Gender inequalities in UK music higher education: the role of institutional stratification

In creative higher education (HE) undergraduate courses in the UK, women students are over-represented by a proportion of two-to-one. However, music HE shows almost the reverse gender balance, with women students under-represented. This article, theorising HE as hierarchically stratified according to institutional prestige, uses descriptive analysis of data on all students in UK music HE between 2016-20 to explore how gender inequalities intersect with institution type across different levels of study. The analysis shows that older, more prestigious institutions have a more equal gender balance. However, these degree programmes may be less likely to equip students with digital skills needed for music industry careers. Furthermore, women of colour and working-class women are doubly marginalised: excluded from prestigious HEIs where white, middle-class women predominate, and from newer HEIs where men are over-represented. At PGT level, gender inequalities vary across institution type. Finally, among postgraduate researchers women remain under-represented.