What Is Lutherie? 

LUTH
[French for “Lute”, comes from Arabic اَلْعُود (al-ʿūd, “wood”)] 

+ -ERIE
[French suffix] 

Originally denoting Making & Repairing Lutes and similarly stringed wooden musical instruments, French word lutherie have gained widespread usage worldwide.

At Women In Lutherie, we base our definition in the Hornbostel-Sachs Musical Instrument Classification, using the word “Lute” to denote all stringed instruments with a soundbox and an extended neck running parallel to its strings, including but not limited to:  Guitar, Mandolin, Ukulele, Banjo, Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, Lute, Oud, Viol, Hurdy Gurdy, Tanbur, Bouzouki, Ngoni, Charango, Erhu, Bipa, Shamisen, Rebab, their Bows and other Plectrums (plucking device).

What Is Women In Lutherie?

Women In Lutherie is a rapidly growing global community of women at the workbench supporting each other to make the field of lutherie more equitable and accessible for women and girls.  

We work with each other, and with outside individuals & communities to advance equality, visibility, and opportunities for women and girls in the field of lutherie through advocacy, empowerment, education, support, and recognition. 

What Is Women In Lutherie’s Goal?

Our goal is making a real, sustainable, systemic change in the field of lutherie and co-creating a brighter future landscape that values labour, emotional well-being, and the voices of women and other marginalized folks.  

We approach this by creating platforms & programs to build and strengthen the global community.  Its application is twofold —

• Internal Community:  Platforms/Programs for the community members to connect meaningfully with each other, gain emotional support, share information, and develop their professional & leadership skills.

• External Community:  Platforms/Programs to raise visibility of the community members, space for the public to engage directly with them, and widening access points to the bench for women and girls.

Who Can Join Women In Lutherie?

We welcome Anyone and Everyone to follow and support our public channels (External Community):

• our public Facebook page

• our public Instagram account

Currently, our Internal Community is organized through two different online platforms:  

• our private Facebook group

• regularly scheduled bi-weekly Zoom socials

Our Internal Community is open only to women & girls who are at the workbench in lutherie.  You need not be a professional.  This includes instrument repairers, makers, technicians, conservators, students, amateurs, hobbyists, factory workers, producers & repairers of strings, tools, parts, varnish, case, etc. 

We take an expansive approach to include all women who are laboring at a workbench in any capacity in relation to these instruments.  

How Can I Join WIL Internal Community?

If you’re a woman at the workbench in lutherie, there are 2 different ways to join the conversation. 

1. Our Facebook group is very active, with multiple posts everyday.  Request to join and answer screening questions.

2. Our regularly scheduled Zoom socials are held twice every month. Email us with a short introduction of who you are and why you’d like to join to: info@womeninlutherie.org

What If I’m LGBTQAI+ and I Don’t Identify As A Woman?

While Women In Lutherie is an intentionally women-centered, femme-centered Safer Space created to address deeply-rooted misogyny and femme-phobia in our field (and world), we also have a diverse spectrum of assigned-female-at-birth, non-binary, bigender, trans, two-spirit, fluid, questioning, and other gender non-conforming folks, as well as expansive gender expressions of what it means to be women, in our community.

The unifying factor in our community is lived experience of misogyny, femme-phobia, & femme labor. 

If you feel you do not have these experiences, aren’t sure, or are just feelin’ very Queer, feel free to join “Queer Strings Alliance” group on Facebook, co-founded by luthiers Jeemin Morgan Kim & Armand Dale Aromin to start a dialogue.

Why don’t you use the term “Womxn”?

While the term “Womxn” gained popularity in Academic Sector as an effort to be more inclusive of non-binary and trans folks, it is not in everyday usage of everyday people, which can have two heavy implications of social exclusion: Excluding less-educated/low-income folks, and excluding trans women from the term “Women”.

Women In Lutherie is a labour-centered space, not an academic space; and thus reject the usage of a word that is not currently in everyday use of everyday common people.

What Is Femme-phobia?

Misogyny is ingrained prejudice against women.

Femme-phobia is ingrained prejudice against femininity — More accurately, cultural devaluation of femininity.

Our internalized misogyny makes us value “masculine traits” (big/deep voice, sweeping gestures, tall stature, self-assuredness, aggressiveness) above “feminine traits” (small/high pitched voice, taking up less space, smaller stature, looking out for others, being unsure, checking in with others), labeling the former as authority/leadership/worth more, and latter as less-competent/follower/worth less.

What Is Femme Labour?

Deep-rooted misogyny and femme-phobia inherent in human society also discounts labour done by women/feminine individuals, typically categorized as “soft skills”, “women’s work”, or “homemaking” — emotional labour (taking care of other people’s emotional well-being), diplomacy, customer service, organizing & cleaning, maintaining supplies & schedules, care-taking work, safety precautions, childrearing, etc.

These long, unpaid hours of work are very often EXPECTED of women/more feminine individuals, and go unappreciated. (Classic double bind many women face— damned if you do, damned if you don’t). In the workshop environment these issues also result in wage gap, due to the “appearance” of women doing less work.

What About Marginalized Men/Non-White folks?

Equity work is always intersectional. As we tackle myriad of intersectional issues women face in the field of lutherie one by one, we have no doubt it will also improve situations for the better for other marginalized individuals & communities.

The more communities uplifting under-represented folks in lutherie means we all rise up together. Check out and support Black In Lutherie, a global black-centered initiative spearheaded by Amanda N. Ewing, a Black American luthier and also a community member of Women In Lutherie.

What Is Equity Work?

Part of the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) buzz words sweeping across the globe nowadays, EQUITY WORK is much like the next-generation phase for equality movement. 

While we continue to fight for the equal rights for everyone, we have also come to acknowledge that there are inherent, complex power/status dynamics baked into human society and culture that give some people more advantages, while disenfranchising others. 

The aim is to create a more “equitable distribution of resources” to compensate for these complex differences that are already deeply rooted in human society.  Race, gender, sexual orientation, labour, age, disabilities, class, education, poverty, and religion are just few examples of these differences, and may vary depending on local culture. Each of these differences intersect each other within an individual to create different shapes of discrimination and privilege. This is called intersectionality.

Depending on how much of these “disadvantages” one possesses, some might need a lot more support at the moment, while others may already have access to resources and support system in place. 

Equity Work is all about “Who needs extra help & support right now, so we don’t leave anyone behind.”

Why Is This Needed For Women?

See all of the above.

Is Women In Lutherie a Non-Profit Organization?

Not at the moment. 

Women In Lutherie is an entirely volunteer-run, community-led grassroots organization. We’re not a professional interest group, and we do not take corporate sponsorships.

I’m a man, and I want to help!

Great! You’re most welcome to hang out on our public-facing platforms as an ally.
Keep in mind if you identify as cis-gender male (assigned male at birth, and identify as a man) and do not have lived experience of misogyny & femme-phobia, you’re here to LISTEN.