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MU Responds to Seat at the Table 2024 Report Findings

As 2024’s Seat at the Table report finds that the representation of women on UK music trade association boards has now risen to 52%, find out what the MU is doing to improve diversity in our own committees.

Photo ofJohn Shortell
By John Shortell Published: 02 February 2024 | 4:03 PM
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The MU understands that more work is urgently needed to ensure that our Executive Committee reflects the growing diversity of our membership. Image credit: Shutterstock.

In a landmark moment for the UK music industry, the Women in CTRL 2024 Seat at the Table report marks a pivotal turning point as representation of women on UK music trade association boards has risen to 52%. This reflects substantial progress since the inaugural 2020 findings, where women held just 32% of seats.

However the MU understands that more work is urgently needed to ensure that our Executive Committee reflects the growing diversity of our membership.

Reflecting on current representation in our committee structures

As we reflect on the work that remains to be done on diversifying our committee structures, we must consider, at all stages: who is nominated, ballot processes, the number of available seats and the potential difference in diversity between candidate lists and those who win seats, and voter turnout. This raises a need for us to better understand who votes, their motivations, and more importantly who is not engaging with our election process.

We must also consider the trajectories of those who do get nominated onto committees, and the weight of carrying representation in small numbers. For example, changes at Executive Committee make-up in recent years have been due to members seeking to return to focussing on their own musical work, activism or stepping down from committees because they have gained employment within the Union.

We are proud that our current Executive Committee is 50/50 gender balance, but more work is needed to improve the representation of women from the Global Majority and the MU remains committed to that work.

What we’re doing to improve diversity in our committees

To increase representation, we have funded a bursary on the Music Leaders Network, specifically targeted at a female member from the Global Majority and a bursary for a disabled female member.

We are also funding members to take part in the TUC Midlands Black Activist Development Programme that will support and enable participants to develop the knowledge, skills and networks they need to become active or progress within the MU and the trade union movement.

We have run numerous, targeted sessions with the MU Equality Member Networks to support and encourage nominations to all of our committees, including our Executive Committee, and will continue to engage with the networks and work with them to remove any barriers to diversity that we identify.

The MU has reserved seats on our Section Committees to ensure diverse representation, and we are seeking legal advice on rule changes that could mean a change to the elections for the Executive Committee, to ensure better representation of under-represented groups.

In addition to the work to ensure our committees are representative, the MU is also in the process of reviewing our recruitment procedures to ensure that our staff are reflective of the areas that we work in and of our membership.

Find out more about the MU’s Committees.

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Musician, activist, educator and MU Member Yvonne Wyroslawska writes about her experience as Vice Chair of the MU’s Education Section Committee, and why she thinks it’s important that our committees are representative of our members.

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Representing and advocating on behalf of women in music

The MU has a democratic structure and a community of over 35,000 members. We use this power to advocate for women and build a better music industry.

 

Advocating through Women Member Network

Our Women Member Network is a dedicated space where women from across the country can connect, network and make positive change across the MU and the music industry. The Network ensures that the voices of women are heard, and that opportunities for activism and leadership are created.

Make your voice heard for women in music

Representing and advocating on behalf of women in music

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