Harare — LIMITED access to economic power has made it difficult for women to function in the music sphere as musicians, bandleaders, managers, promoters and producers. As a result, women end up as backing vocalists and dancers, at the mercy of their male bosses.

To be a bandleader, manager, promoter or producer needs financial backing, which women do not have. As a result, men end up dominating the positions of power in the music industry. Men are the ones who determine what happens in the music industry because they finance the music projects.

They have had easy access to finance, mostly because of how the structures of the society favour men. Money is part of men's vocabulary and it is made easy by the associations that men have control over. They meet in places where the "who-is-who" of the society socialise.

Because of these connections, it is easy for men to access bank loans or be told where they can get financial assistance.

Women's lack of access to economic power in the music business is a result of many factors: such as the way women view or perceive money, the way the family is structured to disempower women.

Families do not instil a sense of ownership as girls grow up. Issues such as inheritance are also discriminatory to women as a daughter, and as a wife. Lack of access to economic power has seen women taking up any job that will be available in the music industry. They usually start as backing vocalists or dancers and may not progress beyond that.

While women contribute to the family in so many ways as daughters and as wives, they are usually at the receiving end. This is because they are "owned" as daughters, and as wives, whatever they bring to the family becomes family property, just like they themselves are seen as family property.

For centuries, economic power has been associated with authority. This is why men cannot readily let it go into the hands of women. The way money has been presented to women is as if it is associated with some "evil" but, with men it is associated with glory and status.

Although it is said that "money is the root of all evil", the opposite is very true: More money appropriately used is the root of happiness, stability, status and power. Women should understand that and not be ashamed of having money -- even in abundance.

There are few women who have done relatively well in their musical careers. They have been able to generate sizeable incomes for themselves, thereby benefiting economically from music.

These are the women who have had to work very hard doing more than one thing in the arts industry in general and music in particular.

However, this is only a very small proportion of women in music today. They have read into the whole spectrum of the music terrain in order to understand its other components, which are not just music performance. Women bandleaders benefit more, as they are in control of their finances. (Though it is advisable to have a manager so as not to compromise with their creativity).

Women who team up with their husbands, may, or may not, benefit that much -- depending on the dynamics between the couple. Of course, every active and performing musician is probably earning an income but very few women have made significant financial gains in the music industry.

Right now, women benefit much less economically, from music, than most men do. This is due to the mere fact that the local music industry is primarily in male hands.

Women have to deal with a number of layers in the society in order for them to understand what is going on out there. This results in a few women as managers and promoters.

The all-female group leaders also doubled as managers. Victoria Chingate managed the Gay Gaieties, an all-female group formed in 1954. Around the same time Sylvia Sondo also led and managed the all-female group, The Yellow Blues.

The 1950's also saw women promoters such as Eileen Haddon and Barbara Tredgold, who were interested in the black music and theatre. They worked hard to promote township music and theatre.

Some of the women who have taken up music promotion are Irene Gwaze, Jackie Cahi and Penny Yon.

Irene Gwaze has groomed several young musicians to artistic fruition. The budding township musicians have often sought the liberal guidance of Irene.

When Jackie Cahi met the Cool Crooners and eventually became their promoter. Penny Yon has contributed to Township Music as performer and promoter. Penny was involved with the festivals during 1996 - 1999.

She did not stop at organising festivals, but also marketed jazz musicians, acting as their agent, since she worked for a tourism company. Her desktop publishing expertise facilitated dissemination and publicity of festival material.

She would do posters, newspaper ads, flyers and complementary tickets. At times she used her phone, fax and email for business contacts.

The nature of the music industry can erode one's income if one does not keep adding on or generating money from the music venture or from other sources. Some of the musicians who have made it have been able to get financial support from other sources besides music; they have either a side job to subsidise their music endeavors.

Laura Bezuidenhout, is one musician who has subsidised her musical career with a side job: "It takes a very "big" heart to keep going.

I, on the other hand, do not have such a big heart, but am rather a coward, choosing to fall back on other skills from time to time to recuperate financially and obtain the necessary resources. I'm lucky in that I have other skills and capabilities that allow me to earn an income outside of the music industry.

I have used this over the years to procure the necessary resources to be able to remain independent". She continues, "It has meant "dropping out" of "musical circulation" for years at a time, working and saving for whatever the necessities are: keyboards, amplifiers & peripherals, a car, etc.

I doubt that I would have managed in any other way, given the poverty, abuse and disrespect encountered in the music industry. That is why I have determined to remain independent, even at the risk of being musically dormant for long periods of time."

Being able to get funds outside the music realm has made it possible for some female musicians to sustain their musical careers, as music alone does not pay that much. This is made worse by the fact that women fall at the bottom end of the ladder in the hierarchy of music, mostly as backing vocalists.

They do not understand the music business, and are exploited for their ignorance. Instrumentalists seem to be paid more than backing vocalists and dancing girls. Which means that there are not many women who become financially viable in music, as there are not many female instrumentalists, even bandleaders.

All this affects women musicians' ability to function in the music business. They lack resources, which results in the lack of ownership. In the end, they cannot fully own their product, just as they have not been able to own most things in their lives.

Taruwona Mushore who made a name for herself in the mid 1990's with her classical "I met Dambudziko", managed to own her musical products by subsidising her music projects with her other job in an interview that I had with in 1995, she said, "I am fortunate enough to have another occupation because I would be disillusioned, if solely relied on music. It's something that I'm very interested in doing."

Depending on doing other jobs for financial support has seen women musicians disappearing for sometime from the music scene, and then coming back when they have enough funds to run their musical projects.

Jane Chenjerayi's first love is music. She started music at an early age and, had she had it her way, she would just be in music and not any other place. But unfortunately like some of her colleagues, she disappears from the music scene in order to work so that she can be able to survive.

In the 1970's, she used to combine music and her other job, until she became a full time musician. When she realised that the music business was going down, she went back to work outside music. Recently, Jane Chenjerayi was working in South Africa to raise money for her musical projects.

However, there are few women musicians who have had access to economic power in the music business. This is because there are few women who can control the means of production in the music industry, across the board.

Not many women own musical instruments or the venues were music is played. There are also not many women in the recording industry, or as bandleaders. This is all because; the women's financial base is weak.

Generally, in the workplace women are not well paid, (historically). This makes it difficult for them to support other women in the entertainment industry by attending their shows, as they would want to spread the little they have on "important family activities".

There is a mentality that women should earn less. This is a mentality that the society uses even when paying women musicians.

Lack of access to economic power for women musicians is carried on from how the society operates -- that women are worth less. Women in Zimbabwe had to fight with their male counterparts for equal pay across the board and, women in the music business are no exception.

Women as you continue multi-tasking your way up the music ladder, celebrate life and womanhood.

Joyce Jenje Makwenda is a researcher, archivist, writer and producer.