As students, we’re constantly bombarded with ‘careers guidance.’ Ways to plan our future, tactics for finding the right path, and repetitive messages about how to sell yourself out there in the big, wide world sometimes seem to come from every angle. Now don’t get me wrong, careers guidance can be of invaluable help for the future. But what if finding (and enjoying) the career of your dreams has more to do with your XX chromosome that with what’s on your CV?
Last month saw NME magazine celebrate its 60th birthday. With weekly sales of over 20,000 copies, the publication is one of the most successful music magazines in the country, and in 2009 Krissi Murison was announced as its eleventh editor. This made her the first woman to take on the role in the magazine’s history – a triumphant achievement for females working in the male-dominated world of music journalism.
Today, half of NME’s reporting journalists are female, but this hasn’t always been the case. It has been a long road to achieve this sense of equality which, even now, does not seem to be fully functioning or widely held. In contrast to the large list of well-known male music journalists, there are relatively few female counterparts who are famous in this sector. This is only perpetuated by the long persisting ‘man’s world’ stereotype of the music industry. Although the fight is far from over, looking back at the female role in this domain is a reminder of just how far we’ve come. Caroline Coon, who worked for the music magazine Melody Maker in the 1970s, describes her experiences of walking into the head office as ‘like a black footballer going onto a football pitch and having bananas thrown at them.’ This puts forward in no uncertain terms an idea of the barrage of insults that were fired at her on a daily basis simply for not being male. For me, the worst thing is that this was never questioned. It was just how things were, and the disgusting and disrespectful treatment of women was simply accepted as ‘part of the job.’
Thankfully things are changing, no matter how gradually. Lucy O’Brien describes her time at NME in the 1980s as ‘a bit like a sixth form boys’ common room.’ I think as women we can all recall feeling put down or undervalued by a commonly held male opinion that we’re not ‘up to the job,’ or don’t possess the right knowledge. But in a professional, working environment this kind of prejudice isn’t put up with, right? Wrong. Even today, women are often burdened by that feeling of not being good enough, even if it’s only until they manage to prove those around them wrong. But for me, that’s not good enough! Why should females working in music journalism have to ‘prove’ their worth anymore than their fellow colleagues? It’s a stereotype that’s slowly changing, and as awareness builds, things can only get better. Looking beyond the scary eight-letter ‘F’-word (sorry, I said it, feminism) which seems to have become a word with fear-inducing potential, it’s just a matter of simple human rights, and a basic necessity to allow people a fair chance at what they want to do.
So, with journalism more popular than ever as a career choice for men and women alike, I’ve come to thinking that it’s important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. When entering into any career path, surely the most important thing is passion: a sense of drive and ambition to do what you love (followed closely of course by talent – it really helps if you’re pretty good at whatever you choose to do…). Hearing Krissi Murison’s account of how she worked her way to the top of NME magazine is refreshingly predictable. Her account is of starting with intense bursts of work experience (something I’m sure we all know and love) and working her way up through the realms of tea-making and reporting to the dream role of editor. Steady perseverance, along with a mountain of hard work, energy, patience and enthusiasm is what propelled Murison to the position she holds today. That’s what makes her such a fantastic role-model for aspiring journalists, both male and female. When embarking on the process of pursuing a career, any expectations about prejudices you’re likely to face (no matter how true they may be) is only going to bring you down. Thoughts like ‘they’re not publishing my article – must be because I’m a girl’ should be scrubbed from our minds, especially when we have just one foot on the first rung of a very tall career ladder.
So, having looked at the different experiences of female music journalists across the decades, the thing that stood out for me was the hard work put in by all of them, and the great attitude with which they did it. If they had to put in twice as much effort to achieve the same recognition as their male counterparts, then so what? It was their dream and they weren’t going to let it go just because somebody in a suit doubted their ability. The key to getting what you want is sometimes no more than just believing in yourself and forgetting the reasons why you might not be able to. Because at the end of the day – and I know it’s a massive cliché – (but it’s one that, sitting at my desk in Leeds on a sunny afternoon in the first week of a beautiful Spring, even I’m starting to believe…) the only person stopping you, is you.