When some UK festivals recently revealed their line-ups, there were the familiar cries of 'where are all the women'?

One of those in the spotlight was Kendal Calling in Cumbria, whose first swathe of acts was predominantly male.

Emma Zillmann, the festival's booker, admits the criticism was "completely valid".

"I feel the same way," she says. "I have this conversation every year. It's not changing quickly enough."

Before the pandemic, the issue of achieving gender-balanced festivals was high on the industry's agenda through various schemes, such as Keychange, which aims for a 50/50 split across all line-ups.

Last year, a new free-to-use database of female artists was published, providing details of more than 4,500 musicians in all genres of music.

And Glastonbury's Emily Eavis has previously said her festival needs to achieve a gender balanced line-up as soon as it can.