Female pianists are to be favoured over men, according to the rules of a leading piano competition under which judges are instructed to “consider” picking a woman “in the case of a tie”. The Telegraph has more.
The jury of the Leeds International Piano Competition has been instructed, in the case of a tie between a male and female contestant, to “consider advancing her first”.
The preferential treatment aims to help to “tackle male dominance”, according to the rulebook.
New rules – introduced this year – also stipulate that jurors must cancel their votes and start again if any round of the competition “significantly reduces the ratio of women to men”.
Members of the jury have been required to undergo training which is aimed at “eliminating both conscious and unconscious bias in order to promote a more equal environment for all competitors”.
The new set of rules governing the 2024 competition has produced a set of five finalists, two of which are women, including the London-based rising star Junyan Chen and Vietnamese pianist Khanh Nhi Luong.
The stipulation means Ms. Chen and Ms. Nhi Luong could have received preferential treatment in the qualifying rounds because of their gender, pushing them ahead in the competition ahead of male counterparts. There is no suggestion that this is the case. …
The voting process now ensures that in the event that a round of the competition produces an all-male selection, there will be a revote.
There will also be a re-vote if the proportion of women remaining in the competition is significantly reduced in a round of voting, and this will apply all the way through to the semi-finals.
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