Little Mix Opens Up About Tackling Sexism In The Music Industry

The ladies of Little Mix are dishing on facing sexism in the industry.

In their new Glamour UK digital cover story, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock opened up about sexism, female solidarity, and having to take a break this past year due to the pandemic.

“We’ve always had a voice as a four, we’ve been a force and we’ve always been very, ‘we stick together on things,’” Leigh-Anne shared. “But there have been times, like with [music] labels, [where they’ve] backed us into a corner and it is obviously mainly men; they see us as four women and don’t take us seriously. We’ve had that for our whole career. Even until recently. I’m asking, ‘Has much really changed?”

Perrie added, “As girls in the industry, it’s hard enough as it is without saying something, slip up, and then it gets totally blown out of context. We were always just so terrified of that happening, we hated it. That’s why we would just scoot around things.”

On female solidarity, Jade shared, “We’ve shown that women standing together works, even with all the obstacles in our way. Right from the beginning, we were the dark horse on The X Factor, and no one expected us to do well. After that, everyone would say, ‘They’ll do one single and maybe one album and will get dropped.’ We persevered and got through it.”

“We grew and became adult women together,” Jade continued. “It’s impactful, to show others that you can have longevity, you can break barriers, win awards and break records on the back of sticking together and being a force of women. If I had a little girl, seeing that unfold before her, from being ten years to 20 years old, what a great thing to have in the pop industry as a message to young women.”