大象传媒 Scotland - 大象传媒 Scotland - 鈥業 Regret Your Sex鈥� 鈥� how a sexist job rejection from 1949 inspired a new musical composition about modern-day workplace sexism

鈥業 Regret Your Sex鈥� 鈥� how a sexist job rejection from 1949 inspired a new musical composition about modern-day workplace sexism

15 November 2018

“Dear Madam, I regret your sex and our mistake over it...”

Those are the damning words sent in a 1949 letter to a female scientist. She had applied for a job at a company who later realised her unisex name was not indicative of their preference: a male candidate.

Composer Claire McCue explained how she used this story and the phraseology of the sentence as inspiration for her new musical piece: I Regret Your Sex.

Claire McCue on what inspired 鈥業 Regret Your Sex鈥�

Composer Claire McCue explains how a job rejection from 1949 inspired her composition.

So inspired by the story was Claire that she sought permission from the artist’s family to use the rejection letter as the basis for her composition.

The family allowed me to use this letter and title as long as it remained anonymous 鈥� I鈥檓 not allowed to say her name.

Claire McCue

Anonymous inspiration

When a second letter arrived from the hiring company, the job aspirant began to believe she was making good progress with her application ...until she opened the letter and read its contents.

The damning first sentence expressed the company’s surprise – and regret – at finding out she was, in fact, female.

Claire told Classics Unwrapped, “This was 1949! She had a degree; she had all the qualifications. The company retracted the job offer saying it wasn’t appropriate in this instance.”

I Regret Your Sex was written by for performance by the as part of composer .

Claire was also influenced by findings she read in a government report detailing the top 10 worst excuses for not appointing women executives.

“In the FTSE 100, there are more men on boards called David than there are women CEOs.”

The contrast between this and artist’s story is something Claire knew would make her composition playful — itself an attempt to counterbalance the serious nature of redressing gender inequality.

“Things that help promote women sometimes feel like they’re to the detriment of males. While I agree with [promoting] and encouraging women, I don’t think it should be to the detriment of equality for other people.”