Georgina Lunn

Turning the Tables in the Boys’ Club

Women have long inhabited peculiar spaces in art and culture. From Renaissance paintings to Romantic poetry, they’ve been celebrated for their beauty, allure, and ability to inspire – but rarely for their ability to create. They could ignite the brush of the artist but not hold it. Female agency has been, for the most part, strictly ornamental. Nightclubs have inherited this tradition. These temples of hedonism permit free entry for the beautiful, with champagne on the house and VIP sections brimming with stilettoed muses, all under the command of the DJ – priest, prophet, puppet master – guiding the crowd with a sermon in sound.

For decades, these spaces upheld an unspoken doctrine: men were the architects of experience, while women were the ornamentation. He manned the booth with his talent while she commanded the floor with her body. Women could move to the beat, but never set it.

Fortunately, this dynamic is beginning to shift. The female DJ scene has seen a surge of talented and boundary-pushing artists making waves across the globe. From iconic figures like Peggy Gou, whose blend of deep house and techno has earned her a loyal following, to the genre-defying talents of Nina Kraviz, known for her hypnotic sets and unpredictable style, these women are shaping the future of electronic music. Others like Honey Dijon and The Black Madonna bring a mix of musical expertise, charismatic stage presence, and genre-defying experimentation that has earned them spots at the world’s most prestigious festivals. Luna, the creator of Queens in the Game, a leading TikTok page dedicated to celebrating female DJs, shares this passion for elevating women in the industry. “At the beginning of this year, I journaled niche topics that I felt weren’t as recognised as they truly should be,” she explains. “I’ve always admired female DJs because of their ability to read the room, understand why people go out to party, and know what people want to hear. They’re always on the top of their game, yet I rarely saw them getting the recognition they deserve.”

The decks may now be open to women, but the cultural weight that tethers them to outdated expectations continues to reveal a society grappling with its own blind spots. Female DJs continue to face formidable barriers and are consistently underestimated, doubted, or reduced to their looks rather than their craft.

The “boys’ club” hasn’t disappeared; it’s just been rebranded with more polished aesthetics. In these spaces, female DJs are not only tasked with delivering a stellar set, but with navigating an exhausting, high-wire act of self-presentation. They must balance artistic integrity with maintaining an image, all while fending off unsolicited commentary that reduces their worth to their appearance.

Men, on the other hand, rarely, if ever, face such double standards. “People assume it’s a hobby, not a career,” says India Case, one of London’s rising stars in the DJ scene. “Before I play, I’ve had people ask, ‘Do you even know what you’re doing?’ That changes after my sets, but the judgment is constant.” Her focus is on the mix, not the male gaze – but that gaze, persistent and insidious, is never entirely absent. The irony is, for women in this world, the work is never just the work. They must prove their skill while also contending with the expectations tied to their bodies. The scrutiny is exhausting.

Take social media. Platforms like TikTok, which offer a level of visibility previously unavailable, have become a double-edged sword. Here, female DJs aren’t just judged for their craft – they are sexualised, commodified, and dissected as spectacle. “So she just pushed play?”; “It’s not even plugged in”; “Wonder who did the mix”; “Great set (I’m not talking about the music)”; “Watching on mute… still awesome.” I found all these comments in under ten minutes and, unsurprisingly, all of them were made by men. “The comments shock me,” Case says. “Women are judged for their craft and sexualised at the same time. This is something that needs to change now. I see way too much of it.”  Social media is both a platform for visibility and a mirror reflecting the industry’s deepest contradictions. It elevates them but also traps them in a cycle where their looks, not their art, often take centre stage.

Billboard has revealed that women accounted for just 10% of the EDM scene in the early 2000s. Fast forward to today, and the number of female DJs and producers has surged. But the journey toward true equality in this once male-dominated industry is far from over: a study by music tech company A2D2 reveals that female DJs, despite making up only 11% of DJ Mag’s Top 100 in 2023, perform nearly twice as many gigs as their male counterparts to achieve similar recognition. Inclusivity in lineups, respect for artistry over aesthetics, and an end to online harassment are the next frontiers.

“We’re moving forward,” says Case. “But I want to see more women and LGBTQIA+ headliners. We need to keep pushing.” Luna echoes this sentiment, emphasising that while image plays a role, authenticity should always lead. “As for female DJs, I believe as long as they are showing their most honest personality and talent on stage, whatever image they radiate is what will connect them to the people that matter.” The nightclub, once a temple of male control, is slowly becoming a space where women do more than dance – they set the rhythm. And as the beat evolves, the world will have no choice but to move to it.