UK government rejects recommendations from Misogyny in Music report

The UK government has rejected the recommendation from the Misogyny in Music report to improve gender equality in the music industry.

The Women and Equalities Committee’s report was published in January and warned that “urgent action” was required to tackle the discrimination issues within the music industry.

It described the industry as a “boys club” where sexual harassment and abuse was “endemic” and went mostly unreported. The document claimed that victimes who spoke up tend to not to be believed and face the threat of seeing their careers ending.

It also added that limitations in opportunity and lack of support for women were intensified for those facing racial discrimination and urged ministers to take legislative steps to amend the equality act.

Among the various recommendations, the report called for "all commercial recording studios to be licensed" and for the "licensing process to include a sexual harassment risk assessment."

It also said that "Organisations should not assume a low incidence of reported cases means they do not have perpetrators of harassment and sexual abuse within their employment. They should instead reflect on why anonymous surveys in the industry return high figures of misconduct, yet their internal surveys do not."

Irish band SPRINTS put out a statement last weekend claiming that their vocalist Karla Chubb "was sexually assaulted for the second time on the Letter To Self tour."

The band went on the call out the abusive treatment of female performers during live shows, calling it a widespread problem.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Chubb called out to the UK government, saying "You need to get serious about the safety of women. You need to make sure that they are safe wherever they are in work, or when they're freelancers, when they're self-employed, when they're working late at night. It shouldn't matter - they need to be safe."

The government has now responded to the report, confirming that it won’t take any of the recommended actions, although they stated that “everyone should be able to work in the music industry without being subject to misogyny and discrimination”

We are saddened to read that this government has rejected the Misogyny in Music report published in January by the Women and Equalities Committee. Sexual violence changes lives - inaction is inexcusable. #endVAWG

— safegigs4women 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ #saveourvenues (@safegigs4women) April 23, 2024

In response, Naomi Pohl, the UK Musicians’ Union General Secretary said: “The MU are deeply disappointed in the Government’s response to the Misogyny in Music Report and shocked that the Select Committee’s recommendations have been rejected in this way.

“Women from across the music industry have bravely shared their experiences of misogyny, sexual harassment and abuse as well as other very real barriers they face whilst working in the industry.

“The Government had an opportunity to listen and learn from those lived experiences,” she continued, “and implement the changes that the WESC report recommended. Instead, the Government decided that women’s safety is not a priority. Again, survivors are not being listened to.

“We urge the government to rethink its position and implement the recommendations from the report”, she concluded.