Composer Refuses State-Funded Commission Because She Was Offered 20% Less Than Male Composers (Alas, It’s Not That Simple)

Siobhán Cleary won a commission, funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, from two choral organizations; when she saw that the men who had received the same grant in previous years had been offered more money, she turned the work down. Problem is, Cleary “has actually opened a can of worms that goes well beyond the issue of gender inequality. One of the core problems with the council’s music commission scheme is that it is set up in a way that simply cannot deal with the principle of equal pay for equal work.” Michael Dervan reports.