Mary Margaret O'Hara Heather Bishop Kate and Anna McGarrigle Martha Wainwright Carol Pope ... Okay I've run out

In thinking briefly about this topic, I think that the sparseness of the Canadian population may contribute to the development of these artists. Perhaps it may also encourage some level of introspection. I know a number of these artists are from rural regions, also the cities in Canada tend to be fairly far apart. This would likely allow individual "scenes" to develop. But all of that can be said for parts of U.S.A.

Another possibility is that the pop culture in Canada, while these artists were growing up, was not fully established and tended to be pulled in many directions by the multicultural nature of Canada's population. Without a domninant popculture, perhaps there were fewer expectations constricting these artists as they developed. While Canadian society was (is) somewhat male dominated, the pop culture had very few if any male dominant figures in the world scene. How fearsome could Glenn Gould be? This may have left a few more doors open to women as the music scene developed.

The most likely explaination is that we are looking too closely at this and we would likely find a similar sample of female artists in other countries. This possibility is compounded by the fact that I am up way too late and tend to ramble when I am tired.

Take care. JK