Once considered "country's war on women" by The New York Times, it has become increasingly evident in recent years that there is a major gender imbalance in country music. This week on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, only five solo female artists are represented: Carly Pearce, Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, and Brooke Eden. Forty solo male artists are represented, while the other fifteen spots are represented by male duos, male groups, and male/female groups. The highest charting solo female artist is Carly Pearce, with her song "Every Little Thing" at number 24. The last woman to reach number one on the country airplay charts was Lauren Alaina, when her song "Road Less Traveled" hit number one the week of April 22nd, 2017. Prior to this, a woman had not reached number one since Kelsea Ballerini's "Peter Pan" the week of September 24, 2016. That is a seven-month gap.
This war on women reached new heights in 2015, when country radio consultant Keith Hill commented on the lack of women by claiming that in order to make ratings in country music, females needed to be removed. He claimed that these women were "not the lettuce in the salad," but rather the "tomatoes." This sexist remark received significant criticism, but musicians began using this remark as a joke in order to empower women, who began to promote songs during "tomato Tuesday." While this tomato remark is not commonly discussed anymore, the sexism in the country industry is still evident.
Just two weeks ago, on June 16th, rising country artist Lindsay Ell was scheduled to make an appearance at a California radio station. However, this station suddenly decided to cancel her live performance due to issues with her personal life. Ell has been publicly dating popular iHeartMedia DJ Bobby Bones (who recently was voted into the National Radio Hall of Fame) for a few months, and the station she was scheduled to perform for is competing directly against the iHeartMedia company. The move to cancel Ell's performance outraged many in the country music community, and again brought to light the unfair treatment of women in the industry, causing many to speak out. Ell's boyfriend, Bobby Bones, has taken initiative by creating a platform called "Download a Female Friday." By doing this, the popular radio host hopes that his fans and listeners will purchase a record from any woman in country music. Because of this, the number of female downloads on this #FemaleFriday was up over 2000%, and Bones has decided to feature one female artist each Friday until the end of the year.
In recent years, male country has been incredibly predictable: lyrics about beaches, beer, trucks, and women as decorative objects. Female duo Maddie & Tae had a hit in 2014 called "Girl in a Country Song," which explained this predictability of lyrics: "We used to get a little respect/Now we're lucky if we even get/To climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along/And be the girl in a country song." While men are writing about these typical things, women in the country scene are thriving lyrically. These female artists have begun to write about significantly personal issues such as eating disorders and alcoholism, which are not often discussed. However, these songs are not recognized as often as they should be.
Hopefully, this sexism does not continue to prevent women from reaching the top of the country charts. If people follow in Bobby Bones' footsteps and promote women rather than degrade them, the country music scene would be a different place. Women should be downloaded and featured each day of the week, rather than just every Friday. Consider going out and downloading music from artists such as Lauren Alaina, Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Maddie & Tae, Kacey Musgraves, and Lindsay Ell, and requesting their music to your local radio stations, in hopes to finally end the war on women.
