The highly-anticipated line-up for 2020’s Reading and Leeds festival has just dropped and it’s quite shocking.
Sure, there are some big names, like Stromzy, Liam Gallagher and reunited Rage Against The Machine, but that’s not what has us shook. One quick glance of the line-up has the internet asking, where on earth are all of the women?
Out of 92 names billed on the first Reading and Leeds poster, only 20 are women. Not to mention, three of those names are mixed bands. Factoring into account the number of people in all the bands, the line-up is made up of just 21% female artists.
If it couldn’t get any worse, it’s almost as if women have been pushed to the one stage this year. The festival republic has most of the female acts, leaving very little women on the main stage.
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Sadly, there are no female headliners, with only one female act on the main stage, per day. Those acts include the incredible R&B up-and-comer, Mabel, the alt-rock phenomenon, Bloxx, and the ultra-fast, fierce rapper, Lady Leshurr.
There is a chance that more women could be added to the line-up when they release more names, but to be honest, it doesn’t look likely. Ultimately, Leeds and Reading festival have notoriously been male-dominated, as are a lot of other festivals.
So, if you’re planning on heading to Europe this summer, don’t go to Reading or Leeds, hit up more progressive festivals like Primavera Sound. This Barcelona-based festival doesn’t skimp out on non-male acts, striving for a 50/50 split and calling it the “new normal”.
If festivals like these are actively choosing not to support non-male acts, the choice is simple, don’t go.
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