Written evidence from Name Withheld [MiM0004]

 

Being a young woman working in music I experience misogyny in every nearly aspect of my work. As an artist manager I am the one that is ‘in charge’, calling shots and making important decisions with my artist. My authority is often undermined by the men I work with because of my age, my appearance and being a woman. Often I am patronised by certain men in the industry for being inexperienced even though I have run successful campaigns, tours and creative with little experience under my belt. My male counterparts with more experience than me have not faced the same critiques even though they have more experience than me they haven’t achieved the same goals I have in the short span of time I have.

 

I am often criticised for being too energetic or loud which doesn’t have an effect on my ability to do my job but it’s an attempt to dim down my light. That being enthusiastic is seen as a negative thing and that I am incapable of being calm, collected and professional when the time comes. Seeing the way my male colleague acts, there is a double standard on what behaviour is acceptable for a man and a woman in this industry. I have worked with men who actively do drugs with artists and other colleagues but at events when female colleagues get too drunk it is a bad look on their character. Women need to be in a certain form or behaviour in order to be taken seriously. I work alongside men who have sexual assault allegations against them but we are expected to be polite and remain professional. 

 

My authority as a manager is often underestimated. Being mistaken for being a member of the band, a girlfriend or a friend instead of a manager. There is a dated perception in the industry of what an artist manager looks like. When people don’t see a man in charge they are often shocked to see it’s me. I feel as though I have to work twice as hard as my male counterparts to get the recognition I deserve. Even then it feels everything I do is never good enough in the eyes of some of the powerful white men in the industry. When I’m in rooms with all men I am able to command the room but there have been times where I have been spoken over, shot down and it makes me feel very small. Like my voice doesn’t carry any weight.

 

These acts of passive aggressive and overlooked acts of misogyny can have a huge toll on the mental health of women and their confidence in their job. In order to work in the music industry women have to have this bulletproof exterior in order to withstand these micro aggressions on a daily basis. If you don’t then you could crumble under it or be viewed as weak to your male counterparts who don’t see their behaviour as damaging. When you’re at events and gigs for the industry or your artists it’s felt safest when you aren’t drinking as there is always the worry someone could take advantage of you. Being around a majority male team can make you feel like that. Men have dominated every area of the industry since it began. Women have only recently been made a priority to hire for diversity statistics sake. Some men in this industry make it impossible for women to feel accepted or that their voice is important.

 

A former male colleague would put my ideas down, blame his own mistakes on me, take credit for my work and patronise every move I made. He made the working environment toxic, and it made me feel like nothing I did was ever good enough even though he was then fired for not doing enough work at all. When I took on a more senior position, men who I work with expressed their shock at how well I was doing as a manager and how they had doubted my skills beforehand and were surprised to see what I was able to do. These comments not only show how men underestimate young women like me, they are unable to look past my gender to see my capabilities as a manager.

 

As women in the music industry we don’t have the luxury to behave the same way our male counterparts do. Their behaviours in drinking, drugs, relationships with artists or colleagues, underperforming at work are all things women would be punished for. They would be heavily judged by others, it could jeopardise their reputation and in some cases would be fired. Men don’t receive the same backlash and in some cases they are moved on to bigger opportunities. This extends from the music business to the musical artists.

 

I’ve experienced misogyny in music on every level of the food chain, from the men I hire to work with our artists to the people who head up labels and the men who think they are in charge of me. No man will ever admit to being misogynistic but that’s because they don’t sit down and have these conversations with women they work with to reflect on their own behaviour.

 

July 2022