(Photo: Paul Bachmann for Live4ever)
Organisers say more than 40% of women under 40 have experienced harassment at a live music event.
As live music slowly creaks back into action, industry figures including Mabel, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis are backing an initiative which is aiming to make the environment a safer place for women upon its return.
The Safe Spaces Now website states that the campaign has, ‘collected stories and ideas from over 1,000 women and girls’, and is now taking them, ‘to the owners and administrators of public spaces, asking them to implement our solutions now, in time for the UK’s end to lockdown’.
“Live music is one of those spaces where people expect to be free,” Claire Barnett, executive director of UN Women UK, says. “It is escapism, it’s your place of joy, and if that is somewhere we are hearing people are afraid then we need to take action.”
“It is not OK for women to be constantly worried about their safety at festivals, to make sure they always have phone chargers on them so they can call someone if they feel unsafe.”