Women Orchestral Conductors in America: The Struggle for Acceptance—An Historical View from the Nineteenth Century to the Present

Orchestral conducting has been the latest door of opportunity to open for women in the field of music. Although women have been actively involved in performance, composition, teaching, and patronage from the history of the ancient Greeks to the present, their accomplishments and contributions have often passed unvalued. Female musicians have endured more than their share of discrimination, and many women conductors continue to struggle in a profession that is often still perceived as male-dominated. The role of American women orchestral conductors and the accomplishments they have achieved from both a historical and contemporary vantage point will be documented.