Women in Music Rock History
BY LAURA HARPER/WWR Staff Writer
March is Women’s History Month and Women Who Rock is celebrating by highlighting some amazing accomplishments from women in music that are helping to make history. We are featuring four incredible female musicians here, but feel free to share some of your own!
1. Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton has made incredible strides in the world of feminism since the beginning of her career in 1980. In recent years, she has been one of the biggest public advocates for finding a vaccine for COVID-19 and helping to put an end to the pandemic. In fact, Parton was one of the largest financial contributors to the research initiative that backed the creation of the Moderna vaccine. She continues to advocate for health and for women everywhere, through both her music and philanthropic efforts.
2. Selena Gomez
In recent years, Selena Gomez has been very vocal about her personal struggles with mental health and the importance of normalizing such conversations in public discourse. Through her line of cosmetics, Rare Beauty, one percent of all sales are donated to the Rare Impact Fund that works to increase access to mental health services in educational settings. The Rare Beauty website also features various articles and resources for anyone to access for more information regarding mental health and the best ways to practice self-care. Efforts like these are important for helping to eliminate the stigma behind mental health and open up the conversation for all.
3. Sheila E.
We love Sheila E. here at Women Who Rock and she has done a lot to make history throughout her impressive career. Most notably, she founded the Elevate Hope Foundation, which works to provide abused and abandoned children an alternative method of therapy through music and the arts. These efforts strive to create a stable environment for these children where they can develop lifelong habits of healthy coping mechanisms. This can have an incredible impact in the lives of the children who need it most and those who may one day be inspired by the music they create.
4. Courtney LaPlante
The music industry is notorious for being male dominated, with some genres having a higher gender discrepancy than others. Courtney LaPlante, vocalist of metalcore band Spiritbox, has started a podcast called Good For a Girl. In it, she speaks with a variety of women in the music industry from musicians to radio DJs to label executives about the challenges of being a woman in a world that sometimes feels to be overrun by men. Discussions like these play a crucial role in opening up the conversation and giving women the representation they need.