Simon HuxtableA Women at Night Taskforce has been announced to address the issues facing women in the music, entertainment and leisure industries following a report published today by the Savenightlife CIC and Lady of the House groups. The report also calls on businesses and associated music, entertainment, and leisure industry groups to sign up to a Women at Night Charter – the first of its kind – which includes the following commitments to improve the experience of women in the sector:
*Work towards improving pathways to career progression addressing challenges based on preconceived attitudes because of gender, appearance, and work-life balance.
*Seek opportunities to celebrate and increase the visibility of successful women at all levels within Music, Entertainment and Leisure.
*Work with members, partners, and affiliates on initiatives to address inappropriate behaviours and attitudes towards women.
*Work with government and regulators to encourage and empower women to feel confident and safe when going out.
*Work with communities to encourage and empower communities to stand up and speak out: including bystander training.
*Lobby for better working practices, and more clarity of confidentiality clauses; seek to raise awareness and better access to legal advice and legal aid.
*Work with members to build a hub of best practices and guidance on how to enhance diversity and address discrimination in the workplace, including bystander training.
*Work with secondary and tertiary businesses and service providers on initiatives to tackle discrimination and improve on safeguarding women.
*Develop training and educational tools for music, entertainment and leisure industries, communities, and schools to help raise awareness on how to celebrate, champion and honor women in our society.
*Provide accessible support and guidance to help make women feel safer at night.
*Forge alliances with other industry and trade organizations to collaborate and unify our mission to stand up, speak out and end discrimination against women in music, entertainment, and leisure industries.
“Our report released today represents a landmark moment for the music, entertainment and leisure sectors as we publish for the first time a piece of work looking specifically at the experiences of women in the sector, and what more can be done to make these environments safe and inclusive environments for everyone.” Silvana Kill, Director of Operations of the NTIA and Savenightlife CIC said, “We as a sector are absolutely committed to celebrating, championing and honoring women, and that is why we have taken the proactive step of trying to do our bit as we hopefully move towards a society in which no one faces discrimination of any kind.“
The report, entitled “A Study into Women in Music, Entertainment and Leisure Industries at Night”, also involved a survey of 1,300 women – around 40% of whom were women who worked in the music, entertainment and leisure sectors, and the remaining who frequent consumers in those sectors. The full report can be found here.
The results of the survey revealed:
91.8% didn’t feel our police force does enough to make women feel safer at night.
84.7% of respondents agreed that certain inappropriate behaviours towards women were now perceived as ‘normal’ within the Night Time Economy.
74.8% felt they had to adapt their working behaviours in a role to overcompensate for their gender.
60.5% of respondents had experienced an incident of sexual discrimination, harassment, or assault in the workplace — with 71.3% of these instances being inappropriate touching and/or groping.
39.3% of workers who experienced sexual discrimination or harassment didn’t tell anyone, with 73% of those who did report it feeling unsatisfied with how the incident was resolved.
64.6% weren’t assisted by employers with getting home safely at the end of shifts, and 92.6% of respondents didn’t feel there was enough proactive support or guidance to help make women feel safer at night.
“Today is a milestone for all women and allies of women. Lady of the House’s manifesto to celebrate, champion and honor women in Dance Music and beyond has been cemented into a proactive solution by working in partnership Savenightlife (NTIA). We are at the start of a brighter future that as an industry we can set the blueprint.” said Laila McKenzie, Co-Author and Founder of Lady of the House. 
The report discusses in some detail the specific issues facing the music, entertainment and leisure industries that could be behind these results, including the specific barriers to accountability in the night time industries, such as the prevalence of NDAs, poorly enacted codes of conduct, the importance of networking and the instability of freelance work, as well as strong bystander effects. “As someone who has been involved in this sector for 25 years, some of the results of our survey make for very uncomfortable reading.” Silvana said, “But it is because this has been uncomfortable that I know it is the right and necessary thing to do to move our sector forward. We are determined to fix the issues brought to light in this report, and that is why it is right that today we have established for the first time our Women at Night Taskforce and Charter to begin to address the problem head on.”
