Music and Gender: What Does the 'M' in Music Stand For?

When discussing the topic of gender discrimination and where we see it, the music industry, even music as a whole, certainly cannot be excluded. While there have been some important steps towards gender equality in music within the last few years (whether it be simply allowing Native American girls to play the drums, or Taylor Swift being the second most streamed artist on Spotify), it cannot be denied that there are still major problems involving gender inequality in both the music industry and in the way society views female artists, as well as the music they make and the people who consume it. 

The facts are facts, and the facts in this case are that, on average, women make up around 12.7% of songwriters, 28.1% of artists, and only 2.8% of producers (with not one woman being nominated for producer of the year in 2021 or the 8 years before it.) This is already an insane gap between the amount of women and men in the industry, but it's even crazier when you take into account that women make up slightly over half the U.S. population, at around 51%, and just under half of the world population, at around 49% (Inclusion in the Recording Studio?). The gender disparity doesn't stop here either, with the large majority of festival headliners being male as well. Even Glastonbury, an extremely well-known music festival that has been running since 1970 (53 years!!!) has only had five female headliners, with Billie Eilish becoming the 5th in 2022 - that is one woman every 10.6 years:/

                        Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever (Glastonbury 2022)

( you can also watch her full set here )

I think that, although some disagree, it's pretty safe to say that the reason for such disparity within the music industry is simply misogyny. Even some of the most insanely successful female artists still have their music, fans, and even their character looked down upon, and, quite frankly, there isn't any other logical reason as to why they would receive such treatment.

A prime example of this is Taylor Swift. As I mentioned earlier, she was the second most streamed artist on Spotify as of 2022, and, with her album Midnights, broke the record for most streamed album in a single day on Spotify (also - the girl can write! Like she's a genius. The fact that she is responsible for writing both the line "I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror" and "You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath," is, though not surprising, absolutely insane!) That being said, she is still often labeled as 'that crazy girl who writes songs about all of her exes', 'boy-crazy', or just straight-up, classic 'crazy'. She's not the first female artist (and certainly won't be the last) to receive such a shallow and unfair assessment of both her music and character, and I don't think it's hard to see that this assessment of her writing and career is rooted in misogyny. Have you ever heard widespread discourse on whether Harry Styles or Drake write too many songs about their relationships? Probably not.