 As late as February 1996, the Vienna Philharmonic's principal flute, Dieter Flury, told "Westdeutscher Rundfunk" that accepting women would be "gambling with the emotional unity () that this organism currently has".In April 1996, the orchestra's press secretary wrote that "compensating for the expected leaves of absence" of maternity leave would be a problem.In 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic was "facing protests during a [US] tour" by the National Organization for Women and the International Alliance for Women in Music.