From Dusty Springfield to Kate Bush to Adele, women have played a prominent role in UK music for decades. But figures show they in fact make up less than a sixth of the professional talent.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Beth Orton has spent the week addressing this issue in Manchester, working with 13 aspiring musicians at the city’s Band on the Wall venue on a programme designed to combat the challenges that women face in the industry.
Orton says the scale of the problem is shown by the fact few women came forward at previous events, something she calls “a shame” and which she puts down to “an issue with how [women] view ourselves”.
“That is a direct effect of our upbringing and culture, an ingrained sense of being on the back foot [or] lacking in something,” she says.
The event was inspired by a Performing Rights Society statistic that showed only 14% of its members were female and organiser Brighter Sound’s own experience of one in four applicants to their music residencies being women. More
