MUSIC FESTIVALS’ GLARING WOMAN PROBLEM
Can you guess the gender breakdown of performers at music festivals?
Wednesday, May 25, 2016, 1:00 PM EDT
Women artists are hugely underrepresented on the summer music festival circuit. To find out why, and to see if the gaps were as large as we thought, HuffPost collected the lineups of 10 major music festivals for the past five years.
HOW BAD IS THE GENDER BREAKDOWN, REALLY?
Move the to pick what percentage you think each group makes up for all the 2016 festivals we looked at.YOUR GUESS
YOUR GUESS
Your selection adds up to 0%. Get it close to 100%. Use the — guides to get there.
THE REALITY
For the 10 festivals we looked at, women artists (single performers or all-women groups) made up only 12 percent of acts in 2016 — compared to 78 percent male performers (single or all-male groups). Your guess is marked in — pink.
Source: HuffPost analysis of festival lineups. Read our methodology.
Half of the people who attend music festivals are women, but across the festivals we looked at, the percent of women performers (single artists and all-women groups) hovered between 5 and 19 percent. Mixed-gender groups fared slightly better, but not by much. The percent of male performers (single or all-male groups) bottomed out at 66 — most festivals had an even higher percentage of men.
Some festivals have more female performers this year than they have in the past. But not a single one is even close to acheiving gender parity in its lineup.
Acts with only men
Acts with only women
Mixed-gender groups
BONNAROO
COACHELLA
ELECTRIC FOREST
ELECTRIC ZOO
FIREFLY
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
2012
2016
2012
2016
2012
2012
2016
2016
GOVERNORS BALL
HANGOUT
LOLLAPALOOZA
OUTSIDE LANDS
ULTRA
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
2012
2016
2012
2016
2012
2012
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2016
Source: HuffPost analysis of festival lineups. Note: For fewer than 1 percent of the acts in festival lineups in the last five years, we could not determine the gender breakdown, and those acts are not included in these charts. Read our methodology.
Some festivals have more female performers this year than they have in the past. But not a single one is even close to acheiving gender parity in its lineup.
Acts with only men
Acts with only women
Mixed-gender groups
BONNAROO
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
COACHELLA
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
ELECTRIC FOREST
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
ELECTRIC ZOO
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
FIREFLY
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
GOVERNORS BALL
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
HANGOUT
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
LOLLAPALOOZA
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
OUTSIDE LANDS
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
ULTRA
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2012
2016
Source: HuffPost analysis of festival lineups. Note: For fewer than 1 percent of the acts in festival lineups in the last five years, we could not determine the gender breakdown, and those acts are not included in these charts. Read our methodology.
Festival organizers often point to scheduling issues and musical genres to explain why there are so few women performing at American music festivals. But in talking with women in the industry, HuffPost found that the truth is much more complicated. From the subtle distaste for the musical genres that women dominate most to more overt instances of sexism, the gender dynamics of music festivals say a lot about our society at large. Read the whole story to find out why there are so few women performing at festivals.
