Culture
07 Aug 20

'Why Not Her' campaign launched to amplify voices of Irish women in music

The campaign is raising funds to enact real change in relation to gender equality on the airwaves.

Following the phenomenal response to Linda Coogan Byrne and Aine Tyrrel's 'Gender Disparity Report', published in June, a new campaign, 'Why Not Her', has been launched with the aim of amplifying the voices of Irish women creating, recording, producing music in Ireland.

Using data compiled from June 1 2019 to June 1 2020, the report presented the Top 20 most played songs by Irish artists on individual radio stations in Ireland. In almost every instance, the list was dominated by male artists – with some stations revealed to have zero female artists in their Top 20, and many popular stations having only one or two female acts.

In response, Coogan Byrne has launched 'Why Not Her' – and is raising funds for "a nationwide campaign aimed at hiring a team of media and legal professionals who can help to seek real change in the legislation in regards to gender equality on the airwaves."

"Despite significant progress towards women’s economic independence in Ireland, women in Ireland are still economically disadvantaged in many ways," the GoFundMe description reads. "Women are still far less likely to be in the labour force and more than four times more likely to work on a part-time basis than men. And in music on the airwaves in Ireland: women are approx. 92% less likely to be played on heavy rotation playlists on Irish radio than that of their male counterparts who dominate the airwaves. This is a staggering fact.

"Why Not Her are here to try to ensure that a gender quota is put in place across radio and that gender equality is made apart of the new legislation. So that our women in music get the same opportunities as our men making music in Ireland."

The 'Why Not Her' campaign aims to raise €10,000 to attempt to ensure that a gender quota and gender equality is realised. You can support the GoFundMe here.

#WHYNOTHER? is now live! https://t.co/pSCByUGqCy >>> Why Not Her is a campaign that is aimed at amplifying the voices of Irish Women making, recording, producing and creating music in Ireland and enacting real change in legislation across the broadcasting sector. We can do this! pic.twitter.com/WmCD9A759d

— Why Not Her? (@whynothereu) August 7, 2020