Women in Live Music in South Africa
Research Report
prepared by Concerts SA
for SAMRO
August 2024
Introduction
This is the final report on a study initiated by the Concerts SA project into the experiences of women in the live music industry in South Africa. The data presented is both quantitative and qualitative and represents the outcomes of a survey administered in late 2023, inviting people working in live music to contribute their knowledge, observations and experiences of working conditions and workplace interactions in the live music industry.
The findings of this report are striking and call for our immediate attention. With 75% of respondents identifying as women, the data reveals a stark reality: over 60% of women experience inappropriate gender-related remarks, and a staggering 68% feel unsafe while commuting to work during late hours.
Annabell Lebethe
CEO, SAMRO
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible due to the generous support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Southern African Music Rights Association (SAMRO) who prioritise the importance of gender balance in the music sector.
We are grateful to the many people who responded to our survey and engaged with Concerts SA on this topic.
We are also particularly grateful to our research team leader, Gwen Ansell, who drove this project with passion and dedication, drawing on a broad knowledge base to help ensure this research considered all nuances, historical and present, to inform this research document. In addition, our thanks to the hard work of the IKS Cultural Consulting team in coordinating and assisting on the project and Mbali Ndhlovu of the SheSaidSo organisation for creating the visualisations.
We are also grateful to music educator, composer and bassist Concord Nkabinde for providing access to anonymised feedback data from the Ladies on Bass workshop held on 27 May 2023; qualitative comments from which reinforced several of our findings.
Executive Summary
This is the final report analysing the quantitative and qualitative data generated via a survey administered to 357 respondents in late 2023, supported by a comparative analysis of equivalent recent research conducted, and best practice identified by scholars and music organisations internationally.
The aim of the Concerts SA research – funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SAMRO and conducted by IKS Cultural Consulting – was to gain insights into the lived experiences of women in the live music sector, with a focus on where and how women are represented, how equitably they are treated, and how safe they are and feel. These insights are intended to inform development and advocacy programmes that can transform the working experiences of, and opportunities for, women in live music.
Survey respondents comprised a diverse group that was three-quarters women, the majority of whom live in urban areas in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. As with prior research projects, while respondents from all nine provinces did complete the survey, rural areas and provinces such as the Northern Cape and Free State were largely under-represented.
Respondents were mainly over 40 years of age (60%). The survey was open to all genders; it provided multiple options to self-identify in gender terms, and those specifically “identifying as” women and non-binary persons comprised a third of all respondents. Just under a third of respondents indicated that they had formal music training in the form of a diploma or degree.
The majority of respondents work full-time in music (51.7%), spending 24 hours or more a week on activities in support of work in the live music industry, and 44.2% have been active in the sector for over 10 years. Just under 50% are self-employed, and 56% earn below R5,000 for their work in the sector. The primary role fulfilled by respondents is as singer/songwriter or singer. As with prior research projects, respondents involved in technical aspects of the sector were significantly under-represented in the sample.
The experience of women is substantially informed by their gender. Over 70% indicated that they had observed gender discrimination in the sector and over 80% reported that their gender was a factor in how they are treated. 73% reported their career progression was influenced by gender, and 63% indicated that people in the sector behaved directly and indirectly in ways that were gender-discriminatory. Unequal representation in education was highlighted by 54% of respondents, and 61% indicated that there was unequal representation in their specific working role, with 55% feeling stereotyped in that role. 53% felt their gender impacted on opportunities such as networking.
The majority of respondents, however, did not indicate they believed their own pay was determined by gender specifically, or that they personally felt unsafe because of their gender, but more than half believed it was untrue that people felt safe whatever their gender. Insights from studies around the globe may assist in understanding this apparent contradiction. International research has overwhelmingly suggested that women in music fear victimisation when speaking out about personal experiences. Despite the anonymity safeguards in place for this survey, it remains possible that some respondents preferred to express views and observations generally rather than personally.
Encouragingly, 76% reported their families supported their career choices and 90% reported that they felt a sense of belonging in their role in the live music sector. 64% indicated that their employers and/or clients did have policies and codes of conduct in place to deal with gender harassment.
When asked to rank proposed measures that would improve the lives and opportunities of women in live music, the following were ranked highest:
- Measures to recognise artistic work in live music in legislation, thus allowing for the regulation of payment and working conditions with the creation of mechanisms to enforce pay scales.
- Applying gender quotas to ensure gender representivity and support for a diversity of roles in music work and projects.
- Gender-blind auditions
- Gender quotas in education and training for both educators and students across all roles in the music sector
Implicit pressures and barriers: “Who feels it, knows it” (Bob Marley)
While the closed survey items provided quantifiable data on the kinds of overt gender hurdles women face, it was the qualitative responses that illustrated why women often feel that live music operates as a “boy’s club”. The Bob Marley quote was deliberately chosen as an epigraph here; the experience of implicit racism is rarely questioned, while experiences of a parallel, gendered exclusion risk dismissal as too undefined. But “who feels it, knows it”. The following selection from responses indicates some more nuanced aspects:
“I am tired of being surrounded by mostly men by a large margin. I act like them to feel safe, but in this workshop I felt as though I was allowed to embrace a side of myself that is either over-performed or totally neglected – my own femininity.”
Location and province
Consistent with mapping studies conducted by the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) over a number of years, which document geographic agglomerations in the cultural and creative industries, the majority of respondents live in Gauteng (45%), the Western Cape (21%) and KwaZulu-Natal (16%). While survey responses were received from all provinces, only 0.4% were from the Northern Cape, 2% from Limpopo, 3% from the Free State, 4% from the North West province, and 4% from the Eastern Cape.
Conclusions
This study is part of the first national industry initiative that engages systematically rather than anecdotally with matters impacting on women in the live music sector in South Africa. While working with a limited sample, the proportion of women who responded is an indication that further targeted research is necessary to gain insights into how gender is both perceived and experienced in the live music sector and beyond.
The responses demonstrate robustly that women are responsive to research of this nature, and that gender has a significant impact on their lives, psychological wellbeing, working roles, workplace conditions and opportunities. The numbers of women reporting harassment, bullying, stereotyping, demands for sexual favours and intense feelings of unsafeness should shock and distress readers. If, as many in music contend, musicians playing together is “like being a family”, then that turns out, too often, to be a patriarchal and dysfunctional family.
