she ignores them." They came around after they met her and she explained her vision for the orchestra.

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=14843

Marin has mentioned in interviews how careful she needs to be when conducting. Garden variety motions are interpreted completely differently when she does them. Strong motions seem overly emphatic, border-line angry. Gentle motions make her seem weak. She's not talking about her critics here, either. She's talking about the music she elicits from male and female musicians.

That is the wonderful thing about beautiful music, i.e. it is ageless, colored blind, has no sexual orientation, and is gender free. Maybe that is why I truly love music!

A few years back, many orchestras started auditioning musicians behind screens, so they couldn't tell who was male and who was female. The number of female musicians who were hired shot up. Unfortunately, I don't think it would be possible to audition conductors in the same way, but it's interesting to note that before orchestras started blinding their auditions, people were saying "women just aren't interested in these careers" or "women don't have the right technique".

I will admit that I am not a huge font of knowledge when it comes to classical music and I don't know what the "major" orchestras are in the US (beyond New York, Cleveland, Chicago, LA and Boston), but Anne Manson was the one of the first three women to serve as musical director of a leading American symphony and that was almost ten years ago when she took over the podium for the Kansas City Symphony. My knowledge of classical music being pretty thin, I don't know if "Musical Director" is the same as "Conductor" but I know that she was both during her time in Kansas City.

The Kansas City Symphony is, of course, not the New York Philharmonic and I'm not suggesting that there isn't a dearth of female conductors, but I wonder if maybe this isn't as newsworthy as Broadsheet is making it out to be.

...Iona Brown (Academy of St. Martin's in the Field) and Jeanne Lamon (Tafelmusik).

Not the point, I know, but still, important to remember to celebrate those who have broken through.

That said, perhaps this also begs the question: Is conducting a peculiarly male fascination, with women less inclined due to lack of interest? I suppose I'm guilty of perpetuating stereotypes if I suggest that conducting may appeal to male egos and vanities more so than female...especially amongst the uninformed, who may perceive it as exactly that (male ego/vanity) and therefore not view it as a credible role for an aspiring musician?

And I thought Hey I know there are lots of them.

And how about Imogene Holst? Dalia Atlas? Nadia Boulanger? and some others here and there... Exceptions that prove the rule I guess.

What's odd is when they dress up in tuxes with ties to do it.

Are there any statistics about women in conducting programs in conservatories?

There's a big long list of "Women Conductors" up at www.kapralova.org/Conductors

That's heartening...

An anecdote from Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink:

In 1980, Abbie Conant, a trombone player, couldn't seem to get a position in any orchestra in Europe. Then Munich Phil responded to her application (incorrectly addressing her as Mr.), inviting her to audition. Although screening was rare at the time, it was instituted in this round of auditions because one of the applicants was the son of an instrumentalist in a Munich orchestra. After she had finished playing and walked off-stage, the conductor cried out, "That's who we want!" The remaining 17 players were sent home.

How awkward it was when they realised that they had chosen a woman for the job! The conductor believed that a woman could not play the trombone. This orchestra had one or two women on violin and oboe ("feminine" instruments), but the trombone was considered too masculine for a woman.

Conant took the job.

In 1981, the conductor demoted Conant to 2nd trombone, with no explanation. Later, she was put on probation. The conductor told her that the orchestra needed a man for the solo trombone.

Conant took the case to court. The orchestra's lawyers argued that Conant didn't possess the necessary physical strength to be a leader of the trombone section. So she was sent to a lung clinic for extensive testing: she blew into sensors, gave a blood sample to show how much oxygen she was capable of absorbing, scoring well above average on all tests. The nurse even asked Conant if she was an athlete. The conductor claimed that Conant's "shortness of breath was overhearable" in her performances, even though she'd been singled out for praise from the guest conductor. Conant also played the most difficult passages in the trombone repertoire for a special audition in front of a trombone expert -- who was effusive. The conductor then claimed that she was unreliable and unprofessional, but those were easily refuted lies.

After 8 years, she was reinstated as first trombone. She also won another round of legal battles over fair pay (on par with Conant's male colleagues).

She prevailed in these cases because she could mount an argument that the Munich Phil couldn't rebut: The conductor, the man complaining about her ability, had listened to Conant play under conditions of perfect objectivity, and in that unbiased moment, he had exclaimed, "That's who we want!" and sent the remaining trombonists packing. Conant was saved by the screen.

When I read this story from Gladwell's book, I thought of several female conducting students I know who will never be saved by a screen. Problem is, a conductor's work cannot occur without being seen, so there's not much that can be done if prejudice prevents musicians from perceiving a female conductor's movements and expressions objectively.

Thing is, the fact that women are now playing for orchestras isn't a trivial change. It matters because it not only opened up a world of opportunity for people who had previously been locked out, but more importantly, orchestras now hire better musicians, and better musicians mean better music.

So even if there's no way to provide screen-like protections during conducting auditions, it would still behoove all musicians (and by extension, all people) to try their best to be objective and to strive for this objectivity, if for nothing else, then for the pursuit of something better than we have now.