Words Backstage. Italian Music Industry and Gender Discrimination

This article focuses on the Italian music industry from the perspective of gender. The Italian music industry can be considered a male-dominated workplace within which women while working, experience gender discrimination. This article intends to answer the following research questions: (i) how women working in the music industry are perceived and ‘told’ in their professional context and (ii) which representations, sedimented in the male gaze, continue to circulate in our culture. The empirical study is based on a qualitative secondary analysis of 75 narratives by female music workers focused on direct experiences. The results of this research confirm that the exclusion of women is motivated by the shared idea that they have biological predispositions for other activities and/or personal or professional limits.