It is no secret that women bear the brunt of hardship in times of economic downturn. As we look to tackle the mountainous consequences of the pandemic, we reflect on the numbers, how and where help can be accessed fairly, and what the future looks like for the industry and beyond. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) found that “about a quarter (26.5 %) of women employees across the EU are in a precarious job, compared to 15.1 % of men.” Given the nature of the music industry, the impact and domino effect of the live music sector and freelancing, we saw jobs within the industry and the jobs outside of this that supplemented living costs, disappear overnight due to the pandemic. Jobs where “women are more likely to be in temporary, part-time and precarious employment than men.”

Read the EIGE findings here.