Created 9/11/2025

Fair Play: Women Making Music and Politics

Monika Jägerová

Throughout September, I’ll be introducing you to several women composers of classical music through my own recordings.
I’ll probably be biting my nails, standing on my head, pacing the room, and breathing through it while listening to myself.
But you’ll hear some amazing music — and together, we’ll be supporting a fairer society — in both politics and the arts.

For several years now, I’ve been systematically focusing on interpreting works by women composers of classical music who, despite the quality of their work, are often overlooked by the canon. Whenever I can, I include their music in concert programs and love performing it myself. This often means hours and hours of research, transcribing unpublished scores from archival manuscripts, and persuading people in the right places that this music is worth it. But to me, it is worth it. :-)

In the coming month, I’d like to introduce you to several inspiring female creators — some of whom changed the course of music history, and some you may never have heard of (so far). Women composers are, in a way, Heroines — often having had to fight (and still fighting) for their place in the world, facing rejection, rude remarks, ridicule, and being forgotten. And yet, they created and still create, and their music continues to speak — both into the public space and into the hearts of listeners.

This campaign is a donation challenge — I’d be grateful if you supported Forum 50% with any amount, even the smallest contribution makes a difference. At the same time, it’s also a personal challenge for me: I hate listening to my own recordings. Maybe you know the feeling. It makes my toes curl. I just want to leave the room. I procrastinate, I prefer to forget, and in the end, I never share those recordings publicly. Bringing art into the public space is deeply personal and vulnerable — but it’s also political, and therefore important. Through this challenge, I’m pushing myself to face my own reflection in the mirror. :-)

You can find the recordings on my Facebook and Instagram, here in the News section, and the full version on YouTube.

What Forum 50% Does
Forum 50% is a nonprofit organization that promotes gender balance in politics and decision-making positions. Although women make up more than 50% of the population, their representation in politics averages only about 20% in the Czech Republic, and even less in leadership roles. We want decision-making processes to be more balanced — to include not just the perspectives and life experiences of men, but also those of women. Learn more at: https://padesatprocent.cz/

Thanks to your support, Forum 50% will be able to:
- Provide education, mentoring, inspiration, and peer exchange for more than 150 women each year through 12 workshops and networking events across the Czech Republic

- Continue monitoring the occurrence of gender-based violence — particularly the online harassment experienced by female politicians and publicly active women

- Organize the second edition of the Inspirational Woman Award in 2026, which recognizes women in the Czech Republic whose work is worthy of recognition and emulation

How Can You Get Involved?
- Donate to support the organization on Darujme
- Seek out, listen to, and be inspired by the music of women composers

- Share, play, and spread their music out into the world

- Oh — and vote for women, of course.

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