From Annie Mac to Éclair Fifi, women are grabbing more airtime than ever, but the decks still feel stacked against them
At a BBC Academy's Radio Fast Train panel discussion in 2012 about the best way to break into the radio DJ business, Annie Mac blurted out: "More women in specialist!" It was a footnote to the discussion, the talk time was up and she was almost drowned out by applause.
But someone at Radio 1 was listening. The news that Éclair Fifi will be joining the network's In New DJs We Trust slot is another small victory for dance music's female contingent. A core member of Glasgow's LuckyMe label, of which Hudson Mohawke is a founder, Fifi will be taking over as of 20 June from Jackmaster (a fellow Scot), and presenting four hour-long specials of house, Detroit-influenced techno, futurist R&B and low-end hip-hop, with hints of Italo disco and Latin freestyle.
Fifi's appointment to a specialist show free from the constraints of station playlists is another joyous skip towards asserting women as authorities on music, as well as positioning them at the centre of the UK's burgeoning bass scene. Triumphs like this are unfortunately hard-won for female DJs, who make up just a fraction of the dance music scene. Even when women do secure a foothold, sexism often lurks. Remember when 1Xtra pitted its two female DJs against each other for a soundclash show called Angry Birds? Or the misogynistic messages that used to clog up the chat room every time a female DJ played at The Boiler Room?
There are just two dance specialists on Kiss FM, Hannah Wants and Charlie Hedges, the latter of whom also co-hosts the breakfast show. According to their website, Rinse, a bastion of forward-thinking tunes and attitudes, now has seven female-led shows, but this pales in comparison to the 43 hosted by men.
Elsewhere, Mac's whoop-whooping is slowly beginning to have an effect. Over on 6Music, which is more female-friendly, their Friday night 6 Mix slot is now followed by a new show, Nemone's Electric Ladyland, which runs from 12 until 2am. In addition, Annie Nightingale, Mary Anne Hobbs, Annie Mac and Heidi have proven that female dance music specialists can succeed in a big way – and there should be far more of them.
In the past year, Radio 1 has taken on three new female specialist dance music talents, joining Heidi, Jen Long, Annie and Nightingale. B Traits, a member of Shy FX's Digital Soundboy label family, was introduced in April 2012; she's currently covering Mac's maternity leave on her primetime Friday evening slot, and next week will be co-presenting Glastonbury highlights with Zane Lowe. Likewise, the former Rinse FM intern Monki, whom Mac is said to have mentored, started on In New DJs We Trust this January and has been filling in for B Trait's usual Monday-morning show.
"If anybody's ever had the chance to see their resident DJ Éclair Fifi play a set, they wouldn't ask the question of whether her gender was the reason we invited her to join Radio 1," says station editor Louise Kattenhorn. Radio 1's programming is more about supporting scenes than filling a quota of female DJs, she says. "We are constantly piloting DJs from right across the dance music spectrum. We identify which musical styles are underrepresented and go in search of an exciting name from that area, or we look at groundbreaking movements, labels and genres. After the success of TNGHT and Baauer, we wanted to tap into the electronic music that [Éclair Fifi's crew] LuckyMe are pushing."
Internet stations are fast becoming the place to find new female specialist-music talent. Names to watch include Goldierocks, host of the British Council's international new music show The Selector; Ruth Barnes, whose Amazing Radio slot focuses on female-led music; and NTS Radio's Moxie, who steps in for Sinden on Kiss FM.
On commercial radio, however, these numbers are still worryingly low, and they go across the board, from specialist to primetime radio. The figures, I'm warned, are troubling. Sound Women, an organisation created in order to support women in radio, will release research on 10 July into the number of female presenters on national stations. "Let's just say 50% feels a long way away," says its founder, Maria Williams.
Here's hoping that, before long, Annie Mac's blurt becomes a battle cry.
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