To tackle significant problems experienced by people working in the music industry, we are calling on the industry to:
- Implement robust policies and procedures for combatting misogyny, sexual harassment and discrimination.
- Provide equality, diversity, and inclusion training (with specific training on sexual harassment) for all workers.
- Invest in active bystander training.
- Provide multiple, clear, and accessible reporting mechanisms, including anonymous methods so all workers can raise a complaint safely.
- Work towards equal representation of women in decision-making positions and senior leadership roles.
- Conduct sexual harassment risk assessments and create action plans to reduce risks.
- Support the creation of the Independent Standards Authority.
And we call on the Government to:
- Introduce the preventative duty for employers to protect their workers from sexual harassment in the next parliamentary session.
- Extend the protections relating to discrimination and harassment in the Equality Act 2010 to all freelancers so that they are entitled to the same protections as the wide range of individuals in the workplace who are already protected.
- Reinstate section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 without the three strikes rule to protect all workers from third-party harassment.
- Review the limit of two characteristics within Section 14 of the Equality Act 2010, so the law acknowledges that overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination impact on people who experience sexual harassment.
- Extend limitation periods for discrimination and sexual harassment claims to at least six months.
- Legislate to make NDAs unenforceable for anything other than their original purpose, the prevention of sharing confidential business information and trade secrets.
- Introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting and widen gender pay gap reporting for companies with over 50 employees.
- Supply funding to develop mental health services equipped to deliver culturally appropriate and accessible care.
