Misogynoir: Gender Roles In The Jazz Industry

The term "Misogynoir", refers to as hate or prejudice against women, and the particular racism that black women experience. This negative conjunction has disparities between genders in the jazz genre and limited the contributions of excellent female musicians, whose stories serve as evidence of the wide spread of misogynoir in the jazz business. In the 1920s, women had started to began joining the jazz industry, but had very little impact. Around the late 19th century, jazz started to emerge in the African Americans communities of New Orleans. This is where women in jazz popularity began to increase, influencing around the world. Yet, before jazz had been dominated by male musicians, brining challenges to women, especially black female musicians.

Such as men must be “strong” and “decisive”, while women must be “submissive”. When considering female artists, especially Black women, jazz reviewers continued to hold stereotypes and double standards. Black women's significant achievements as composers, instrumentalists, and band leaders have been underestimated, while those of their male counterparts are frequently praised for their originality and innovative thinking. These cultural conceptions were affected by Ella Fitzgerald, a talented black musician in the 1930s. I believe being a woman of colour during that generation must have been a struggle for a movement of feminism, especially black feminism, since it was mostly white-dominated. Fitzgerald's talented jazz ability gave her an advantage to be able to represented minorities within the feminist movement itself, and fought for recognition and respect (Franco, 2021). During my research I learned an importance of women hood takes place. Iconic Marylin Monroe was a supporter of Fitzgerald. Monroe was ahead of her time, she joined the civil rights movement, opened up about femininity and sexuality. (Kettler, 2011). This gave her a huge opening in her career, Monroe had given Fitzgerald an opportunity to perform at Mocambo nightclub in Los Angeles. She

Being a black female artist in America comes with challenges imposed to race and oppression. Yet, I believe when Ella Fitzgerald career was rising and influencing people with her jazz music all over the world, it put an impact on equal rights, independence, and achieving success as a person of colour regardless of discrimination. I use her to represent because of the setbacks she faced, and overcame, that had brought her success. In 1963, Fitzgerald did an interview with Fred Robbins, who was a popular host on New York Radio. She had opened up about her experience with racism. In 1955, she was arrested at a show in the southern states where, at the time, was a segregated state. Officers treated her with disrespect, but still asked for an autograph (Kuske, 2017). She also had discriminating labels posted on the walls of her concerts. Further on, after all these challenges, “Fitzgerald receive the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) Equal Justice Award and the American Black Achievement Award” (Franco, 2021). Symbolizing her fight of systemic racism in the music industry was rewarded. In addition, Fitzgerald's back-story served as evidence of the wide spread of misogynoir in the jazz