Written evidence submitted by anonymous (MiM0007)

As a young professional in the music industry who has been quite successful to date in the record label and distribution space I have had several experiences of misogyny in my 8 working years so far. I would go as far as to say practically every job I have had in the music industry I and my female colleagues have been subject to misogyny which has both affected our moods, proactivity and progression. As the years have gone by I have seen many of these women leave the industry which ultimately makes it harder for those of us remaining.

I would like to highlight the worst instances from my career to date:

My first full time role was at a major label (1 year internship contract). I left after 6 months due to be harassed by my boss. I was subject to daily verbal and emotional abuse which many colleagues witnessed but everyone was afraid to say anything. At most when he wasn’t there I was comforted by being told he was weird and like that with everyone. This individual is still at the company and was promoted to a director role (he was a manager when I was there). I did not report him to HR out of fear as I was told by colleagues in the company and in the wider music industry not to ‘be the difficult woman’ when I’m still just an intern. What scared me the most was being told stories about how some women who had reported sexual harassment were shut up or had their career ruined. I didn’t want to take that chance since I was still starting out so I decided to leave quietly. The last straw was when he passed sexual comments about me in front of other colleagues and was extremely invasive into my personal life including passing inappropriate comments about my boyfriend at the time. HR never gave me a proper exit interview and I do believe they had clear suspicions on why I was leaving.

In another role at a well known company I was told not to be ‘so confrontational and emotional’ when I raised that a male intern was on the same pay as me in a junior manager role. I was one of 3 women in a team of 30 men and the only woman in my department. An older male attempted to intimidate me and have me stop doing my job so well when I was reaching out to artists he considered to be ‘his territory’ genre wise when his role was not even in outreach. On reporting this to my boss I was told ‘it’s just what he’s like’ eventually they changed my team and boss and things got better. I was still always treated badly by many of the males on the other team including them scoffing when I would speak in meetings because I was a young and had been promoted twice above their own stations. Nothing was done about this and they were never reprimanded. They still sit in their roles today. My boss did let one of the newer men on the team go after he repeatedly intimidated the women in the office and passed sexual comments, unwanted touching at the Christmas party but it was only because he was still on probation and they didn’t file anything official to make it clear his conduct was the reason he was let go. That being said I and the other women appreciated this but it was not enough. Eventually when my new boss left I was to report to my previous boss so I decided to leave.

It is really hard to look back on what I and so many women have endured when simply trying to work. In almost every role I have been one of 2 or 3 women on the team and diversity in the office is appalling, making for a very bro-ish culture which does not consider or cater for the needs of women or treat us with a basic level of respect.

July 2022