Women pursuing careers in music face “endemic” misogyny and
discrimination in a sector dominated by self-employment and
gendered power imbalances, the Women and Equalities Committee
(WEC) has warned.
WEC’s ‘Misogyny in Music’ report laid bare a “boys’ club” where
sexual harassment and abuse is common, and the non-reporting of
such incidents is high. Victims who do speak out struggle to be
believed or may find their career ends as a consequence.
Despite increases in representation, women encounter limitations
in opportunity, a lack of support and persistent unequal pay;
these issues are intensified for women facing intersectional
barriers, particularly racial discrimination, the report found.
Female artists are routinely undervalued and undermined, endure a
focus on their physical appearance in a way that men are not
subjected to, and have to work far harder to get the recognition
their ability merits.
Making a series of strong and wide-ranging recommendations, the
cross-party committee of MPs called on ministers to take
legislative steps to amend the Equality Act to ensure freelance
workers have the same protections from discrimination as
employees and bring into force section 14 to improve protections
for people facing intersectional inequality.
It also recommended the Government should legislate to impose a
duty on employers to protect workers from sexual harassment by
third parties, a proposal the Government initially supported and
then rejected last year.
Both the music industry and Government, WEC said, should increase
investment in diverse talent and make more funding available to
the schemes that support it. Pathways to careers for women
working in the sector must improve it added, particularly in
male-dominated areas such as Artists and Repertoire (A&R),
sound engineering and production.
Record labels should commit to regular publication of statistics
on the diversity of their creative rosters, with all
organisations of more than 100 employees required to publish data
on the diversity of their workforce and gender and ethnicity pay
gaps.
On non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), the report cited distressing
testimonies of victims “threatened into silence”, with WEC urging
ministers to prohibit the use of non-disclosure and other forms
of confidentiality agreements in cases involving sexual abuse,
sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, bullying or harassment,
and discrimination relating to a protected characteristic.
The Government, WEC recommended, should consider a retrospective
moratorium on NDAs for those who have signed them relating to the
issues outlined.
The report also called for strengthened requirements for industry
areas where harassment and abuse are known to take place. It
recommended that studios, music venues and the security staff
that attend them should be subject to licensing requirements
focused on tackling sexual harassment and that managers of
artists should also be licensed.
WEC supported the Office for Students’ proposed new condition of
registration and potential sanction for educational settings
aimed at improving protections for students and urged the OfS to
“implement its proposals swiftly and to enforce them robustly”.
The establishment of a single, recognisable body, the Creative
Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) WEC’s report
concluded will help to shine a light on unacceptable behaviour in
the music industry and may reduce the risk of further harm.
But the committee cautioned it is “not a panacea for all of the
problems in the industry” and “time will tell whether it has the
powers required to drive the changes needed”.
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Rt Hon
said: “Women’s
creative and career potential should not have limits placed upon
it by ‘endemic’ misogyny which has persisted for far too long
within the music industry.
“Our report rightly focuses on improving protections and
reporting mechanisms, and on necessary structural and legislative
reforms.
“However, a shift in the behaviour of men—and it is almost always
men - at the heart of the music industry is the transformative
change needed for talented women to quite literally have their
voices heard and be both recognised and rewarded on equal terms.”
