Female Instrumentalists’ Contribution to the Music Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

In every field, starting from land to space, both females and males have contributed to its development. However, it can be seen that due to each society’s unique set of cultural, and religious attitudes, women are subjected to certain restrictions that vary across the globe. This study was done to explore such issues faced by women in Sri Lanka, particularly, those who are instrumentalists in the field of music. The research was based on the problem that even though there are many talented2 female instrumentalists in the country, there is fewer number of female music instrumentalists in the music industry of Sri Lanka. Thus, the main purpose of the study was to discover what factors have resulted in Sri Lankan female instrumentalists’ limited contribution or their absence in the music industry. This study analyzed the responses of the chosen participants regarding the difficulties they have faced during their contribution to an occasion related to music. The participants included in the study were selected using the convenience sampling technique. To collect the primary data, a questionnaire was distributed among 17 female musicians that play at least one musical instrument. The questions included open-ended and closed-ended questions. The responses that the participants gave included issues related to male dominance and societal attitudes toward female musical instrumentalists, and the role they have to play in the family as a wife and mother. Additionally, it was evident that females are more reluctant to pursue music from secondary school onwards due to the issues mentioned previously. It could be stated that based on the findings, female musical instrumentalists contribute less to the music business due to the above-mentioned factors.