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Read on to discover if female composers are really as respected as their male counterparts….<\/strong><\/p> Let\u2019s start with a truism: no composer ever wants to be judged as a female<\/em> composer. Perhaps there are artists who do not wish their work to be judged solely on its own merits \u2013 but I\u2019ve yet to meet one.<\/p> That can\u2019t happen if we never experience the art of half the population. And so, around a decade ago, there was a flurry of interest, not to say anger, over the dearth of female conductors and composers in concert programming. It sparked efforts to change this situation for good; and, for a while, they seemed to be working. I previously caught up with some female conductors to assess progress in the past ten years. While they welcomed change, they also feared it was skin deep. What about composers?\u00a0<\/p> Judith Weir<\/a><\/strong>, the first woman ever to hold the post of Master of the King\u2019s Musick, is the perfect person to start our stocktaking. \u2018I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019ve been starved of opportunities, personally,\u2019 she comments wryly. \u2018Now I\u2019m seeing people, whom I mentored ten years ago, making great strides and having fantastic opportunities. Also, I think that some of the big names have become more visible. It\u2019s sad that Kaija Saariaho<\/a><\/strong> left us last year, but everyone could see she was a towering figure. And for me Sofia Gubaidulina is an incredibly major composer. In the last decade it\u2019s been more possible to appreciate them without prefacing that by thinking, \u201cOh, I\u2019d better mention a woman composer\u2026\u201d\u2019<\/p>Are female composers more respected today?<\/h2>