LSA extends submission deadline following backlash for discriminating against women musicians

Female artists called out the award show for only including male artists in all four music category nominations

The Lux Style Awards (LSAs) have extended their submission deadline following backlash for not including any women in all four music categories.

On Sunday, the official account of LSAs released a statement on Instagram which read, “The Lux Style Awards have a rich legacy as Pakistan’s premier and inclusive award show. Since its inception, LSA has honoured the diverse talent across entertainment industries, striving for continued excellence in the quality of the platform and the experience of our fans.”

 

 

 

 

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It further boasted about how the award show aims to evolve its processes and strengthen its transparency this year. Hence, they made the decision to announce all submissions as received on their website for consumers to vote. The submissions were aimed at artists to submit their best work but, the statement claimed, not even a single female artist submitted their work in the given time frame, which is why they were not nominated.

The statement then continued to acknowledge that there was a “gap” in the nomination list this year, however, through no fault of their own. “As an inclusive platform, we realise this gap and regret that the music categories did not reflect the remarkable efforts of our female artists. We have witnessed the undeniable contribution of our female artists to the music industry in the past year and feel that without their inclusion, the music categories cannot truly encompass Pakistan’s best world in the field,” it read.

Expressing gratitude for the female artists of the industry that highlighted the gap and addressed it, the LSA said that they have chosen to make an “exception” to extend the deadline for “submissions for female, male or transgender artists across categories.” They wrote, “As a brand committed to empowering female artists across genres, we encourage our brilliant female musicians who have entertained us through the year to submit their entries for consideration.”

Female artists reunite against discrimination

The statement comes nearly a week after artists Meesha, Momina Mustehsan, Zeb Bangash, Maria Unera, Rachel Viccaji, Risham Faiz Bhutta, Sania from Justin Bibis, Eva B, Rutaba Yaqub, Natasha Baig and Nimra Rafiq took to Instagram to call out the awards for excluding female musicians.

"Not a single woman nominated in the LSA music nominations," highlighted Meesha as she tagged a long list of female artists. The names stood as a testament to the fact that there isn't a dearth of female artists in Pakistan and hence, the choice to nominate only men would have to be a conscious one. "Erasure at this scale (there is an exceptionally high number of nominations this time) of the entire female population occupying the music industry is unjustifiable and highly problematic," she wrote. "The LSA brand and jury has set an example of women being blindsided and denied the recognition they deserve."

The Rajkumari singer took a jibe at the brand for advertising "on the back of women '' to sell their products and still failing to be mindful of equity for gender. What particularly upset her was the “discrimination” at the jury’s end despite there being ample female artists that could’ve qualified for a nod. "LSA is accountable and should be answerable for these blatant discriminations," she concluded.

Singer Sameen Qasim even took a jibe at how Arooj Aftab can go win a Grammy but the LSAs don’t deem the female artists worthy of recognition while Zeb commented on how awards have never “necessarily been a measure of the artist’s calibre, contribution and/or popularity” but they do reflect their acknowledgement and acceptance in the fraternity. The Kunwaray singer Maria said the nomination list made her feel like “women didn’t even exist this year,” and the Laiyan singer Natasha Noorani was “sick of the boys’ club.” “The systemic erasure of women in music always manifests in new ways. Gatekeeping starts in the studio,” she wrote.

The music nominations at the Lux Style Awards have four categories — song of the year, singer of the year, most streamed and best live performance — and only male artists were on this year’s list. The voting site went under maintenance shortly after the criticism and voting has come to a halt.

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