You can waffle on all you like about how things are getting better for women in music, but the fact remains that, by-and-large, any progress is woefully sluggish. That fact being that music industry related jobs are currently measured at 67.8% male to 32.2% female. If art or culture is to be truly representative then it naturally follows that it should constitute the efforts of both genders equally; ergo, that fact sucks.

Happily, there’s a lot of organisations and individuals pushing for change, not least ticketing app DICE who have announced the second Girls Music Day. The event, which takes place at RAK Studio’s on 8th and 9th April, is designed to encourage young women to enter the industry. And they’re taking a forward-thinking, positive, and practical approach to an at once outrageous and tedious problem that should be firmly consigned to the ‘50s.

The two-day event will feature a series of talks by a range of successful women from across the industry, including Rosie Lowe, METHOD MUSIC’s Katie Ray, Head of Press at 4AD Annette Lee, and BBC 1Xtra’s Sian Anderson. There will also be a jobs fair with representatives from Because Music, RAK, and Moshi Moshi in attendance, and engineering and production workshops to round off Sunday.

Jen Long from DICE said of the event: “The figures don’t lie, there are not enough women in music and this needs to change. It’s an incredible industry, an exciting world to be a part of and there’s no reason why we should see such a gender gap. We’ve got an astonishing collection of speakers this year all offering a great way to build that first stepping-stone into music. We’d urge all girls to get involved.”

Better yet, the event is free and open to women aged 16 - 24 via an online application here.

In the meantime, DICE have kindly compiled a Spotify playlist of inspirational ladies by way of encouragement: “Whether it’s music from the artists themselves or the record labels behind the songs, our DICE: Girls Music Day playlist encompasses the work of all the incredible women you can expect to hear from throughout Girls Music Day 2017.”