Self Esteem “feels validated” by WEC report about misogyny in the music industry
Self Esteem, also known as Rebecca Lucy Taylor, has responded to the recent Women and Equalities Committee report. Published on January 30th, it found that women in the music industry are still subject to endemic misogyny.
The report noted issues such as limited opporunity, abuse and harassment within the industry, which are upheld and exacerbated by processes such as confidentiality agreements and reliance on freelance work. It prompted “urgent” action and made a series of recommendations, including legislation, licensing requirements, and education of boys in schools.
Taylor has now spoken about the report during a conversation with BBC Radio 4, sharing her feelings of validation upon reading the findings. “I didn’t think in my lifetime I’d see any transparency about it. You are made to feel like you’re being over the top, too much, a princess, a diva. Now, me at 37, reading this report, I’m going — ‘well yeah, I feel validated,'” she declared.
The singer noted that, each year, she receives calls asking for comments about the lack of female headliners in festivals, to which she responds with the same statement: “Of course, there isn’t.”
She explained: “It takes a decade to have a career that means you could headline a festival and most women quit because it’s such a dreadful environment, it’s an unsafe environment, it’s unregulated. Plenty of people just deploy logic and leave the industry.”
Though the report has validated her feelings, Taylor also shared her continued disappointment about the limited opportunities available to women in the industry. She stated that she “could cry thinking about the women who haven’t been able to make music and say the things they’d like to say. We revere Bowie and The Beatles, there are so many women that were just as good, but they never got the chance.”
Alongside Taylor’s comments, there has been an outpouring of support for the report on social media from women working across the industry.
Read the report below.
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