About the project: Gender@Work
The music industry on the continent is male-dominated, and women have been largely relegated to the margins of the sector. The lack of education, sustainable supporting systems, and opportunities for women prevents their participation in the cultural industry and policy processes at large, hindering development and marginalizing them. Many studies have indicated that industries and societies stand to benefit immensely from women’s contributions.
According to UNESCO, the cultural and creative industries (CCI) are among the fastest growing sectors in the world and currently employ more people aged 15 to 29 years than any other sector, globally. This makes the CCI the ideal candidate to combat the high youth unemployment rates and drive economic growth in Africa - a significantly youth-dominated continent. To address these challenges the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) introduced Gender @ Work in 2019.
The Gender @ Work is a pan-African, women-focused developmental initiative that addresses the gender disparity in the African music industry by providing long-term, professional, and safe industry training, exchange, networking, lobbying, and employment opportunities for both professional and aspiring female music practitioners in Africa.
Gender @ Work places an emphasis on equipping women with critical music industry skills that enable them to excel in roles that are currently dominated by men, while also advocating for all players in the music industry to start making pledges towards women inclusion in their activities and management structures. The Gender @ Work programme is implemented together with partners from different countries, enrolling participants from all over the continent each year. Offering a mix of theoretical courses, practical immersive learning iterations, networking opportunities, employment and internship possibilities as well as mentorship, and advocacy at a continental level, Gender @ Work offers hope for the future of women in the African music industry and can have a domino effect in other CCI sectors.
The broader objectives of the programme are to:
- To offer long-term, professional, capacity-building activities to female music practitioners across the music industry in Africa;
- To facilitate exchange, training, employment and networking opportunities for female music practitioners in and outside of the continent;
- To create a safe space for women in the music industry to exchange, learn and develop their skills;
- To raise awareness, advocate and mobilize against the gender disparity in the music industry.
The Music In Africa Gender@Work training programme is implemented in partnership with Scènes Australes, Women In Live Music, Accès Culture, Siemens Stiftung, Goethe-Institut and Région Réunion.
