What is currently going with feminism in music? One answer to such a question would be ‘gender equality work’ - and calls for more gender equality work. Arguments are being made that women, minority genders and feminized subjects’ need to be included. Inclusion could mean reaching the same numbers but being included may also mean being welcomed and treated well. It is important to recognise that it is not fully clear what gender, or women/minority gender are, or what their musical contribution is in calls for inclusion. While ideas about gender and music certainly influence work for change in diverse music practices, the ontological and epistemological foundations are left without discussion.

In this text I ask; what is the feminine and feminism in music? I ask this because I believe we cannot discuss women/minority genders in music, or feminism in music without scrutinising what we mean by women, feminism, gender or the feminine. You may think that there is no stable category of ‘woman’, gender or feminine, that it is a discursive or social (take your pick) construction. Musica Femina – the title of the symposium where this essay was presented as a keynote speech – means feminine music. It implies something quite different: that there is a feminine music. Also, many presentations during the symposium itself focused on women artists and composers, or feminine and feminist messages in music. It seems apparent to me that the issue, what is the feminine and feminism in music, has not been solved. I hope to induce a discussion on women, feminism and femininity in music beyond representation and harassment. Discussions about femininity and feminism in music could use theoretical developments on how multiple differences come into play in the epistemologies currently shaping research about gender and music.