The 2011 Australian Music Prize shortlist was announced a few days ago (The Jezabels won) and if you've been following the award since its inception you may have noticed a growing trend: the number of female nominees is steadily rising. This year we've got a heart stopping three and a half representation! That's three and a half of the nine artists listed. They are Abbe May, Adalita, Kimbra and the female half of the Jezabels. Compare that to two last year, who were Pikelet and Sally Seltman, and the year before that we had the Lisa Mitchell shitstorm which, I think, planted the seed for this year's showing.
The 2009 awards were an interesting moment for the place of women in Australian music. Bernard Zuel (rightly) pointed out that the AMP had fallen under a "The Drones/Mess Hall/Augie March/Eddy Current hegemony" and wrote that he feared it was becoming a male rock award. As he put it, "I don't think anyone could argue that we the judges have fallen short if over the past four years only five women and two predominantly female groups have made it into the shortlist, compared with 29 men or predominantly male bands... This is a failure, for common sense would tell you there were not four times as many men as women making high quality music in those years." (Reminder: before Lisa Mitchell, no women had actually won. She still stands as the only female artist to have been awarded the prize).
Fast forward to yesterday and we have our most woman heavy shortlist yet, with three artists. Why? If Mr. Zuel hadn't put up his hand and pointed out the obvious would things have continued the way they were? Seeing as the output of female Australian artists hasn't changed much in quality or quantity since 2008, a scientific approach would tell us that Bernard Zuel's article, and the response to it, was the precursor for the changes we're seeing now.
Not that I think the AMP or its judges are necessarily sexist. Like so many forms of institutionalised discrimination, it sometimes takes a person pointing it out for anyone else to be able to see it. Like a Magic Eye puzzle or a fart, it reveals itself slowly. And what we're seeing now is certainly progress - if things keep going the way they are, next year there will be four women nominated! Practically half! I do think it's a shame that it took four years for us to see three women in the shortlist, but hey. At least we're getting somewhere?
