Gender of UK morris dancers
After decades of growth in the number of women morris dancing, 2017 was the year when morris dancing became gender balanced: half of morris dancers in the UK are women and half are men. The proportion of women morris dancers has increased from 46% to 50% since 2014 and looks set to continue increasing.
The gender of morris dancers has been an important theme throughout the history of morris dancing. Before the 20th century, morris dancing was a predominantly, but not exclusively, male pursuit. In the early 20th century Mary Neal and the female dancers of the Esperance Club were as instrumental as Cecil Sharp was to popularising morris among a wider audience. A male-only climate during the 1950s and ‘60s excluded women from what was then the only organisation, the Morris Ring, and therefore from organised morris dancing. Female morris sides began forming in the early 1970s and developed with support from the Women’s Morris Federation.
Today the Morris Federation (as it is now known) and Open Morris allow member sides regardless of the gender of their members. The Morris Federation “has always taken the view that the dances themselves are more important than the gender of the dancers who perform them”. The Morris Ring does not permit its member sides to have female dancers, though female musicians have been allowed since 2011.
Data from the Morris Census shows that half of morris dancers are female and half are male, an increase in the proportion of women from 46% in 2014 to 50% in 2017. The growth of mixed sides since the late 1970s has meant there is a wide variation in the gender balance of different sides’ dancers. Around half of sides are single sex (in terms of dancers): 27% of sides are all male and 22% are all female, whereas 49% of sides are mixed sex sides. A small number of sides (2%) have teams of male and female dancers within the side that perform separately.
The gender of morris dancers has been an important theme throughout the history of morris dancing. Before the 20th century, morris dancing was a predominantly, but not exclusively, male pursuit. In the early 20th century Mary Neal and the female dancers of the Esperance Club were as instrumental as Cecil Sharp was to popularising morris among a wider audience. A male-only climate during the 1950s and ‘60s excluded women from what was then the only organisation, the Morris Ring, and therefore from organised morris dancing. Female morris sides began forming in the early 1970s and developed with support from the Women’s Morris Federation.
Today the Morris Federation (as it is now known) and Open Morris allow member sides regardless of the gender of their members. The Morris Federation “has always taken the view that the dances themselves are more important than the gender of the dancers who perform them”. The Morris Ring does not permit its member sides to have female dancers, though female musicians have been allowed since 2011.
Data from the Morris Census shows that half of morris dancers are female and half are male, an increase in the proportion of women from 46% in 2014 to 50% in 2017. The growth of mixed sides since the late 1970s has meant there is a wide variation in the gender balance of different sides’ dancers. Around half of sides are single sex (in terms of dancers): 27% of sides are all male and 22% are all female, whereas 49% of sides are mixed sex sides. A small number of sides (2%) have teams of male and female dancers within the side that perform separately.
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Whereas the Morris Ring is 92% male, the Morris Federation and Open Morris are 59% and 62% female, respectively. Interestingly, the gender distribution among mixed sides is towards having more female members than male - see chart below where more sides are 20-40% male than 60-80% male.
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How is the gender distribution of morris dancers changing? The overall proportion of female dancers has risen from 46% in 2014 to 50% in 2017. The age distribution among morris sides' new recruits suggests this trend towards greater female participation will continue: 61% of recruits are female compared to 39% men.
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