Where were all the women in Triple J's Hottest 100?

There was an extremely noticeable absence of female artists in the lineup this year.

Disclaimer: This article was written by the women running the #Women4Hottest100 campaign. Their aim is to make Triple J take on an active role in encouraging, fostering and playing female talent. You can visit their petition by clicking here. 

Imagine if we didn’t ever have Judith Durham, Chrissy Amphlett, Missy Higgins, or Kylie? Imagine if they were too intimidated to promote themselves as musicians, were not supported by labels or taken seriously as artists? Would the Australian story be different?

The answer is a resounding, yes. That our nation’s history and narrative would be different.

The problem today is that countless stories aren’t told and aren’t part of our national narrative. Why? Because the gender gap that exists elsewhere in society – in workplaces, on boards, in households, in the economy – exists in pop culture too.

It will  come as no surprise to Australian music fans that, yet again, the number of women in the world’s largest music poll, The Triple J Hottest 100, was rather disappointing. To say the least. Women-led bands and female artists scored a measly 21 per cent in the 2015 poll.

Gender inequality is often talked about in terms of its economic impact. We know that closing the pay gap will result in a boost to the economy, with Goldman Sachs’ chief economist, Tim Toohey, estimating this figure to be $195 billion (Australia’s Hidden Resource, The Economic Case For Increasing Female Participation, 2009).

But how do we measure the gender gap in culture?

We believe that it’s measured through lost potential. You can think about it like this: music is one artistic medium that records and expresses the history of people, and without women narrators, we are only hearing one version of history.

You might also like: What is our music industry doing to young women?

And the Triple J Hottest 100, the biggest, most successful and popular measure of Australian music success, a key defining character in the Australian narrative, has disappointingly few women represented. The lack of female artists in the Hottest 100 has become as much a part of the post-countdown narrative as talking about the winners, and it represents a huge loss of potential for women to be sharing their stories and contributing to our musical history.

Read more: Did Shake It Off just get disqualified from Triple J’s Hottest 100?

But there is hope. We believe that Triple J is well placed to restore this imbalance. They have made a huge contribution to Australian culture by putting our local music on the world stage. We believe that Triple J can, and should, play an active and crucial role in encouraging, fostering, and promoting female musical talent. A group of musically inclined friends of ours have put together this list of proactive ways Triple J can lead the way and be part of the solution on the cultural gender gap.

Are you with us?