male-dominated as you can kind of see
when you look at festival lineups and
there’s not a lot of women so there’s
this really great blog actually that
shows sort of sort of festival flyers
and they’ve actually taken out all the
men in the Flyers and it’s looking
pretty sparse there’s only like only the
odd one also actually behind the scenes
in the industry there’s only around 30%
of women actually that Manito do
management roles live sector roles or in
promotion also with this scheme with PRS
is called a women make music and they
did a sort of a questionnaire after
after the scheme and it was like 78% of
women there had experienced sexism in
the workplace in the work person in the
music industry and and didn’t feel like
had any sort of recognition for what
they did as a woman in the industry so
actually it’s quite funny when I when I
was preparing for this talk I was like
ooh gulps female DJs just to make a
general thing and there was quite
there’s a few articles which were good
like you can always rely on like
Resident Advisor or something like
there’s always something good in there
but then every now and again something
slipped in being like 10 hottest female
DJs or something like the 10 sexiest
female DJs it’s just like I don’t really
think this is anything about their
skills to be honest so I’m just gonna
kind of populist those but when when
looking at female DJs in the industry
there’s this one that really stands out
for me and says lady called the Black
Madonna she is originally from Rouen
Kentucky in a very small town where
again music wasn’t that accessible well
dance music wasn’t that accessible so
she moved to Chicago to pursue her
career as a DJ sort of it didn’t quite
work out she was playing to a lot of
empty rooms normally gave her the time
of day she was doing it for no fees she
was likely and she ended up in a job but
she just hated and so she had to move
but in the end she had to move back to
to Turkey to live with her dad and there
was this one moment this is this is all
from an interview that I watched with
her in and she said there’s this one
moment where she was sat in her bed and
she just felt
rubbish she was just like this is my
passion I can’t do it how is it not
working out
so she she put on this podcast which was
actually it’s this thing called Optimo
it’s the last party they had at sub Club
which is this club in Glasgow which is
really famous for free dance music there
and she listened to it and it was
playing all the music that she loved
like what she was passionate about and
it may again to her this turning point
which he which he described as proof of
life that there is somewhere out there
even though it’s across the ocean it’s
so far away but it’s something that she
does and she loves and so instead of
just giving up she persevered and she
carried on she started buying records
again and she moved back to Chicago and
she started the Black Madonna projects
she then as she started the Black
Madonna project she started up writing
up this post-it note to be like these
are my achievements this is what I want
to it like this is what I want to do now
and within a year’s time she’s done all
of them she’s like she’s dear she’s
amazing she’s a she’s going she’s
touring all over the world and she’s
doing exactly what she wants to do and a
part of this interview it’s like why why
I have achieved so she’s 37 years old
which in the dance industry if you’re
just starting up that’s I guess is a
perceived to be as old even though it’s
kind of ridiculous but she’s like why
didn’t you do it any earlier and she
said well I just I didn’t see women out
there I don’t see women deejaying and
this is what kind of leads to my point
of visibility it’s like we need to have
more visibility as women in the dance
industry so to see so women can see that
you can do it so that it’s actually a
possibility another point I want to make
as well is about the structures of power
and how it’s perceived and so there’s
this other woman who I extremely at mind
it’s this woman called Mary bitch she’s
a historian so it might seem like I’m
going on topic but I’ll get back there
um she is a saurian and she did his
podcast called women in power and it’s
very relatable to a lot of industries
around the wing and obviously in this
sense it’s music so the structures of
power is something is how do we how do
we like how do we reform it so that
women are inside this structure of power
rather than on the outside h-how’d and
it’s a way to think about it is not to
be she said this amazing point of it is
not not to be of not to be a noun so so
have is a verb so say like
to power so instead of a possession it’s
it’s to have it’s it’s to be effective
or to to make a change in the world so
it’s just a different way of looking at
it and then when we’re not whilst whilst
I was watching it and I was like this is
so great yes this is this is true this
is what should happen and I was thinking
about it and I was thinking about was
like the bad stereotype so you get of
women and I mean there’s quite a lot but
this one that really shone out for me
was is women being too emotional like to
in touch with their emotions and ones
like if a woman has just like has an
opinion sometimes they can be perceived
as sort of like crazy or something it’s
just like she’s not just like no but but
then so what I thought is with this
stereotype why why is the stereotype of
being too emotional why does the
negative stereotype if you’re if if
you’re thinking out a structure of power
to do something to be emotional to be
and when I look at these women who are
who are doing really well in their in
their careers it’s because they’re
emotionally attached to this they’re
doing it to make them happy so why why
is being emotional about stereotype why
can’t it be a form of power yeah yeah so
why can’t it be a form of power and I
really think it can be because looking
at these women and how they through
perseverance how they created this
visibility is how like how is yet has
how they’ve made it big and how they’re
about it’s all about the emotional
connection so yeah I I was really
nervous about doing this talk because
you might be able to tell she’s a little
bit shaky and but I was still the point
where I was like I can’t do it can’t do
it and I spoke to my sister who she also
works in music and she is a really big
role model in my life and she was like
you got do it
you just got did it like don’t being at
it you’ve got to it was like okay go to
it and then after after I sat down and
thought about it I was like I’m actually
completely contradicting my beliefs like
my my ideas and stuff like exactly what
I’ve just told you I was doing the
opposite I was like I was sat back
hiding away and not making myself
visible and so I was like right okay I’m
gonna do it I’m going to be terrified
I’m gonna do it so and but this talk
like this talk has taught me a lot
actually it’s not
not actually just how to spell
perseverance again finding out what it
is and then spelling it is so uh but
yeah not only that but it is made me
realize that through perseverance it
creates visibility and this visibility
is something like extremely powerful and
these women that are going out and doing
it they’re they’re incredible role
models and I and I hope that they carry
on encouraging people because if there’s
women out there who don’t want to do it
with they’re too scared to do it then
they see them and being like I can’t do
it and just break through the barrier
that we seem to have as women and so
yeah it’s just it is it’s just breaking
this barrier making so visible and sort
of creating your own form of power
but yeah thank you for listening [Applause]