Ghanaian singer, Wendy Shay, has called on Ghanaians to stop calling women in the music industry “female artistes” as she believes it objectifies them.
The self-proclaimed dancehall queen recently spoke out against the sexism inherent in the classification of female singers as “female artistes” while their male counterparts are simply referred to as “artistes” on Berla Mundi’s Day Show on TV3.
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Wendy Shay staunchly defended the cause of gender equality, arguing that women in the music industry put in just as much effort as men do and should be respected as artists without regard to their gender.
“It is not fair. First of all, I don’t even like the fact that people go like ‘female artistes’ because you don’t see our male counterparts being labeled as ‘male artistes’. They are seen as artistes so we should be seen as such. We are artistes,” she suggested.
She emphasized that women musicians like herself and others put in a lot of work and sweat and should be given credit for their efforts. Concluding on the fact that calling them “female artistes” is not fair and that Ghanaians should stop and call them “artistes” instead.
Wendy Shay, speaking on the struggles women experience in achieving recognition and leadership roles, noted the persistence of a cultural mindset in this area of the world that stereotypes women as being solely responsible for domestic tasks.
She did, however, express optimism that cultural attitudes toward women in positions of power and their contributions to industries like music will improve with time.
