GENDER AND MUSIC PERFORMANCE AS A CAREER IN NIGERIA: FEMALE PARTICIPATION, PUBLIC PERCEPTION AND CAREER CHOICE

Abstract

Music performance in Nigeria is a cultural practice, a way of living and a part of the creative economy. However, women become involved in and maintain careers in performance in social contexts that equate musical power, technology, mobility, and leadership with males. The researcher studied 40 scholarly articles to critically examine the participation of females, their perception and choice of career. The findings from the articles reveal that the real issue is not just the gender balance of numbers, but the concentration of women at various positions, in various instruments, genres, in technical work, in decision-making and acknowledged forms of authority. These are controlled indirectly by public approval. Women can be honored as singers and yet asked questions as drummers, conductors, audio engineers, bandleaders or performers who speak to sexual and social power. Family support, education, mentorship, digital access and visibility of role models boost performance self-efficacy, while religious restrictions, objectification, harassment, precarious incomes, the expectations of motherhood and male-dominated networks reduce career options. The article concludes that Nigeria needs gender disaggregated data on the industries, safer and more comfortable work environments, training for everyone, and a performance culture that evaluates female performers according to artistic ability and not the expectation of them fitting into gender norms of respectability.