A report from the Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee has found that women working in the music industry face limitations in opportunity, a lack of support, gender discrimination and sexual harassment and assault as well as the persistent issue of unequal pay in a sector dominated by self-employment and gendered power imbalances. It says that despite increases in representation, these issues are endemic and are intensified for women faced with intersectional barriers, particularly racial discrimination.
One focus was on the “distressing evidence” of the impact of non-disclosure agreements on victims of discrimination, harassment and abuse. They say that victims with little agency in the process “are threatened into silence by organisations seeking to protect their reputation and the perpetrators of abuse who work for them”. It seeks Government action to urgently bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit the use of non-disclosure and other forms of confidentiality agreements in cases involving sexual abuse, sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, bullying or harassment, and discrimination relating to a protected characteristic. It should also consider a retrospective moratorium on NDAs for those who have signed them relating to the issues outlined above.
With significant non-reporting of incidents of sexual harassment and abuse, victims who report behaviour struggle to be believed; and even when they are believed, more often than not, it is their career not the perpetrators’ that ends. In many cases, those who do report harassment or sexual assault regret doing so due to the way it is handled.
The committee advocates the establishment of a new authority, the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) to help to shine a light on unacceptable behaviour in the music industry. A single, recognisable body that anyone in the industry can turn to for support and advice, whilst not a panacea, could have the power to drive the changes needed.
The report concludes that the main problem at the heart of the music industry is the behaviour of me, saying “More often than not, women are left with the expectation they will be able to enact change while being hindered by men who do not wish to amend their ways”.
