Mary Halvorson Quotes

I didn't think I could play in a band. It just wasn't an option - all band members were men, and bandleaders were men.

In the beginning it was very frustrating, being told girls don't sing this kind of music, and, 'Maybe you can try with pop or songs that are more romantic.'

I wasn't taken seriously being the only girl playing in band growing up.

You think once you've shown what you can do, and your movies have been successful, that snap, you work. So to discover the difference between guys' roles and girls' roles made me plain mad. It's unjust.

It's tragic that you can define a whole movement in music by gender alone. People are like, 'Oh, look, another quirky girl.'

I thought that I wouldn't be able to make it because I'm a girl, but I think it was just a subconscious feeling. Pretty much every gig I went to was a band with four dudes.

Like, I played baseball with all boys. They didn't want to play catch with me. I mean, it's the story of everything I've done.

Being a female guitar player back in school wasn't great, and I had to change schools so many times. The male drummers and bass players thought it was cool, but male guitar players said, 'It's a guy's thing. You should be doing something else, like playing the harp.'

They say women and music should never be dated.

A lot of times, I get asked, 'Do you feel you have a responsibility to young girls to be a role model?' I don't see that happening as much to guys. I feel like, just because I'm a girl, I'm supposed to take more responsibility? Is that how it works?

There's still prejudice and that resistance regarding women, not only on female football but in various activities. Men think that women are a bit fragile to perform some types of activities or don't have the ability and aren't strong enough.

Girls have an unfair advantage over men: if they can't get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb.

Confidence in a bloke would be arrogance in a woman. For years, I didn't give interviews because I was scared of people judging me or thinking I was arrogant.

In this industry, all the heads of labels are men, but every artist has to prove themselves, regardless of their sex. I have always been very vocal about the women sticking together.

Nobody asks me about what male musicians I think about; I only ever get asked about females.

If a woman gets tough in negotiations, she's difficult, whereas a man would be considered a brilliant businessman.

There are so many times that, as a woman in the music industry, you're asked questions no male musician would ever be asked.

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes.”

Music is a male-dominated field. Women are not always taken as seriously as we should be, so sometimes we have to put our foot down.

When I tried to get a record deal, only one label wanted me. The rest said 'oh, we've already got a girl with a guitar.' Can you imagine them ever saying that to a guy?

The fact that there has to be a man behind my success when I genuinely have worked so hard is frustrating.

As a female, we always have to be labeled this new female rapper. It's never like, 'I heard this rapper Tink.' It's always, 'I heard a female rapper.'

I think people see me, and they can't get past my looks or the fact that a girl can be serious about playing the guitar.

No man wants to lose to a woman.

In some instances, a gender imbalance is indeed a manifestation of sexism. In others, it is not.