FEATURE:
Tomorrow Never Knows
PHOTO CREDIT: @michaelbenz/Unsplash
Can Festival Line-Ups Display Greater Gender Parity This Year?
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IT is not that I am going after one festival…
IMAGE CREDIT: @ThisIsNCL
above all of the rest but, yesterday, This Is Tomorrow announced their line-up. It is a great festival in the North East but, as you can see from the names announced, there are very few women! Even though it is a festival for new artists, Brighton’s The Great Escape is a demonstration in how you can have a balanced line-up that includes a lot of sensational female artists. I have already talked about The Great Escape, and produced a playlist featuring some of the artists announced. It is an exciting festival that gives you a window into the artists who are going to rise through the ranks. I think bigger festivals who house established artists are in no different situation to a festival like The Great Escape. This Is Tomorrow is not a massive festival, so there is no reason why it had to go male-heavy and ignore the plethora of great women who could easily boss a spot. In terms of the new and bigger acts, there are plenty of women available who would not be too expensive and, actually, afford a festival like This Is Tomorrow greater diversity. One assumes the notoriously male-heavy Reading and Leeds Festivals are going to refer to type, and they will not push any closer to having a fifty-fifty split in terms of gender. Anyone who argues festivals are reacting to commercial demand and there are fewer women to fill slots need to look around them!
IMAGE CREDIT: @Primavera_Sound
Yes, there are fewer women in music than men and fewer women being signed to labels. That is not the same as saying there are not enough women to fill slots. Glastonbury was close to a fifty-fifty balance last year; Primavera Sound know how to throw a party and make sure there is a deserved and pleasing balance of male and female artists across multiple genres. Look at their line-up, and so many women on the bill could have featured on the bill for This Is Tomorrow. We will have to wait to see how some of the major festivals in the U.K. – including Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight Festival – adapt and reveal themselves this year. If a couple of big festivals can strike gender equality (or get very close) there are no excuses for others that have a similarly wide approach when it comes to genres. It seems like the same problems are cropping up time and time again. Parklife 2020 have announced their line-up and, despite it being a small festival, it is close to a fifty-fifty split. Whilst I predict Glastonbury will have a fifty-fifty gender balance, the fact they booked a female headliner (Taylor Swift) when there have been drastically few since its inception (it is the festival’s fiftieth anniversary this year), shows there is a problem right across the board. I thought this year would be a big step up for festivals but, with a few smaller festivals revealing line-ups that are decidedly male-focused, it does worry me.
It seems festivals like The Great Escape are an exception and, whilst I appreciate there are small festivals who have female headliners and a lot more progressive than most other festivals, there are far too many festivals not doing enough. 2019 was a fantastic year for music which saw the release of terrific albums by everyone from FKA twigs, Lana Del Rey and Sharon Van Etten. Angel Olsen and Lizzo can be thrown into the mix and, whilst I’d lose my breath naming all the women who made 2019 so good, it seems odd that this very obvious fact is not translating to better representation at festivals. One can dispel the notion there are few women worthy to headline festivals; that there are not enough to lay down a great show and, most definitely, there are few to put the bill at fifty-fifty. It is not just festivals that are dragging their heels; award shows are just as culpable. The BRIT Awards is, again, short of female nominees when there are some very obvious names that should have been selected. I read a lot of music blogs and websites, and there are so many female artists highlighted. Although radio playlists are still too male-heavy, there are ample female solo artists, duos and bands (or female-led bands) that would give any festival options a-plenty!
IMAGE CREDIT: @thegreatescape
I am not going to literally name every woman who should be booked for any festival but, off the top of my head, I could name around fifty who would be inexpensive, awesome and as popular/strong as any male act – and yet they are not being booked. There are two main reasons why a lack of female inclusion is tragic. At a time when so much of the best music is being made by women, young artists coming through are not seeing that on the big stages; they are missing out and, in years to come, will women avoid getting into the industry because festivals are skewed to the men? I know festivals are not the main benefit of being a musician, but they are important and greater gender quality means variation and a wider palette. I look at festival line-ups and there is very little in the way of surprise or the eclectic. Maybe there is the problem with festivals being run by men who book men. There is a lack of protest from a lot of festival goers which, to be fair, is their choice, but I worry whether many festivals will adopt a fifty-fifty gender balance by 2022 – forty-five festivals pledged to have a fifty-fifty split by 2022 but, as we are two years off, I wonder whether they can realistically achieve that. Just like award line-ups and a lack of female inclusion, artists need to speak up and use their platform to call out those who continue to deny women slots at festivals. A lot of the protest and awareness is coming from women in music and the media: men need to do more and not just let things remain as they are.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Watts
There are articles that claim that, if we ask for gender balance, that means quotas are being filled. There is no denying things are better now than they were in the past regarding gender, but my argument is that quotas are not being filled. There are plenty of female artists who deserve festival shots, and it is not a case of throwing them a treat or making them feel included! Those who warn against quota-filling feel that women would feel patronised or though they are being booked to create equality, rather than reflect their talent. I can never understand this argument, as it implies there are not enough women out there now to make gender parity a reality at festivals. Glastonbury will achieve it this year; Primavera Sound can do it easily, so what do they have to say to that?! I agree there are festivals that deal with particular genres where there are so many more men than women in that field – Electronic and Rap are examples. Whilst it may be harder to get a fifty-fifty balance there quickly, these festivals are still excluding women who are more than worthy, thus exacerbating the problem of inclusion and gender imbalance in these genres. Most festivals do not have a strict remit when it comes to sound/genre, so it is not the case the talent pool is not that deep, seeing as women are visible and strong across multiple genres. This Is Tomorrow have announced their line-up, and several other festivals will do the same before the spring – The Great Escape have laid out their stable, and it looks pretty good! Against all those who claim a fifty-fifty split at festivals represents society being too P.C. and putting gender over quality, they need to listen to music properly and realise there are scores of women who could be added to any festival line-up right now. Many hoped we would see great progress than we have so far but, sadly, festival organisers are just not…
IMAGE CREDIT: @OfficialRandL
DOING enough.