Government rejects recommendations of Misogyny In Music report

nme.com:

published in January by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), which warned that women in the music industry face “endemic” misogyny and discrimination and said “urgent action” was required to tackle the issue.The document described the industry as a “boys’ club” where sexual harassment and abuse are common, and the non-reporting of such incidents is high.

Victims who do speak out struggle to be believed or may find their career ends as a consequence, it claimed.The WEC stated that women in music still encounter limitations in opportunity, a lack of support and persistent unequal pay – with these said to be intensified for those facing intersectional barriers, particularly racial discrimination.It said that female artists are “routinely undervalued and undermined, endure a focus on their physical appearance in a way that men are not subjected to, and have to work far harder to get the recognition their ability merits”.Following the report, the WEC – a cross-party committee of MPs – has made “a series of strong and wide-ranging recommendations” and urged ministers to take legislative steps to amend the Equality Act.This would ensure that freelance workers have the same protections from discrimination as employees, and would bring into force Section 14 to improve protections for people facing intersectional inequality.The WEC also recommended that the UK government should legislate to impose a duty on employers to protect workers from sexual harassment by third parties, a proposal the government initially supported and then rejected last year.It also called for an investment in diversity schemes by both the wider industry and government, especially for male-dominated areas such as A&R, sound engineering and.