Societies attribute masculinity to different genres of music, instruments, and what musicians should look like when performing. Is music gendered? Music is highly gendered in ways that we might not even think about. Boys and girls may express different musical interests and abilities with girls showing self-confidence in literacy and music and boys showing confidence in sports and math, but teachers also discuss boys and girls musicality differently (Green, 1993). Grades are affected in addition to access to certain opportunities and promotion to leader- ship roles. For example, individual teachers may prefer one gender to another, but the entire educational system in general, favors girls’ learning styles and behaviors over that of boys. Many educators have studied the role of gender and how it affects teachers and teaching. We contextualize, filter, draw conclusions, and make inferences, in part, based on someone’s physical attributes. Perceptions of the individual based on their gender and race influence all of us in all areas.

We incorporate gender into all aspects of our daily lives from a very early age onward, and can be socially uncomfortable if we are unsure of someone’s gender or have issues coming to understand our own. For some, it was an article of clothing that was too “boyish” or “girlish” to wear, while for others it was noticing certain behaviors such as preferring to play with trucks and cars rather than dolls, and realizing the societal expectations that encourage boys to play with trucks and cars. Many of us can remember the first time we became aware of our gender. What is gender? The term sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women, while gender refers to society’s constructed roles, expectations, behaviors, attitudes, and activities that it deems appropriate for men and women. Most of us never consider whether music is gendered, but any system that is part of a culture, even a musical one, is bound to include any general perceptions and values of the society as a whole.

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