On June 1, 2017, Les sœurs Boulay founded the Femmes En Musique (FEM—Espace public) movement by publishing an open letter that highlighted the gender inequality too commonplace in the music world. The letter was signed by more than 100 female musicians.
It read, in part: “Stakeholders of Québec’s music scene, be a part of the changes we wish for and need in order to achieve a healthy and balanced environment that will inspire young female artists, musicians, technicians, and other stakeholders of tomorrow’s music world to believe that our trade can help EVERYONE flourish.”
At the 2018 Montréal SOCAN Awards Gala, all of the SOCAN Classic Awards were earned exclusively by women. That is just one example of SOCAN’s continuing engagement to highlight the invaluable contribution of women in music.
We asked a few artists who were at the Oct. 2 Montréal SOCAN Awards what they thought, among other things, about the evolution of women’s roles in the Québec music ecosystem.