FESTIVALS

Gender equality at music festivals

Dozens of festivals are signing up to achieve a 50/50 split of male and female acts by 2022. But is true parity on stage realistic?

The Sunday Times
Bucking the trend: Solange is one of the headliners at Latitude in July
Bucking the trend: Solange is one of the headliners at Latitude in July
RICK KERN/WIREIMAGE

The buzziest topic at festivals this year is how many women there are on the bill. Since 2015, when a blogger created a mock line-up for Reading with all the male musicians removed, revealing that just nine out of almost 100 acts included a woman — and only one of those was appearing on the main stage — festivals have been under fire for their gender imbalance.

An initiative launched last September to promote female performers hit the headlines in February, when 45 festivals agreed to attempt to reach a 50/50 gender split by 2022. Notable by their absence were any big British pop festivals, although a handful of smaller ones have signed up.

Browse this year’s bills and it’s clear where the problem lies.