The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest marked a major milestone for non-binary representation, sparking meaningful discourse about gender identity, gender expression, and gender equity. Today we continue that important conversation by addressing one of the biggest elephants in the room: Italy and the lack of gender equity at Sanremo.
The Italian Music Industry
To better understand gender inequity at Sanremo, let’s first reflect on the Italian music industry as a whole.
According to a 2023 research article by Micalizzi & Paraciani, songs performed by Italian men were featured on the Italian singles charts 6 times more often than songs by female artists.1 The disparity is so significant that when Annalisa reached #1 on the charts with Mon Amour in 2023, that marked the first #1 charting song by a woman in Italy in 3 years.
A paper on Italian media bias by Mangani (2021) found that between 2003-2015, Italian music magazine album reviews showed significantly greater positive bias to projects where no women were featured on the album.2 Furthermore, when the reviewer was a woman themselves, the bias against female artists was even worse.2
When it comes to monetary disparities, Resta (2024) found that Italian women involved in managing, producing, and songwriting earned, on average, between 20-30% less than men in the same fields.3
And while Eurovision fans are very familiar with Sanremo, many of you may not know about the Primo Maggio Concert, another of Italy’s most renowned music events. In 2019, this concert featured 31 all-male acts and… wait for it… just 2 female acts.
Needless to say, we have ample evidence that gender inequity permeates throughout the Italian music scene.
The Sanremo Music Festival
Now with a little bit more context, let’s talk about Sanremo itself. Since 1998, no Sanremo festival has featured more than 9 women. That is, until 2025 (2025’s contest features 12 women!). But before you start celebrating the end of the patriarchy, it’s important to remember that this record-breaking year for Italian women is only breaking records because of a long history of major inequity. 2025’s lineup, even though record-breaking, still features 1.5x as many men competing as it does women.
The data is also quite telling when it comes to Sanremo’s songwriters. In 2022’s contest, of the 79 songwriters who were credited for their work, just 7 (8.8%) were women.1
Prior to 2024, only 3 solo female artists had won Sanremo in the 21st century. While Angelina Mango bucked the trend of male dominance, it’s important to note that Angelina and fellow fan favourite Annalisa only received a combined 24.1% of the total superfinal televote. This low percentage was actually a remarkable improvement from 2023 when just 13% of the final night’s first round televote went to acts featuring women. Had it not been for 2024’s press and radio juries ranking La Noia in first place, the past decade at Sanremo would not have featured a single solo female act winner (the last before Angelina being Arisa in 2014).
So… what now?
Gender inequity in Sanremo is not a new conversation. In 2018, former Sanremo winner Francesco Renga stated “The male voice is more harmonious, more pleasant; instead, graceful, beautiful, sweet female voices are certainly few, many fewer than male ones. It’s no coincidence that there are many more male singers: the male voice has better pleasantness.”
In 2020, there was public outrage after host Amadeus stated his female co-hosts were chosen for being “very beautiful.” Amadeus then applauded one co-host, Francesca Sofia Novello, for “her ability to be close to a great man by being one step behind.” This comment led to calls by many to boycott the 2020 edition of the music festival. 2023’s festival would later feature statements through speech and fashion against patriarchy in Italy.
2023’s Sanremo results even led to winner Marco Mengoni being baffled. The day after winning the 74th edition of Sanremo, Mengoni stated, “And so I was very upset that there wasn’t even a woman in the five. Evidently we still have to move forward and change things in this country.” Slowly but surely, it seems many Italian artists are starting to speak out more and more about the state of gender inequity, understanding their voices have power in tackling this systemic imbalance.
In other hopeful news, the Billboard Italia Women in Music ceremony was held in 2024 for the first time ever, marking a major shift in the recognition and celebration of the contributions of Italian women in music. Only time will tell if the impact of this annual gala will help move the needle in Italy.
This past Super Saturday saw Erika Vikman and Miriana Conte emphatically punch their tickets to Basel while performing songs that are explicitly about female empowerment through sexuality or attempting to reclaim language that’s been weaponized historically and presently against women. 2024’s Zorra by Nebulossa also addressed these themes.
While other ESC countries seem to be elevating and celebrating these acts, Italy appears to be taking baby steps even just to platform women in their music industry and at Sanremo. It remains to be seen whether Sanremo will be able to confront its past and pave the way for a more equitable future. Here’s hoping that the 2025 edition steers us in the right direction.
Sources
- Micalizzi, Alessandra & Paraciani, Rebecca. (2023). Words Backstage. Italian Music Industry and Gender Discrimination. 2. 15. 10.26350/001200_000188.
- Andrea Mangani, 2021. “Media bias against women in music: an empirical analysis of Italian music magazines,” Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(2), pages 657-676, July.
- Resta, Anita Maria. “Billboard Italy Women in Music.” Raandoom, 24 Sept. 2024, http://www.raandoom.com/our-blog/billboard-italy-women-in-music.