Wendy Shay, a singer-songwriter from Ghana, has spoken out against objectifying women in the music business, calling it unfair treatment and sharing her opinions.
The self-proclaimed dancehall queen recently voiced her discontent with the labeling of female musicians as “female artistes” while their male counterparts are simply referred to as “artists” in an appearance on Berla Mundi’s Day Show on TV3.
Wendy Shay vigorously advocated for equal treatment, arguing that since women work just as hard as men do in the music business, if not harder, they ought to be compensated equally as musicians.
“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 the dedication and efforts of female musicians like Sister Efya and herself, saying that they put in a lot of effort and sweat and deserve to be recognized for their work.
“Putting that aside, I think it’s not fair because there are so many women who are really working hard; like me, Wendy Shay. We have artistes like Sister Efya working hard. It’s about time Ghanaians or this part of our world acknowledge the hard work, effort and sweat we put in,” she mentioned.
Wendy Shay addressed the difficulties women still face in this region of the world in achieving leadership positions and acknowledged that there is still a cultural mentality that equates women with mostly domestic responsibilities.
She did, however, express optimism that with time and development, society will advance to accept and value the contributions of women in leadership roles across a variety of industries, including music.