Gender inequality in the music industry

JFC at 2017!

https://s26.postimg.cc/4z2qycbl5/Percent_headline_festival_acts_by_gender.png

Truly it was a different time.

Maybe those festivals, the biggest commercial ones in the UK, are always likely to be more conservative. (They didn't even include Shiiine On...)

But this week, a group of festivals announced they'll aim for a 50-50 gender split:

- https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/bbc-proms-among-45-festivals-committing-to-5050-gender-balance-36643652.html

Mostly 'arty' ones - or events run by public media, like the BBC Introducing stages at festivals. Outside of Britain, those who've signed up include Borealis and by:Larm (Norway), Canadian Music Week, Trondheim Calling (Norway), Waves Vienna (Austria), Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival (France) and Katowice JazzArt Festival (Poland).

The Proms, too. It's a bit bizarre that classical music would lead the war against the patriarchy, but not so surprising. The 50% balance for performers and commissions won't be a big stretch for the Proms. Making it 50-50 for all composers they play (which isn't planned) would be a really major change.

Stats above are from a study of 10 years of bad festivals:

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40273193

Incidentally, they also worked out the exact speed at which Paul McCartney is ageing:

https://s26.postimg.cc/9kyv6p4u1/How_Glastonbury_headliners_have_been_getting_older.png

- https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/music-non-binary-transgender-musicians

"North Carolina’s Moogfest announced its 2018 lineup which will feature exclusively female, trans, and non-binary musicians. One Voice Mixed Chorus in St. Paul will host the Transgender Voices Festival in April, a gathering designed to 'offer a space for transgender and gender nonconforming (GNC) singers across musical genres and cultures to explore our voices and identities'"

Trans and non-binary musicians are part of the European festivals' aim for more gender equality, but, um... https://keychange.eu/about-us/. Sasha Geffen wrote about the other questions raised by the pledge after the announcement in February.