Statistics

Women make up 10% of all Directors of Music and Organists in UK Cathedrals. [1]

Of recitals listed on the major UK hub, organrecitals.com, randomly sampled for November-December 2024 and July-August 2025, women represented 11% of all recitalists. [2]

Across the 45 Church of England Cathedrals in January 2025, 3.7% of all music heard on Sundays and major feasts (i.e. Epiphany) was by women. 26 Cathedrals did not programme any repertoire by women on these days. [3]

You were more likely to hear a piece of music composed by Herbert Howells or CV Stanford than a piece composed by a woman.

13 Church of England Cathedrals (29%) did not programme any repertoire by women across their entire music list for January 2025.

[1] 20 of 192 roles, as of July 2025. This statistic counts all Director of Music positions, and all Organist specific roles, at 118 cathedrals in the UK (i.e. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) across all denominations (Church of England, Church of Wales, Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church, Church of Ireland, Catholic Church etc.). It aims to be comprehensive. It does not include other music roles, e.g. community choir leads. When these roles are included, 16% of all roles are filled by women (36 of 222 roles).
[2] As this website is continually updated, these statistics represent snapshots of the listings during these periods. Of 564 events counted, 61 were recitals given by women.
[3] This data was compiled from music lists available online for January 2025, and includes all repertoire by named composers on these lists (1,273 items, including canticles, responses, anthems, mass settings, voluntaries etc.). It includes all services on the four Sundays (5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th), and any choral services on Epiphany itself (6th) where this was celebrated on the day. Wherever possible, it also includes the music sung at Epiphany Carol Services. The 45 Cathedrals are those official Church of England cathedrals, listed via https://www.churchofengland.org/about/our-cathedrals.