This book presents accounts of creative processes and contextual issues of current-day and early-twentieth century women composers. This collection of essays balances narratives of struggle, artistic prowess, and of "breaking through" the obstacles in the profession.

Part I: Creative Work – Then and Now illuminates historical and present-day women’s composition and various iterations and conceptions of the “feminine voice”; Part II: The State of the Industry in the Present Day provides solutions from the frontline to sector inequities; and Part III: Creating; Collaborating: Composer and Performer Reflections offers personal stories of current creation in music.

A Century of Composition by Women: Music Against the Odds draws together topical issues in feminist musicology over the past century. This volume provides insight into the professional and compositional procedures of creative women in music and stands to be relevant for composers, performers, industry professionals, students, and feminist and musicological scholars for many years to come.

Dr Linda Kouvaras, musicologist, composer and pianist, is Professor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, with full artist APRA-AMCOS representation. Her research interests centre on gender issues in music and musical post/modernism (particularly Australian composition), and she is a piano examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board.

Dr Maria Grenfell is a composer and academic living in Hobart, Tasmania. An Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania, she is widely commissioned by orchestras and chamber ensembles in Australia, New Zealand, and internationally, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. 

Dr Natalie Williams is a composer, academic and artistic manager. Her music has been commissioned and performed in Australia, the United States and Europe. A performing arts leader, she has worked as an academicdean and also held faculty positions in music theory and composition at the University of Georgia and the Australian National University.