According to a brand new Musicians' Census, published in the UK, 51% of musicians who identify as female have experienced some kind of gender-based discrimination vs 6% of male respondents.

The Musicians' Census is the first of its kind in the UK.

It was also revealed in the census that 33% of female musicians reported being sexually harassed while working as a musician, and 25% of women have witnessed sexual harassment of others in music.

The Women Musicians Insight Report, which was based on the census data, found that women experience much higher levels of discrimination, sexual harassment, financial issues, and structural barriers to career progression than men.

The report also sheds light on the gender pay gap in the music industry.

The experience of sexual harassment and gender discrimination was found to have a detrimental affect on the careers of female musicians, with women making up 62 per cent of respondents who said work-related abuse or harassment held them back in their career progression; meanwhile, women made up 60 per cent of those who said discrimination was a barrier for them.

Financial Challenges and Career Longevity

Female musicians earn less than their male peers and are significantly under-represented in the highest income group, according to today's data.

The average annual income for a female musician was found to be £19,850, compared to £21,750 for men — meaning that women earn nearly a tenth less. Women also only make up just 19% of the highest income bracket of those earning £70,000 or more from music each year.

The pay gap is particularly noteworthy as female musicians are significantly more qualified than their male counterparts, with 14% more women having a music degree, while 15% more have a postgraduate music qualification. This stat would normally be assumed to correlate with higher average earnings – however, not in the music sphere.

Long-term financial issues were also apparent, with 27% of female musicians saying they don’t earn enough money to support themselves and their family, compared to 20% of male musicians.

Career longevity emerged in the study as being a serious issue facing female musicians in particular, in the UK, with women’s visibility in music decreasing with age. Women are more represented in younger age brackets, with 47% of musicians aged 16 – 55 being women, but this drops significantly as they get older, at just 26% after the age of​ 54. While this very likely reflects a historic imbalance, there is little doubt that other forms of discrimination are also involved.

For example, this could be as a result of women experiencing higher levels of age discrimination – which 30% of women report, as opposed to 21% of men.

Music Roles and Genres

Another finding worth noting is that the roles in which women work have not been as diverse as their males counterparts, with 79% of women acting as performing musicians.

Women make up just 29% of DJs and 24% of producers, and only 15% of live sound engineers and 12% of studio/​mastering engineers.

Genre wise, classical music and musical theatre had the highest rate of female respondents at 59% (making women a majority) and 46% respectively.

At just 8%, rap had the lowest reported number of women represented among those working as musicians and performers.

Primary Care Responsibilities

Another  finding in today's report was that primary care responsibilities affect women more than men, with 29% of women stating that family and caring commitments are a barrier to their career vs 11% of musicians of other genders.

In a recent viral interview Lily Allen drew widespread controversy when she said that: "My children ruined my career. I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop-stardom, they totally ruined it."

The musician reflected that a woman "Can't have it all..."

"It’s a conundrum many women have to weigh up," Lily Allen added, "because, pop star or not, having children does have a huge impact on women’s careers – far more than men’s on the whole, statistically."

Now that view has been borne out in the stats. The question now being: can anything be dome to change that?

The Musician's Census is a project of Help Musicians and the Musicians' Union.