Article

Feminist Musical Activism in Ireland (2018-2021) and Feminist Musicology

Laura Watson

Published in: Ethnomusicology Ireland 8 (2022)

Pages: 1-22 | Published Online: December 2022

https://doi.org/10.64208/RZVN2569

Abstract

Music has been a key site of feminist activism in Ireland since 2016. This article explores the multiple ways in which feminist collectives have challenged structural inequalities in Ireland’s music world. The discussion of collectives such as Sounding the Feminists, FairPlé, Why Not Her? and Irish Women in Harmony shows that this activism amounts to a larger movement. The movement concerns several genres and cuts across a range of professional and amateur activities, including performance and composition. This article further offers an analysis of the Irish feminist conditions influencing this movement. These include the “Repeal” campaign, whereby activists worked to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, so that the state would legislate for abortion. The article further calls for a more expansive discourse in feminist musicology to accommodate feminist musical activism and research beyond academia. It also frames and critiques this activism as gendered “equality labour.”

Keywords: Feminist activism, feminist musicology, Sounding the Feminists, FairPlé, Why Not Her?, Irish Women in Harmony

Author: Laura Watson | ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8606-9097