FEATURE:
Restacking the Deck
IN THS PHOTO: Peggy Gou is one of the world’s most renowned and talented D.J.s
Whilst There is Greater Exposure for Women D.J.s, There Is Still a Bias and Imbalance That Needs Addressing
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THERE have been plenty of features written…
IN THIS PHOTO: D.J. Rowena Alice
and testimony from female D.J.s like Annie Mac, we hear that her and her peers are often dismissed. There is tokenism or the sense that they are less talented than their male peers. I am going to come to a feature that DJ Mag published where they listed the one-hundred top D.J.s. You can see that, among their hundred names, there are very few women! I am going to see how gender discrimination exists when it comes to women D.J.s and whether they are being included and celebrated. Whilst there is greater progress regarding the success of and focus on transgender and queer D.J.s - and women D.J.s playing in gay clubs -, is that the story across the board?! If things seem a bit bleak in some regards, the fact that female D.J.s are playing twice as many gigs as their male counterparts suggests that the industry is opening up to their talent and drive. Does this reflect a rare moment of progress and opportunity…or is it the fact that women feel like they have to grind and push that much harder to get enough exposure to get similar recognition to men?! I personally think that the latter is true, though some would say that there is now an improvement regarding recognition of female D.J.s. NME recently reported the figures around the gig ratio between men and women:
“According to a new study, it has been reported that female DJs play twice as many shows as male DJs.
The study from music tech company A2D2, made by using data from DJ Mag’s Top 100, revealed that women may have to work twice as hard as men in order to reach the same recognition as them. A2D2 reported that although only 11 female artists appeared on the list, they account for 40 per cent of the top 10 hardest-working DJs.
A2D2’s research read: “Delving further into the data, we identified that on average female DJs gig nearly twice as hard as the men on the list.”
It continued: “The average number of gigs for a male DJ was 13 in 2023, whereas the female DJ’s average was 23, quite a considerable difference. This speaks volumes about their determination to make a mark in an industry historically dominated by males.”
The data also determined that house and techno were the UK’s most dominant genres in 2023, while German and Belgian DJs were rising in popularity. The music tech company said that their analysis “further identified the dominance of House and Techno in the UK’s EDM landscape as over a third of the DJs analysed specialise in these thumping tunes”.
Like all my features regarding gender equality, I don’t want it to become simply about gender. What I mean is that female D.J.s do not want to be labelled ‘female D.J.s’. They just want to be ‘D.J.s’. Of course, as we are talking about women and opportunities, I want to highlight the fact that there is inequality. Some incredible women D.J.s do need to be given opportunity. Rather than it being tokenism or box-ticking booking a woman to D.J., it should be a case of recognising the wealth of talent out there. Have things moved on from some dark and sexist days?! I am looking back to a couple of features from 2022 (this, from 2021, spotlighted women D.J.s and music industry figures battling gender discrimination). The first, from The Guardian, talks about Dance festivals and line-ups. I know there are different aspects to D.J.s and where they play. Whether in gay clubs or mainstream festivals, there is a range in fortunes and diversity when it comes to the D.J.s. In 2022, Jaguar spoke about her experiences as a D.J. and how club and festival lineups are overwhelmingly dominated by male artists.
“In the 1970s and 80s, dance music was born from minorities – the LGBTQ+ communities and Black and Brown people in Chicago, New York and Detroit – as a means of escapism and freedom from a world that was not built for them. The disfranchised created a microcosm to express themselves and feel safe. If you look at top-tier DJs and festival lineups in the UK in 2022, however, this doesn’t add up. Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim, David Guetta – white men dominate the modern electronic scene, mirroring the world we live in, and those not part of the canon face many challenges.
My report, Progressing Gender Representation in UK Dance Music, is a deep dive into the gender disparity among artists within the UK electronic music scene. The seeds of the report were sown during the pandemic, when I became a DJ with no gigs. In a period of reflection, inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests, I questioned what I really wanted from my career.
I found my purpose. On my BBC Radio 1 shows, championing minorities was already a priority, but I wanted to do more to make UK dance music a more equal place for the next generation. In 2020, I launched Future1000 with Virtuoso, a free, online initiative where women, trans and non-binary people aged 12 to 18 can learn to DJ, in an accessible way. While researching the report I couldn’t find many official resources with data about gender in dance music, so the Jaguar Foundation was born and we decided to create our own research and provide solutions to gender inequality.
Through interviews with UK dance music artists, industry heavyweights, and those already lobbying for change in this area, we put together a strong narrative around what the challenges are, and what we can do to accelerate existing progress. This was backed up by plenty of data analysis, looking at festival lineups, radio airplay and the gender of ticket buyers at club nights.
Just 5% of dance songs in the charts were made exclusively by women and non-binary artists. On radio it was 1%
The findings show a lack of diversity in dance music’s live ecosystem, both on lineups and behind the scenes, and how women and – even more so – trans and non-binary people fall victim to not fitting into the “boys’ club”. For me, the most shocking results were linked to more mainstream representation. When we analysed data from the Official Charts Company, just 5% of dance songs were made exclusively by women and non-binary artists. On radio – and this breaks my heart – it was 1%. And regarding electronic festival lineups in 2022, we found that only 28% of the artists are female or non-binary; at larger festivals that shrinks to 15%. How many of those women or non-binary people are the headliners? Hardly any – just look at major festival lineups this summer, where big male headliners still dominate.
One solution we provide in the report is that of the inclusivity rider: a booking contract clause stating that the artist will only play on a lineup if there is least one other woman, trans or non-binary person, or a person of colour, playing alongside them. If everyone had one, especially dominant male DJs, we would see accelerated change. The big male DJs would still get booked, but the lineup becomes more diverse. Diverse lineups lead to diverse audiences; stats show that ticket buyers reflect who’s on the bill.
An inclusivity rider is also important when it comes to safety for women and non-binary people. As a DJ, you’re travelling around at unsociable hours, often alone. Not everyone has a tour manager, booking agent or someone to accompany them. I’ve been in situations where I’ve felt uncomfortable when travelling. I know a DJ whose drink was spiked in the green room at their own show. In the report, DJ Ifeoluwa talks about being punched in a club. They reported it to the bouncer who did nothing. Many of the women and non-binary DJs we spoke to experienced having men jump into the booth and start playing with their mixers. Now some of these artists have a safety clause in their contract stating that no one can be behind the decks during their set.
There are other challenges for women and non-binary people too, such as the added pressure of how they look. Too often I’ve read comments referring to the success of some women DJs being down to their attractiveness. I have friends who dress androgynously when they DJ – or do anything front-facing – because they’re afraid to oversexualise themselves and be judged. During a DJ live stream my friend didn’t wear a bra and all the comments were about her nipples, rather than her performance. It negatively affected her mental health and confidence. It’s exhausting to have to battle through all this every day. When I did my first Boiler Room session this year, I was so nervous – not about the gig, but about what trolls were going to say in the comments.
I hope that Progressing Gender Representation in UK Dance Music becomes a launch pad to make positive change. I would love for CEOs of record labels, venues, or booking agencies to read it and start to question everything, especially the male gatekeepers in our industry. Ask yourself: are the acts on my roster diverse? Am I doing enough to welcome minorities? Are the women and non-binary colleagues being treated with respect? I need you to really look inside, acknowledge the findings, start again if you have to, and do the work”.
If many festivals and clubs still have a long way to go, it is clear that the queer clubs and queer club nights are embracing women. In an industry where female D.J.s have been seen as less technically skilled as men and able, then there are a new wave – such as Peggy Gou, Charlotte de Witte, Arielle Free, Rowena Alice, and Carly Wilford etc. – who are incredible D.J.s and artists in their own right. This article from The Guardian highlights how women D.J.s are getting their dues in some safe and embracing spaces:
“In recent years, there have been greater efforts to establish equality through initiatives such as Smirnoff’s Equalising Music campaign; this year the He.She.They collective are supplying Ibiza’s only lineup with a 50/50 gender balance. Despite this, there are still concerns about the gender pay gap. Every Forbes list of highest-paid DJs since 2012, which also accounts for endorsements and record sales, consists solely of men. “You have the Blessed Madonna working with artists such as Dua Lipa, but financially she’s not getting a look in, and we have to ask ourselves why,” says Paulette, who longs for a “female equivalent to Carl Cox, Pete Tong and Calvin Harris”.
IN THIS PHOTO: DJ Paulette/PHOTO CREDIT: Lee Baxter
The assumption that women are still underappreciated, though, is arguably a heteronormative one: in queer scenes, they’re thriving. McDermott is still heavily involved with Manchester’s queer scene, on Suffragette City, a non-profit night that raises funds for women’s refuge and trans support charities, and all-inclusive festival Homobloc, an extension of longstanding party Homoelectric. “To see such a mixture of young and old, to see all our trans siblings and non-binary kids … I didn’t imagine I would see it in my lifetime,” she says emotionally. “There are still battles to be had, but it’s incredible.”
Paulette has historically been welcomed with open arms in the queer scene with mainstream clubs playing catch-up. “For years I didn’t work on the straight scene at all,” she says. “There were two separate circuits going on.” McDermott thinks this disparity partly comes down to the way women tend to DJ. “Women will often play what they want to dance to, or enjoy, rather than have their heads down and only think about technical stuff,” she says, identifying “an openness about the passion that sometimes doesn’t cut through with [straight] guys.”
In recent years, in part due to livestreaming of DJ sets, there has been an increased emphasis on DJs’ technical ability, and women have often been scrutinised and subjected to sexist comments. Murphy recalls worrying about online abuse in the lead-up to her first Boiler Room set, and even DJs who have emerged in the age of social media are similarly wary. DJ and broadcaster Jamz Supernova, who all three women highlight as someone leading the charge for the next generation, points to a minor mistake she made in a live stream for DJ Mag. “I had one clanger and my thought instantly wasn’t on the people who were there vibing and who didn’t seem to notice, but on the comment section,” she says.
There is also the pressure, often driven by social media, to remain “relevant” to a young audience – but these older DJs refuse to be cowed. “Ten years ago, I was told that no promoter will ever employ a Black female DJ with grey hair,” Paulette says. “I just thought: I’m gonna grow the biggest fucking grey afro and I’m going to work better than I have ever worked in my entire life.” Jamz Supernova says that it’s particularly important to her to be a mother figure to younger artists. “When I was going to raves, [I thought] there were no women,” she says. “Now I’m working my way back historically: it’s not as if they weren’t there, they just weren’t in my periphery.”
Is there yet more work to be done? “We should keep striving forward,” says Supernova. “I’m loving all the amazing south Asian and trans DJs who are appearing more on lineups.” All the women hail the very real change that has been happening in club culture. “There’s been a lot of advancement in the last five years,” says Murphy. “People who have been around for decades are starting to get more notice.” McDermott agrees: “The next generation has got it. I think they’ll be all right”.
There are incredible women out there. From amazing Black women D.J.s to a list of the women D.J.s too good to be ignored, there is definitely a lot of talent out there! That new finding about women playing many more gigs a year than men shows that there are opportunities. Does that indicate the fact they still have to push that much harder just to be heard, or is it more of an improvement?! There is no doubt of the calibre out there in terms of club D.J.s. From Rowena Alice and Peggy Gou, through to Charlotte de Witte and Alison Wonderland, through to the queens that are succeeding in the gay club scene, I wonder why we still have features like this - and those that seem to suggest men are dominating when it comes to quality. As an addressment and tackling of gender inequality, there are female collectives. This is aimed at ensuring bills do not have just one woman – a ‘token woman’ –, and that there is more balance. Something I have not mentioned too is that, when you have gender imbalance and one female D.J., there is that lack of protection. I recently reacted to a song by Georgie Riot, Something Something and Ruth Royall called Dark Days. It is a song that talks about violence against women. Experiences so many women D.J.s have faced. There is still so many cases of women being sexually assaulted whilst they perform. In such loud and often packed spaces, it hard to police these crimes - and yet they do not to be confronted. D.J.s like Rebekah are fighting against this through Dance music. In addition to inequality, there is also that danger women face during and after their sets. Mingling or working their way through the crowds, they are vulnerable to abuse.
IN THIS PHOTO: Ruth Royall
This article states why there need to be collectives for women. So that there is not a sole woman D.J. on a line-up at a club or festivals. There is also that protective nature. A chance for collaboration and demonstration of the incredible and varied talent that is out there:
“But why is this the case? Seemingly, other areas of the music scene do not display this same level of sexism. Yet as a whole, the backbone of the industry is certainly male-dominated, with females making up a mere 2.6% of music producers, hence why female DJs remain so under-represented. This has led to the perception that there aren’t actually many women interested in DJing, when in reality the industry is not actively trying to give these women visibility.
The result has been a drive for all-female collectives. Paving the way for this collaborative stance was Nancy Noise and Lisa Loud in the UK’s Second Summer of Love in the late 80s. With the rise of acid house and the electronic scene, these DJs stood out as two of the few women visible within this culture.
Rather than being a lone DJ, a trend has emerged where women’s success as DJs is dependent on these collective strategies.
PHOTO CREDIT: Yasin Aydın/Pexels
Female collectives seek to be an empowering force, focusing on diversity and inclusivity for women in the scene and highlighting the importance of strength in numbers for representation. These collectives have initiated conversations that have been crucial to change yet also highlight the sad reality that they are needed in the first place.
This need for female collectives can be contrasted to the unspoken collectives which male DJs partake in. Whilst male hegemony has meant male collectives are not a necessity for their visibility, male DJs nonetheless form gender-based alliances. Upholding their dominance in the scene, these DJs tend to publicly support their male friends, which contributes to all-male set lineups. This exclusivity has been acknowledged by many female DJs who claim these unspoken male collectives are what dominates the field. Often, being a DJ proves to be about who knows who, and an unwillingness to branch out in recognition of new female talent.
In light of these all-male lineups there is an overwhelming need for balance as it is not enough to just have one girl on a lineup where they become the ‘token’ female DJ.
MC Lioness has spoken out on this issue. As one of the leading ladies in grime, the self-named Lioness argues that although her skills match that of any of her male counterparts but in being one of the only female MCs she is often presented as a ‘token’ female MC.
To be the singular woman on an otherwise all-male lineup is not only daunting but leaves these DJs exposed to verbal and sexual harrassment when performing. London born-and-raised Sherelle exemplifies the need for collectives in order to battle this tokenism and to feel safe and supported when playing events. Until recently Sherelle was part of 6 Figure Gang, a collective joined together by friendship and a mutual affinity for all things bass. It is this collaboration which helped Sherelle to find her own voice in the scene”.
There is a lot to unpack still. It is evident there are so many incredible women D.J.s. Of course, it shouldn’t be able gender and dividing. However, at a time when there is still imbalance and less recognition compared to male D.J.s, there needs to be changes. Polls are being published that still list male D.J.s as superior and essential – whereas women are in the minority. For so long, the decks have been stacked against women. Environments where they are subjected to abuse and assault. One or two women on a bill. With news that women are getting more gigs than men and there is this drive and determination, perhaps things will change soon. It shows that there is this culture where women have to fight and play longer. An industry still imbalanced. Let’s hope that next year is one where there is a…
RESTACKING of the decks.