In response to a video by Brian Blessed / LadBible / Smirnoff Vodka available from
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*SIGH* Now I'm not saying there's no gender inequality behind the scenes of the music industry or that sex discrimination never happens... but lack of opportunity for female talent? REALLY??? Women can and do and have FOR GENERATIONS stamped their mark all over the music industry.
Simplifying music down to gender (or more specifically sex cos we're not even considering if any of these people identifies as agender, non binary, gender fluid etc) is pretty damn idiotic - festivals book acts based on bums on seats; compilation albums are linked to 'record' sales. Anyway, who buys music because of the gender of the artist, the gender of the songwriter, the gender of the producer??? Maybe men win more awards - but were they decided by gender?! It's also pretty dumb to imagine that because the split male and female sales or awards won isn't 50/50 there's inherent inequality as there are a whole bunch of factors at play...including the unpopular concept that not all female artists are any good! Maybe some women haven't received the support and promotion they feel they deserve from their agents / managers / record labels but is that gender discrimination or savvy business sense based on the sales of other comparable artists? If men are more successful so be it. Got a problem with it? Get out there and DO something to change things.
There are more male acts in the lists of best-selling music acts but does that mean inequality or does that reflect more on who is buying music? As children boys statistically get higher allowances than girls; young women go on to have less disposable income - now THERE is some serious inequality - although maybe people just LIKE songs by guys more. Thinking back through the music I've bought less than 5%, maybe not even 1%, was by female artists - not because the music isn't there but because I personally just don't like it overmuch, generally speaking.
There are loads of amazingly talented AND SUCCESSFUL women out there...and always have been, fighting against worse gender stereotypes and inequality than society is dealing with now - not to mention racism and other prejudices. I feel like claiming a lack of opportunity for women somehow diminishes the INCREDIBLE achievements of artists such as (in no particular order) -
- Sister Rosetta Tharp
- Barbra Streisand
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Lady Gaga
- Aretha Franklin
- Joan Jett
- Nicki Minaj
- Billie Holiday
- Celine Dion
- Beyonce
- Siouxsie Sioux
- Pink
- Tori Amos
- Mary J Blige
- Nina Simone
- Dolly Parton
- Asha Bhosle
- Adele
- Seiko Matsuda
- Rihanna
- Marie Fredriksson
- Madonna
- Tina Turner
- Taylor Swift
- Whitney Houston
- Cher
Where the hell would the music industry be without these incredible artists - representing different nationalities, ethnicities, music genres, and noted for a wide variety of achievements such as biggest selling / most recorded / award wining / voted most popular etc etc etc?! They are each an embodiment of what talented females can achieve if they get out there and make it happen. They weren't handed their successes on a plate but they clearly weren't blocked from making it to the top either. And these women are just the tip of a metaphorical musical iceberg - a huge number of women who've worked hard to achieve various degrees of success in their particular field.
As for behind-the-scenes... just take a glance down the list of songs written by Diane Warren - and the artists who recorded them. There are lots of female songwriters; lots of female record producers too - Cathy Dennis for example? Or Linda Perry who has founded two record labels? Sure, these are just a handful of names. Try looking on Wikipedia under 'women in music', 'female songwriters', 'women record producers'... go back further with 'female composers' and 'women hymnwriters' too. There are women in every branch of music, many of them immensely successful, many pioneering. Maybe there ought to be more, maybe we need to do more to support the ones we have but please don't say there aren't opportunities or imply insurmountable obstacles.
See also: "10 'lost' female musicians who deserve more recognition' (BBC 2018) https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/343718ed-4caf-44a2-8291-4aaa18d48c2c
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