Women in Music Are Ready to Get Loud — with Help from the Recording Academy

John Shearer/WireImage Jennifer Nettles

In music — as in nearly every industry — equal representation for women has come a long way since the early days, but it still has a long way to go.

As women in the industry have begun to up the pressure for equal airplay, equal recognition at awards shows including the Grammys, and equal compensation, they've run into some very public resistance that shows that it's not enough to ask for more — work is going to have to be done at every level to change attitudes and encourage inclusion from at every level of the music industry.

For instance, several years after a radio consultant declared, "If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out," a study showed that fewer women in country were making it to radio airplay than ever before. (In 2019, Jennifer Nettles addressed that ongoing problem with a style statement at the 2019 CMA Awards.)

And in 2018, Grammys president Neil Portnow responded to criticism of a lack of female nominees, winners and performers by declaring "women need to step up."

"It has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level," he said. "[They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome."

He later clarified his statements after backlash from fans and musicians alike — and in the months following, the Recording Academy (the organization behind the Grammys) launched several initiatives to improve gender equity at all levels.

But as the numbers in this year's annual USC Annenberg study on diversity in music show, only 30% of songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart are by women (low, but better than past years) and not much improvement has been made on inclusion at the songwriter, sound mixer and engineer levels.

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Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Grammys

One of first programs launched to address this issue was the Recording Academy's "Women in the Mix" pledge, which asked chart-topping artists to pledge to consider at least two women when hiring an engineer or producer; they also pledged donations towards organizations dedicated to getting girls involved with music, and pledged to double the female representation in their voting body by 2025 (according to a recent report, they're 77% of the way there).

Spurred on by the results of its "Women in the Mix" study, the Recording Academy is planning initiatives dedicated to their #AmplifyWomen mission, starting with providing a social toolkit to Academy members to utilize starting in Women's History Month and afterwards. They kicked off International Women's Day March 8 with a playlist dedicated to "positive energy" from female artists.

"Making change for women in the music industry means making space for them to be seen, heard, and amplified. This Women's History Month and beyond, the Academy is calling on its community of creators to come together in support and celebration of the women in music representing positive change across genres, professions, and backgrounds," the Recording Academy said.

"At the Recording Academy, it's our responsibility to continue the progress sparked by last year's Women In The Mix study and broaden the understanding of the experiences and realities of women and other marginalized gender minorities in the music industry. Together with advocates and allies, we're committed to building a more inclusive and equitable industry, but reaching our goals requires the participation of our entire community."