Southbank Updates

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Welcome to the Southbank page—a space for students from the Southbank campus to share their thoughts, ideas and latest works. This edition, Music student Hannah Bowles speaks about the necessity gender quotas in the Conservatorium. If you’re a Southbank student, please come and say hello to join a beautiful creative community of unionists. You can also contact the Southbank Office Bearers at southbank@union.unimelb.edu.au.

Are Quotas Necessary for the Future of the Conservatorium?

Written by Hannah Bowles

Gender quotas are becoming an increasingly debated topic. The idea is simple; within teams or in positions of leadership, quotas are put in place to help achieve greater representation of women, BIPOC, and non-binary people. This ensures the representation of those who society has historically ignored and treats as lesser. However, some argue that quotas lead to tokenism, and that ‘merit’ should be the only factor in allocating positions. The problem with this argument is that it assumes there is a level playing field. A look at the Conservatorium music staff shows that out of 55 positions, there are 38 men to 17 women. Counting music performance only that number is 19 men to 6 women, When you exclude Voice teachers, this becomes 17 men to two women. In the Conservatorium directorate, there are five men and one woman. The Director is a man. There is an evident lack of female and non-binary representation in these positions, which leads directly to the need for quotas.

The feminist scholar Catherine MacKinnon puts it best. In a neutral setting, people who have a natural advantage will win. To borrow an example from David Runciman—here is a soccer match between two teams. One is over 16s, and one is over 13s. The referee is entirely neutral and directs both teams to the same rules. Naturally, the over 16s win because of their age and experience. This is widely reflected in society. Status matters when one is born into an unfair society. The fact is that white men have more status than BIPOC people, and men have more status than women and gender-nonconforming people. So, without quotas, the rate of change is drastically slowed.

There are problems with quotas, and they can lead to tokenism, leading to the idea of the “quota woman”. Someone who only earned their position over another who was more experienced than them to fill a quota, leading to an argument that quotas could decrease the quality of learning. However, who is to say that the woman chosen is not qualified? Why is she a token? Like the myth of the welfare queen, it doesn’t happen. The token woman, or the token Person of Colour, only exists in the conservative imagination.

All the teaching staff at the Conservatorium are exceptional musicians and academics. As positions become available, the Conservatorium should enact policies directed towards creating a more representative and equal environment... Modernisation is an issue the classical music community is grappling with. Classical music is drastically losing popularity. Attendance rates before the pandemic were declining, and much of the younger generation does not enjoy classical music. The appearance of classical musicians and places that teach it, like the Conservatorium, is a factor. Modernisation is essential, and quotas are necessary for that to happen.