A female concert series in Ottawa is a reminder to popular music fans that women still have a long way to go to be considered ‘equal’ to men in the music industry.

Ahead of the sixth installment of FemmeVox concert in October, singer/songwriter Tara Holloway said that building a network of independent female artists can lead to more opportunities for everyone.

“Our goal is to have the artists bond because with women in the music industry, one of the ways that we get farther is by helping each other,” she said. “There’s still a big contrast between men and women in industry and success and opportunity.”

FemmeVox is a women-led independent concert series with a unique twist on traditional live shows. It features four local artists and pairs them up to co-write a new song to be featured at the showcase. Created to promote established and emerging Ottawa talent, its first installment was in 2019.

Holloway said that although the concert name is FemmeVox, combining the French word for ‘woman’ and the Latin word for ‘voice,’ the series is open to any femme-presenting artist.

“We do look for diversity, we want inclusion, and aside from that, we just want good artists, good music and solid collaboration,” said Holloway.

Challenges for women

Catriona Sturton, a singer-songwriter from Ottawa and one of the artists featured at the Oct. 6 event, has been making music and touring for more than 20 years. She said the music industry can be tough for everyone, but sexual harassment is still an issue for women at every stage of the process, from recording to performing. She struggled to think of a female peer who had never felt physically uncomfortable at some point.

On top of dealing with inappropriate comments from audience members or colleagues, female musicians are still battling the idea that women are not as good or as technical as men. Sturton recalls being outright disrespected or ignored, and was once told, “You shouldn’t play guitar because you’re a woman.”

“There were times where I was just like, ‘Man, no one even knows how brave I am doing all this stuff,’” Sturton said. “We’re handling so much more weird pressure and trying to make it seem like not a big deal at the same time.”

Empress Nyiringango, a Rwandan Canadian artist based in Ottawa, said discrimination against women, especially those with children, still exists in the music industry today.

She said women don’t get the same kinds of exposure and opportunities as men. She says her age and gender are perceived negatively, with the sentiment “you’re already old, you shouldn’t be somebody who is making hits.”

Some research confirms Nyiringango’s suspicion. In a 2023 study entitled “Enablers and Barriers to Success in Canada’s Music Industry,” 68 per cent of women and non-binary individuals working in the Canadian music industry reported encounters with gender-based discrimination, compared to nine per cent of men. It also found that 38 per cent of respondents aged 45 and older were affected by age discrimination.

Both Sturton and Nyiringagno said the internet and social media have been a great tool for independent artists to gain exposure, but others say it is still an uphill battle for equity.

Robin Stewart, executive director of Women in Music Canada, says streaming has created different listening patterns compared to traditional radio. While there is some evidence that music recommendation algorithms display a preference for male artists, those recommendations are also based on what people are listening to, which is still influenced by radio.

“It’s not that a song is played because it’s a hit,” said Stewart. “A song is a hit because it’s played.”

She adds that radio is still a prominent medium for music discovery, especially in certain genres like alt-rock or country.

Gender representation on the radio does not depend entirely on DJs and programmers, it is also affected by record labels, who control which artists are signed and which artists are promoted. Stewart says it will take deliberate efforts by all pieces of the music industry to highlight female voices.

At the October FemmeVox 6 event, Catriona and Empress debuted the product of their collaboration, a song called “Hope,” which is about mental health and not giving up. It blended Catriona’s harmonica, guitar and soft vocals with Empress’s soulful voice in four languages: her mother tongue Kinyarwanda, Swahili, French and English.

The environment was communal and supportive, inviting the audience to participate in harmonization if they felt so compelled. The artists on stage even shed some tears watching their fellow musicians perform emotional songs.

Empress says being an independent female artist is not easy, but she’s been able to overcome her challenges and find her own success.

“I see myself as successful because I have many young people looking up to me … I inspire them, tell them, don’t give up. I’ve been through this and that, but if you try, keep trying, keep dreaming, you will get there.”

“Success to me is all that. It’s being able to have courage, have the purpose, have the passion and be able to achieve something. That is really success.”

FemmeVox 7 is scheduled for Dec. 15, 2024 at the Great Canadian Theatre Company.

More Stories