Women working in live music as performers and in other onstage and behind-the-scenes roles in South Africa experience exclusion from decision-making, unequal pay, pressure to fit stereotyped roles, constant micro-aggressions, and real danger of gender-based violence. This is according to new industry research commissioned by the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro).
Samro is South Africa's oldest royalty collection and distribution organisation. Like other such South African bodies, it is industry-run and collects a percentage fee for artists whenever their work is performed, broadcast or otherwise commercially used. Concerned by reports of the poor treatment of female music creators and their under-representation in key roles, Samro began to focus on this issue in 2022.
As a South African music researcher who has conducted numerous industry studies, I led the research project.
Research worldwide has spotlighted the significant gender inequalities in music work and some academic studies in South Africa suggest the situation is much the same. But this is the largest sample surveyed so far in South Africa. This new data puts numbers on the problem and give voice to those feeling it.
The study
Conducted late in 2023, the research drew online responses from 357 people, 75% of them women, about both personal experiences and observations of equity, representation and safety in the industry. "Observations" gave space to those respondents who did not identify as women, as well as those who needed the security of distance in describing what might have been traumatic personal experiences.
Survey questions were developed from Samro's broad initial research in 2022 as well as from contributions to a panel discussion held in Johannesburg as a launch event for our survey.
A majority of respondents worked full-time in music and had been active in the industry for more than ten years. All South Africa's ethnic groups and provinces were represented (though the sample skewed urban). Respondents reported working in diverse music styles from rap and rock to classical.
The findings
Despite their long experience in the industry, 56% reported earning less than R5,000 (US$270) a month. This is less than a fifth of the national average wage.
Some of what these anonymous women musicians told us was depressingly predictable. 63% reported that micro-aggressions like "inappropriate remarks" were common, as was mansplaining: finding their ideas ignored until repeated by a man. One said:
I was told that because I am a woman ... I am weak when it comes to rap.
Another responded that they were often given "a title such as music director, without the power needed to do the job properly". Half had experienced work interviews that raised irrelevant, gender-related issues. 62% had been expected to undertake gendered, non-music work such as catering during band rehearsals.
Some data was even more disturbing. Nearly a third had been pressured by work-related consequences to enter a sexual relationship. Over a third saw nobody stepping in to assist when gender-based harassment occurred. 42% encountered the assumption that "I am sexually available because I am a musician." One reported:
I had to walk away from the business because I refused sexual favours.
Producer-run studios were highlighted as sites of all kinds of exploitation:
Harassment takes place in private spaces such as ... studios.
In a context where South African women face high rates of gender-based violence, 68% felt unsafe travelling to and from work. Many had no privacy to change into stage attire. On tour, women reported being expected to share rooms with male co-players unless they paid for their own room.
Paying for safe transport and separate rooms was one aspect of what is regarded as the music industry's own Pink Tax: the additional costs of simply being a woman, which also include investment in appearance and attire to conform to the policing male gaze. And, of course, parenting costs. Both men and women musicians may be parents, but as one of our respondents observed:
A lot of the male instrumentalists I know have children. However, they either don't live with them, or they have a female support structure.
We focused on women working in live music, but many responses alluded to the roots of harassment being in music education. Certain instruments and roles are identified by gatekeepers such as male teachers as "appropriate" for women, particularly the role of vocalist. One woman rock bassist observed:
There is generally a lot of sexualisation of women playing instruments such as drums and bass ... I've started dressing more masculine to avoid this.
In our sample - and worldwide - women were notably absent from decision-making, gatekeeping and technical roles such as production and sound engineering, something the first Samro survey also noted. This lack of role models can create a vicious cycle of under-representation: if you can't see it, you can't be it. Samro has initiated workshop events specifically for women in these fields.
Also included in our report were contributions from women vocalists attending our 2023 launch panel. They described being tasked with adding to a producer's concept without credit or payment, in other words creating free compositions. Asked if they could easily name women composers working in the industry, one respondent said:
I can only confidently name (women composers) because I am one ... We are the only ones saying our names.
Fighting back
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Poor working conditions and low pay are not, of course, exclusive to female musicians in a largely project-based, freelance and unregulated industry. Several replies noted that music working conditions are uniformly poor.
Our respondents acknowledged this: their top demand was that all creative work be brought within the ambit of relevant legislation including minimum pay, health and safety and anti-discrimination, supporting the implementation of codes of best-practice conduct for employers, venues and studios.
Read more: Why musicians die in poverty - South African study reveals battle to make ends meet
Despite these odds, South African women musicians are fighters. In contrast to the self-doubt identified in some international surveys,, 90% of our respondents described themselves as being confident they belonged in live music.
The imperative is to foster more and safer spaces where women musicians can make their own choices about expressing their female identity, free from pressure to either over-perform or suppress it. Our research made a start; much more must still be done.
This study was conducted through the ConcertsSA programme in partnership with IKS Cultural Consulting. Support came from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
