How supportive an environment is the music industry around pregnancy and parenthood? Sammy Andrews, boss of Deviate Digital, shared some of the anecdotal data she’s been picking up from the British music industry, reserving particular criticism for major labels.
“It became clear very quickly that the majority of full time employed women in the UK music business feel that having a baby has either killed, or at the very least seriously set back, their careers,” wrote Andrews in a Twitter thread summarising her findings.
“Two of the three major labels specifically come up again and again as the absolute worst employers to work for if you have a baby. Both (of late) posture publicly about their new equality programmes but in reality it seems that’s a total facade… If you are a company in the music business trying to claim you are all about equality but aren’t providing equal maternity/ paternity , equal pay or flexible working you are the problem NOT the solution.”
The full thread is well worth a read, including replies with horror stories of people’s experiences, but also some bright spots of companies doing a better job at supporting their staff in this area.
Photo by Taylor Wright on Unsplash
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