Women in the industry

While I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been in this industry long, some themes are so consistent and large that it’s simply hard to ignore. Unfortunately, the disparities between men and women as concert photographers are one of those themes. I will preface this by saying that most people I’ve met have been kind. I genuinely believe that most people just want to ensure the safety of projects they’ve invested their lives in. However, there’s been a historical pattern in the industry of a majority of males, and disrupting a decades-old pattern is no easy feat as some, maybe most, don’t even notice it. But how do we professionally disrupt an entire culture?

If you feel like you’ve seen a lot of recent articles or heard a lot about this recently, you’re not wrong. Ironically, many of the people I’ve seen talking about this have been male photographers. While it speaks highly about the photography community, I’d love to see action from the music side of the industry. I continually see more men get hired to go on tours, the coveted job for photographers, than I’ve seen women get hired for the same role.  This is not to throw dirt at the bands; I think this is a larger issue as a whole where women are less encouraged to take jobs supporting artists. 

I recently heard someone say that men mistake kindness for flirtation and women mistake flirtation for kindness. I have absolutely noticed this in my own personal interactions. Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely empathize from the other side; I’ve had interactions where I have spent the entire time thinking, "Wow, this person is flirting with me!" only to realize that’s just how they talk. The difference is that while I thought they were flirting, I had no intention of treating them differently, not giving them credit, responsibility, or opportunities for future projects. People can flirt with anyone and still be responsible and talented adults regarding their work. People can be kind, work through miscommunication, and be great working partners. But that’s where I’ve seen the biggest hurdle to work through- working through a miscommunication instead of just assuming someone’s intent. 

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed in life, it’s that a problem is usually a miscommunication. So, if we’re noticing a problem with a male-dominated music industry, where and what past miscommunications created the problem? A large aspect of this is simply the historical men vs women conversation. Are women safe and comfortable around men? Are the men safe and comfortable around the women? Will the women be distracting? Is the woman too difficult to be around for extended periods of time? Will 100 tampons be enough for one menstrual cycle? (Read: NASA asked the first woman astronaut if 100 tampons were enough for one menstrual cycle.) If literal rocket scientists have a problem figuring these answers out, it’s really no surprise that the everyday person can’t either. However, I believe the actual fault is that we often forget that we’re both human. 

Men and women really aren't that different, I promise you. For example: If you find yourself annoyed by a person who is acting _____ (fill in the blank however you’d like), just remember: there’s an opposite gendered version of that attitude or personality that probably annoys you just as equally. Here's a little exercise: Throughout the day, notice how much you dismiss peoples’ actions because of their gender. If you inverted the gender in the situation, did anything change? Noticing how often we dismiss people because of their gender is one of the largest changes I’ve made in my own life in the last year, and it’s been incredibly impactful. 

While this will hardly be an easy or quick fix to change an entire industry's pattern, I think that reminding ourselves that men and women aren’t all that different could make a huge impact. I also think that, as with facing any large problem, small changes make a large impact much easier. If we shift our mentalities from men vs women to thinking about them as artists, I think we will make more progress than we realize.

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