The 2018 Grammys were totally male-dominated, and enough is enough
On January 28th at the 2018 Grammys, women continued to support the Time’s Up legal defense fund and speak out against sexual harassment and abuse by wearing white roses on their lapels. And Kesha’s stirring performance of “Praying” continued the conversation of overcoming sexual abuse. But despite these efforts to advocate for women, men were still the night’s big winners.
Bruno Mars won the most Grammys of the evening, taking home seven, while female artists were largely shut out. One particularly striking example was the award for Best Pop Solo Performance, which Ed Sheeran took home for “Shape of You,” despite being the only male in a pool of nominees that included Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, and Lady Gaga. In total, only one woman received a solo Grammy during the 2018 ceremony.
And it wasn’t just the awards that went to men. Lorde, who was the only female artist nominated for Album of the Year, was also the only nominee who wasn’t invited to perform during the ceremony.
Twitter users were quick to point out the inequality at the 2018 Grammys, and soon the hashtag #GrammysSoMale was trending.
Once again, #EdSheeran wins over much stronger female contenders, so instead of #kesha's song about overcoming sexual abuse, we reward another song by a man about a woman's body. #GRAMMYs #metoo #timesup #grammyssomale
— Anya Silver (@AnyaSilverPoet) January 29, 2018
GAGA GOT ROBBED. KESHA GOT ROBBED. SZA GOT ROBBED. LORDE GOT ROBBED. ONLY ONE WOMAN WON IN THE MAJOR CATEGORIES — ALESSIA CARA.
And the Recording Academy has the audacity to use these women as promos and advertisements for their organization?! #GRAMMYs #GrammysSoMale
— dan (@theleonpaladin) January 29, 2018
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Isn’t it great how the #GRAMMYs claims to be so current & relevant – black outfits.. Time’s Up badges.. white roses.. Kesha giving a moving performance with women on stage..
And yet Every single major award last night was won by a male artist? 🤔
Speaks Volumes,#GrammysSoMale— Karl Booton (@karlbooton) January 29, 2018
People who are saying in response to the Grammys snubbing the women with "Well guess they gotta do better. Guess they gotta step up!"
…Like…were you asleep all of 2017?? #GrammysSoMale
— Jess 🏳️🌈🦊 (@BrighterNow13) January 29, 2018
Four women in this category, and they give the award to the white male.
Earlier the #GRAMMYs were praising themselves for their diversity. pic.twitter.com/0UqsQzEo0W— NC ∇ (@FightOnGaga) January 29, 2018
When Variety asked Recording Academy President Neil Portnow about the absence of women from the awards, Portnow responded that women need to “step up.”
"It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome," he said.
The Grammys used to divide each award into male and female categories. But these categories were combined in 2011 to increase competition. And as a result, women seem to have suffered. A University of Southern California study published on January 25th found that between 2013 and 2018, only 9.3 percent of Grammy nominees were female.
With such a low percentage of female nominees, it’s clear that this problem is much larger than women needing to “step up.” And to be clear, the lack of female recognition at the Grammys is not the entire problem; it’s just a symptom of the systemic discrimination in the entertainment industry (not to mention the discrimination people of color face, too). We need the Recording Academy — and the music industry as a whole — to recognize the gender imbalance in music and work to correct it.
