As you will have hopefully already seen, my previous article detailed the recent facts and statistics with regards to women in the UK Audio industry. As well as emphasising the shocking scientific discovery that women do not in fact DJ with their vaginas, my article highlighted that the radio industry, with respect to gender equality, still has a very long way to go. It goes without saying how shocked I was at the discoveries I made purely by scratching the surface of this unavoidable issue. On the plus side however, I feel recently one of the biggest and most productive steps has been taken on the road out of the dark ages of UK Audio, in the form of the newly established ‘Sound Women’ organisation. These women, along with thousands of others across the country, are fighting against the blatant prejudice towards women in the radio industry. As stated by Liz Kershaw at the 2012 Manchester International Women’s Day event, “It’s not right- but it is correct.”
In this article, I’ve come up with four quick, simple and easily applicable ways of getting women into radio. I’m currently a committee member of my student radio station 1350AM GU2, and I have employed and partaken in all of these suggestions. And you know what? They’ve worked pretty well for us as a station- there’s no reason why they can’t work at yours.
1. STEP ONE: BE A UNITED FORCE.
By ‘united force’, I mean create what is essentially a society within a society. At GU2, this rather novel idea was fully put into practise shortly before I’d even joined the station. After the 2011 AGM, as the newly established committee members slowly filtered out of the lecture theatre, I was called over to join ‘The Ladies’. As the name would suggest, The Ladies incorporated each and every female member of the station. Being a fledgling member myself, being welcomed into the open arms of my fellow ‘ladies’ so quickly, I instantly felt genuinely part of the station.
The Ladies, as well as being a social hub (something I will go into shortly), is actually a radio show on the station itself. As aforementioned, The Ladies is by no means exclusive (unless you have a penis, of course). Every new female member to the station is instantly signed up and added to our show rota. Every week, Wednesday from 2-4pm, four ladies will anchor, produce and host what we have lovingly described as ‘Loose Women on the airwaves’. I honestly can’t get enough of it. It’s such a simple idea, but works so well in practise. No intimidation, instant welcome… I’ll go right ahead and blow our lady trumpet loud and proud and declare instant satisfaction, too.
Membership to The Ladies has soared over the past year, and this to me shows how much of a success the idea was, and indeed still is. On the flipside of course, there have been the odd few grumbling gents at the station who have questioned, “Well how come you get your own group?” My answer? Because we can. We’re not stopping you from having your own ‘group’. You can call it ‘The Dicks’ for all I care. Equality in the 21st century is a beautiful thing.
2. STEP TWO: LEAD THE SOCIALS.
Keeping it with The Ladies, I want to talk more about the creation of a ‘social hub’. Having discussed the issue of gender imbalance with various women at my own station, along with other local stations across the country, one of the main problems raised is the sense of being outnumbered with regards to the frivolities outside of the office. This issue was raised in an Observer blog entry from Miranda Sawyer, who stated, “In my youth I certainly witnessed, and was part of, radio stations where there is a male drinking culture. That can be quite intimidating for young women. I have had many great nights in the pub after radio programmes – I’m no angel – but looking back on it, it was a very male environment, and I felt I had to ape that behaviour, even though sometimes I’d have liked to have walked away from it.”
As aforementioned, one of the biggest parts of The Ladies as a unit are our own personal socials. These socials entail the usual and expected heels and dresses night-on-the-tiles kinda thing, obviously… But the times certainly change. As a result of the social strength of our station, the gender gap has been essentially closed. When we go out as a group, as a station, there is absolutely no difference in how you’re treated. If I’m being honest here, I’ve seen some of the women at our station neck a pint faster than some of the men, but that’s beside the point.
I feel what makes GU2 work so well in our out-of-office environment is the sheer variety of what we do. We aren’t confined by the mayhem of bar crawls and club nights in the slightest. Our socials range from an evening at Open Mic Night to ‘Laser Chicken’ (Laser Quest and Nando’s). This is key- with your new society in a society, make sure your voices are heard when it comes to socials.
3. STEP THREE: BE MULTIFARIOUS (AND DON’T BE A GIMMICK).
So, with respect to getting your voice heard… Make sure your voice is a knowledgeable and professional one. ‘Multifarious’ is probably my favourite word. It’s also my favourite thing to suggest people understand when going into a career in radio. No matter how much you might want to be a presenter on Radio 1, it’s inescapable that you have to gain a lot of experience along the way. Talk with the producers at your station, ask your Head of Sound Production what all those weird green lines are on Audition, get your manager to tell you all about the wonders of Ofcom… Editing, for example, is one of the most underrepresented sectors of the radio industry, with just 1% being female. You’ll probably realise, as I have, quite how enjoyable all these things can be. Through this, you’ll gain knowledge, as well as earning the respect of your peers and potential future employers. The career prospects in the UK Audio industry are vast, and there’s literally no reason why a woman couldn’t do just as good a job as a man could.
And for the love of God, do not let yourself become a gimmick. It’s bad enough if it’s forced upon you by promoters or revellers; but as I said in my previous article, this is unacceptable, and made worse if women fuel it themselves. Stick to your guns, stick to your genre, and just be yourself when you’re out there presenting or DJing. As ‘cute’ as those pink Skullcandy’s might look, the audio quality is s*** and you could probably buy a delicious 3 course meal with wine for that price instead. I know what I’d prefer.
4. STEP FOUR: END SOROPHOBIA.
And finally, I end this brief 4 step guide with a term that I believe to be incredibly relevant in our modern society, and that term is ‘Sorophobia’. Studying English Literature at university, I’ve been introduced to plenty of interesting words, but this has been by far the most applicable to my life. What ‘Sorophobia’ alludes to is the idea of a ‘Sisterhood’ being a complete sham, and that women are in fact more venomous and cruel to each other than any man could ever be. I totally get this. To draw again from personal experience, the amount of women that have thrown a filthy look at me whilst I’ve been DJing is unreal. I also know from personal experience that certain female DJs enjoy that they’re the minority, and would prefer to keep it that way. Why? Perhaps some ‘Shejays’ enjoy the attention, perhaps they’re quite happy riding the gimmick wave? Maybe they’re just taking advantage of the hole in the market?
Here is, yet again, where my station has shown itself to be different. We’re actively working to get more women on the decks and representing us all up there on the Union stage. In fact, I have another two Ladies down for training this Friday. I love passing on everything I’ve learnt so far and sharing the experience I’ve gained with other women at the station. This attitude needs to be employed, in my opinion, by every woman in a position of committee power in their student radio station. There are enough issues still to be conquered as we try to bridge the gender gap between men and women, let alone if we have to take into consideration any potential issues within the female radio community.
I feel what I am proposing here is what I hope would ultimately lead to a ‘pincer attack’. From the outrageous, passionate and unstoppable seedlings of student radio, all the way up to the big dogs. This change has been sparked and as a result now flourishing in my student radio station, undoubtedly along with hundreds of others countrywide. My question is this- why can this same change not be enforced upon larger commercial stations? There is literally no excuse for the work force to be so obviously imbalanced. What needs to be emphasised though is that the cause I am promoting is the cause of equality- to quote Liz Kershaw once more, “I don’t want men sacking who are doing a good job… Wake up radio industry! Accept that this is going on, and accept that in 2012 it’s just plain wrong… Stop this prejudice against women. If you don’t, it’s just blatant discrimination.”
So get out there ladies- you get out there and don’t you dare take no for an answer. Annie Nightingale sure as hell didn’t.
