Women in live music industry call for their work to be legislated to combat abuse

John Maytham speaks with Gwen Ansell, music researcher.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

The gap between men and women in the entertainment industry are still enormous.

From being excluded from decision making, unequal pay, constant microaggressions and the danger of gender-based violence, women are struggling in these spaces.

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The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) commissioned a study which revealed that female music creators are poorly treated and under-represented.

Ansell says that most women reported they did not feel safe and were in fact not safe.

Their roles in live music were also extremely limited due to outdated stereotypes.

“90% of the women we talked to were totally confident they belong in their role, but they experienced constraints and a range of micro and macro aggressions.”

- Gwen Ansell, music researcher

She adds that none of the 357 people who responded to their survey feel things are improving in this industry or have improved much over the last 10 or 20 years.

When the respondents were asked what changes they wanted to see, they called for artistic work in live music to be recognised as work in legislation.

“This is particularly important in relation to safety at work, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment.”

- Gwen Ansell, music researcher

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.