Live music venue asserts gender policy

A Wellington rock band has been refused a gig at an indie venue because it did not feature ‘‘at least one non-male’’.

Rory McDonald, 17, said management of Caroline on Manners St said his altmetal band Lucifer Gunne did not meet the venue’s diversity quota.

He sent a message saying: ‘‘I’m wondering why there is a requirement for one non-male member, could you please elaborate?’’

Caroline event manager Emi Pogoni replied: ‘‘It’s just our policy to encourage diversity in the music industry.

‘‘If you can’t or won’t, then we don’t need to book you.’’

McDonald posted about the issue on the Wellington Musicians’ Society Facebook page, but had to delete it when the discussion descended into misogyny and abuse.

He said he initially found Caroline’s position discriminatory, but later softened, saying he understood its opinion, but questioned whether it should be a policy.

On Thursday, Pogoni confirmed Caroline had a diversity policy, but it did not apply to every band.

‘‘Our policy when booking shows is to ask that there is at least one woman in an event’s lineup, in our aim to foster diversity and representation in Wellington’s music scene.

‘‘We welcome all-male bands, and we often book such acts. We just ask that, over the entire evening’s event, there is one woman or non-male performer across the number of acts booked.

‘‘There are many great women musicians in Wellington, yet a lot of lineups will still be entirely male.

‘‘It is just a starting point to include at least one woman for every night there is a show at Caroline,’’ Pogoni said.

Singer Anika Moa agreed with Caroline’s policy and said it made sense to have more female musicians in festival and club lineups to get equality among musicians in a male-dominated industry.

All lineups should have 30 to 40 per cent ‘‘girl bands or bands with girls’’ to redress the imbalance.

‘‘We need to start giving wa¯ hine some jobs in the music industry. There’s so many great female acts in this country that need to be booked.’’

A Human Rights Commission spokeswoman said there were provisions under the Human Rights Act that prohibited discrimination in the provision of goods and services.

‘‘If someone believes they have been discriminated against, they can make a complaint to us and we will consider whether the legislation and any exceptions might apply, and will deal with the complaint through our usual dispute resolution processes.’’