Home » Administration » Committees

Committee on the Status of Women

Mission Statement

The Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) promotes gender equity and feminist scholarship in areas related to music theory and serves as a repository of information about women and music. The CSW serves the Society for Music Theory in matters that are critical to all music theorists.

Members

  • Chair: Laurel Parsons (2015)
  • Inessa Bazayev (2013), Abby Shupe (2013; graduate student), Jane Clendinning (2014), Brad Osborn (2014), Rachel Lumsden (2015)

Activities

  • Monitors and advocates for compliance with practices that promote gender equity, both within the Society and in the field of music theory in general.
  • Sponsors a special session at the Annual Meeting.
  • Holds a no-host luncheon at the Annual Meeting to discuss matters that relate to the mission of the CSW; all interested members of the SMT are invited to come to this.
  • Maintains a CSW Affiliates Facebook group web page to help members stay current on CSW activities and to get involved in related discussions and events; all interested members of the SMT are invited to join this Facebook group.
  • Maintains resources that relate to the mission of the CSW (see below).
  • Maintains an email list discussion group.
  • Sponsors a conference proposal advising program for junior female music theorists. If you are interested, please send an email to Inessa Bazayev with your name, preferred method of contact, and any special requests, and you will be contacted shortly.

2012 Meeting Activities

The Society for Music Theory Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) sponsored two events at this year’s Annual Meeting, both of which were held on Saturday, November 3, 2012. First, there was a panel discussion (cosponsored with allied committees in the AMS and SEM); this was followed immediately by an open discussion of timely issues regarding the status of women in the SMT.

  • Saturday, November 3, 9:00am–12:00pm: Astor Crowne Plaza: Grand Ballroom C
    Guido Adler’s The Scope, Method, and Aim of Musicology: Panel Discussion, Sponsored by the SMT Committee on the Status of Women, the SEM Section on Women, and the AMS Committee on Women and Gender.

    • Bonnie Gordon (University of Virginia), Chair
    • Suzannah Clark (Harvard University), Suzanne Cusick (New York University), Maya Gibson
      (University of Missouri), Elizabeth Keenan (Fordham University), Harald Kisiedu (Columbia
      University), Deborah Wong (University of California, Riverside)


  • Saturday, November 3rd, 12:00pm–2:00pm: Sheraton New Orleans: Salon 828
    SMT Committee on the Status of Women Brown Bag Open Lunch
    All conference attendees are welcome to bring a lunch and join for an informal discussion of issues relating to the status of women in the SMT.

In addition to these two events, the CSW also encourages participants to attend sessions sponsored by the SEM Section on Women and the AMS Committee on Women and Gender, the details of which can be found in the official program of the 2012 joint meeting.

Resources

Contact information

For questions about the CSW and its activities, please contact Laurel Parsons, CSW Chair.