Several festival line-ups have been announced recently and most of them have substantially fewer female artists, drawing criticism from fans
Reading and Leeds festival have received backlash after their line-up release. Several people have gone to Twitter to voice their discomfort, as less than 20% of this year's performers are women.
Lucie Marsh, an avid festival goer, says: “This year’s line ups seem to be getting a lot worse. Previous years have been a lot better, so it seems we are going backwards.”
Shay Dukrap, who’s running an all-female hip-hop event in London called Queen of Art, says: “Labels need to make profit, and most of the time, they will just be bellowing at numbers rather than highlighting female talent.”
She says there is a misconception that there simply aren’t enough female artists. “I can name 25 female MCs and DJs off the top of my head, so I know it’s not that hard, especially if you are in the scene.”
Several festivals have pledged to make their line-ups “as equal as possible”, and recently the 1975’s Matt Healy announced that the band is committed to only play gender-balanced events.
Queen of Art is taking place on 28th March in East London's XOYO. Tickets available here.
Cover photo credits: Eva Rinaldi via Flickr
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