This year’s Hottest 100 was a huge deal for Kendrick Lamar, Indigenous hero Baker Boy, and Gang of Youths, but how did it fare for female artists?

49 songs in the countdown had some kind of female presence: 23 came from female solo artists (eg. Lorde, Vera Blue), two from all-female bands (HAIM, Camp Cope), and 22 songs featured at least woman, either as a band member (San Cisco, The Jungle Giants) or feature artist (Mataya on ‘Sally’ by Thundamentals, AlunaGeorge with Peking Duk on ‘Fake Magic’).

Camp Cope bassist Kelly-Dawn ‘Kelso’ Hellmrich says those figures are “definitely getting closer [to balanced] but there’s still way more work to do.”

Speaking to Gemma Pike on triple j’s Hottest 100 Tally Room on Sunday night, Kelso added “I think the fact we’re still talking about it shows there’s still more work to do because this is such a topic of conversation when we talk about diversity in music.”

After debuting in the Hottest 100 of 2016 (with ‘Lost: Season One’, #74), Camp Cope backed it up two years in a row in this year’s countdown with ‘The Opener’ coming in at #58 – a song openly criticising sexism in the industry and the (male) naysayers who underestimated the band.

“I think people argue there’s not enough women in music and it’s really ignorant. They’ll look at those statistics and say, ‘there you go, there’s not as many women making music as men’ and I think that is super-ignorant because what there is, is an industry that grinds away at the confidence of women and that can really deter them from making music or feeling like they can succeed.”

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Pointing to research conducted into ‘the Confidence Gap’ between women and men in creative fields, Kelso reasons that it’s an issue that’s larger than simply the Hottest 100.

“It’s definitely a societal problem, not just music. It trickles down into music, it’s everywhere. We see it right now in Hollywood, in sports, in every workplace you can imagine. What we need to do, I think, is that when women speak and they tell you that they’re not being listened to or respected, we need to listen. I think that’s going to be the contributing factor.”

“I know for a fact, as a women who plays music, the #1 question we’re asked over and over again is what it’s like to be a woman in music. And when we say [what it's like], it seems people just are very hyper-critical and say that we’re whining or that we play the gender card, or something like that. We’re constantly asked what we can do and when we speak up about it, women are silenced in that way. Listen when women tell you there’s a problem.”

"You’ve got to change the soil to expect that fruit at the end" - Jack River

Interestingly, more women than men voted in this year’s Hottest 100 (51% vs 48%) but Kelly says that female representation isn’t solely the responsibility of women.

“It’s not really on the women voting to be voting for other women. We want everyone to have diverse votes in general, and I think people vote on what they tend to hear a lot. So, it would be interesting to hear how many women are on rotation, especially on triple j in the time leading up to when people are voting — things like that.”

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Holly Rankin, who performs as Jack River, made her Hottest 100 debut with the J Award nom'd ‘Fool’s Gold’ this year (voted in at #64). She tells triple j the Hottest 100 gender split is getting better but still has room for improvement.

“It still doesn’t size up against our male counterparts. Obviously, the music and whole line-up is incredible but I feel it’s a little disappointing seeing 51 male artists as opposed to 25 [solo or group] female artists. Definitely up from last year so we had an increase of 10 female [solo artists or groups] but I think generally in culture we’re seeing such a shift.”

Rankin, who is also an advocate for women in the industry as the co-founder of Electric Lady and booker for Grow Your Own festival in her hometown of Forster, says growth begins from the earliest stages.

"You can’t expect these things to change so quickly when they really start from the beginning of your career, and even in school. You’ve got to change the soil to expect that fruit at the end, so it’s awesome to see a change but hopefully next year that number goes up by 10 or another 20.”

She’s hoping her own music helps boosts those numbers — currently working on releasing the first full Jack River album this year, Rankin believes that the best initiative to fix the gap is getting hands-on.

"I think inclusion at every level. Anyone can be looking out for ways to include female artists in their line-ups, in their thinking, playlists on radio but even just at school, looking to make sure that girls aren’t shying away from opportunities because there’s too many boys in the room. Those kinds of things. Spreading the word, to go out there and getting involved in whatever you want to do — regardless of gender… That doesn’t just go for music.”