The ARIAs, female artists, and what happens when you remove gender-specific categories.

In the lead up to the 2021 ARIA Awards, writer Caleb Triscari collated 34 years worth of data in order to advise Australian musicians - statistically speaking - on what they needed to do in order to win their own silver, pointy trophy. 

The most obvious suggestion was: be a man. 

Triscari, writing for The Music Network, found that less than a quarter of 'Album of the Year' awards had ever been won by female-fronted acts. 

That same year, the ARIA Awards announced a landmark change. They would be replacing the Best Female Artist and Best Male Artist categories with a non-gendered category: Best Artist.

At the time, ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said in an official statement, "the time for separating artists based on gendered categories that exclude non-binary artists altogether has passed."

"The music industry is demanding a more equal, inclusive, safe and supportive space for everyone," she said, "and ARIA is working hard to achieve that across the ARIA Awards and everything we do."

A major reason for the change, of course, is that gender-specific categories exclude artists who identify as non-binary. But another reason is because, intuitively, having gendered categories for music seems fundamentally unnecessary. If you win a 'best artist' award, don't you want to know you're the best, not the best woman?

The ARIAs aren't the first award show to go gender neutral, and they certainly won't be the last. The Grammys abolished their 'male' and 'female' categories a decade ago, followed by high-profile events like the MTV Movie and TV Awards and the Gotham Awards. Increasingly, the SAG Awards, Emmys and Oscars face pressure to abolish their gender designations, and with more performers identifying as neither male or female, it's hard to see how they'll be able to maintain those categories in the future. 

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In 2017, Billions star Asia Kate Dillon wrote a letter to the Emmys challenging their binary gendered categories. 

Dillon, who doesn't identify as male or female, had been asked whether she wanted to be submitted under 'supporting actor' or 'supporting actress'. 

"There is no room for my identity within that award system binary," they wrote. "Furthermore, if the categories of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are meant to denote assigned sex I ask, respectfully, why is that necessary?"

Sam Smith similarly criticised the British equivalent of the ARIAs - the Brit Awards - for their gender-specific categories. But in 2021, the Award show responded with an explanation of why that decision was still under consideration. 

"The Brits are committed to evolving the show and the gendered categories are very much under review," a spokesperson told Billboard. "But any changes made to be more inclusive need to be just that - if a change unintentionally leads to less inclusion, then it risks being counterproductive to diversity and equality. We need to consult more widely before changes are made to make sure we get it right."

Again, it seems inevitable that the Brit Awards will eventually go genderless, but it's worth pausing on their argument. 

Because in the two years since Australia's Best Female Artist and Best Male Artist awards collapsed into Best Artist, that artist has been a man. 

In both instances, those winners have been inarguably well-deserving: Kamilaroi rapper The Kid Laroi, and Yolngu rapper Baker Boy. Both ceremonies were historic for Indigenous artists. 

But by the previous model, they still would've won. We just would've had a female winner, too. 

Traditionally, the Best Female and Best Male categories consisted of five nominees each. Now, the Best Artist category consists of 10 nominees, but in 2021, only four were women. This year, there were just three.

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The change has meant that we now have less ARIA-nominated women, and less women who are ARIA winners. We've removed a category that would have allowed a female artist to be recognised by her industry and the Australian public, and as a result, removed the opportunities that may have come from that achievement. 

It's a deeply uncomfortable reality, because there is a problem with gender categories. They exclude certain artists, and they create a binary in a space where we shouldn't need one.

But it seems that often when we have gender-neutral categories, women are simply shut out. 

In fact, there have been public calls to establish gender categories in certain awards shows because of a clear imbalance.

In 2020, no female directors were nominated by the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Directors Guild or Oscars. That led Honey Boy director Alma Har’el to argue for a separate category for women. "Unless we have a new category for women directors - the same way we have [separate] actor and actress categories - we won’t see any changes," she told Variety.

The tension lies in the fact that it feels like we're living in two worlds at once. One is post-gender, and the other is still full of gender discrimination.

This year, men accounted for more than half of nominees in all but one of the ARIAs 27 categories.

When the nominations were announced in October, Brisbane-based artist Mallrat - real name Grace Shaw - shared her frustrations on Instagram. 

"F**k the ARIAs, when I looked at the list of nominees this morning my initial reaction was to feel personally underestimated and misunderstood by my album being snubbed," she wrote.

"Then I took a deep breath, then I realised it’s not about me. Approximately ⅕ of the nominees are non-male. In categories like heavy rock there are no non-male artists at all.

"So I’m again reminded that the Australian music industry like many industries is dominated by men and in this case men who don’t think an artist is credible unless it’s a nonchalant dude playing guitar/rock music. 

"F**k you guys you don’t get it."

This year, there were 40 female (importantly, that includes groups with a female member) and 72 non-female nominees.

In a statement to triple j, ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said, "it is frustrating to see non-male artists under-represented." 

"If we are not getting enough success for female artists or non-binary artists we need to tackle that at the source."

And that's true. We need grassroots initiatives to encourage different voices in the music industry. But shouldn't we be looking for representation at both ends - at the top and at the bottom? Why would a woman enter an industry where she can’t see herself being recognised?

The decision to get rid of gender-specific categories only works if other steps are being taken to tackle gender inequality. Otherwise we simply erase women. 

Abolishing 'Best Female' and 'Best Male' artist from the ARIAs was a bold, progressive, and ultimately necessary decision. But the move shouldn't signal the end of the conversation. 

As we saw at this year's awards, it's just the beginning. 

For more from Clare Stephens, you can follow her on Instagram.