The UK government should ban non-disclosure agreements in cases involving sexual misconduct, bullying or discrimination - and also boost legal protections for freelancers - in order to truly address the “culture of misogyny and discrimination” facing women in the music industry.
These demands are made by MPs on Parliament’s Women And Equalities Committee, which has published a follow up to its 2024 ‘Misogyny In Music’ report.
Committee Chair and Labour MP Sarah Owen says: “One year on from the Women And Equalities Committee’s report on misogyny in music, significant issues within the industry remain unaddressed and appear to be on repeat”.
While the committee’s 2024 report was well received by the industry, the then Conservative government declined to implement its recommendations for changes to the law. The new report, ‘Misogyny In Music: On Repeat’, urges the current Labour government to now proceed with those legislative reforms.
Women working across the music business, both music creators and those in industry roles, “feel rightly frustrated at the lack of support from the government in tackling the challenges they face”, adds Owen. Ministers should act now, she concludes, “to help set the music industry on a path of lasting change free from discrimination and harassment”.
That message is echoed by the Musicians’ Union and Independent Society Of Musicians, who both welcomed the original ‘Misogyny In Music’ report last year, and who issued statements in support of the new report earlier today.
The two reports, says MU General Secretary Naomi Pohl, outline “the real barriers many women face in their music careers”.
Urging the government to implement the committee’s recommendations “as quickly as possible”, Pohl adds, “I have seen women leave the industry because it simply wasn’t a safe place for them physically or because they faced such regular sexist or misogynistic comments and behaviours that they just couldn’t bear it any longer”.
“It’s to the previous government’s shame that it rejected all the recommendations of the first report”, ISM CEO Deborah Annetts says, adding, “this government must not make the same mistake”. Again stressing the urgency, Annetts notes that the new follow on report is “yet more evidence of the urgent need for legislative change to protect women and others working in music”.
Three key areas are covered by the new report: the use of NDAs to cover up sexual misconduct, bullying or discrimination; challenges faced by freelancers, including in relation to maternity allowance; and funding of the recently created Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority.
NDAs
Non-disclosure agreements, the report notes, have been used in the music industry to “prevent victims of discrimination, harassment and abuse from speaking about their experiences or from pursuing a resolution via the Employment Tribunal”.
Not only that, it adds, but “women the committee spoke to described how they were coerced into signing by businesses who threatened to ruin them financially or reputationally if they refused”.
Stopping this immoral practice is simple, the committee says. The government should urgently introduce new laws that would “prohibit the use of non-disclosure and other forms of confidentiality agreements” in these scenarios.
Doing so, the MPs write, “would demonstrate decisive leadership by the government that the silencing of victims of abuse will no longer be tolerated”.
Freelancers
The fact people who are self-employed have fewer legal protections when it comes to discrimination and harassment impacts on all sectors, of course, but the music industry has a particularly high number of freelancers, especially among creators and performers. In fact, says the report, “approximately 70% of the music industry workforce are thought to be freelancers”.
As an example of the disparity between those who are employees and those who are freelance, the report explains that - under the Equality Act 2010 - the “duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment only applies to people working under a contract of employment”.
There is also a disparity in terms of support available for those on maternity leave, in that support for freelancers under the Maternity Allowance scheme is more restrictive than when people receive statutory maternity pay via their employer.
In their new report, MPs acknowledge the Employment Rights Bill that is currently working its way through Parliament, and confirm it does address some of the issues raised in their original report, for example raising the bar when it comes to employers preventing sexual harassment. However, they write, “concern has been raised with us that freelancers are potentially excluded from these protections”.
To that end, MPs recommend that the government ensure freelancers are not excluded from new protections provided by the Employment Rights Bill. The new legislation should also be used to remove the extra restrictions on Maternity Allowance, while the Equality Act 2010 should be amended so that existing protections in there also clearly apply to those working on a freelance basis.
CIISA
Most people agree that the recently launched Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority has a key role to play in addressing misogyny in music, and across the wider creative industries.
As the new report explains, “creative industry professionals will be able to use CIISA to make complaints or seek advice relating to bad behaviour if the behaviour has taken place in relation to work in the creative industries and if they were conducting paid work”.
One key issue with the roll out of CIISA identified in the new report relates to how the organisation is funded. Currently employers in the creative industries are being encouraged to provide the funding on a voluntary basis.
The report says, “while many organisations have willingly committed to providing the funding, others have required much persuasion, tried to impose conditions or refused to commit funding altogether”.
On that issue, the WEC echoes the position of Parliament’s culture select committee, urging employers across the creative industries to commit to unconditionally fund CIISA, while asking the government to explore other options in case that doesn't happen, including making financial support mandatory in law.
“All parts of the creative industries under CIISA’s remit should commit to unconditional, long-term funding within six months”, the report states. “In the meantime, the government should explore all options for funding CIISA in case the industry does not deliver a voluntary solution, including having industries under CIISA’s remit be subject to a levy to fund its work”.