The Grammys are a well-known, well-watched awards show celebrating the current year’s musical achievements. This year’s 60th annual Grammy Awards has struck up many conversations.

The Grammys premiered on January 28, 2018. As expected, there were a lot of male nominees. However, less expected was the lack of female nominees, more so the lack of female winners.

The sole broadcasted female winner was Alessia Cara from the “Best New Artist” category. The rest of the winners consisted of Bruno Mars, Bruno Mars, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, and Ed Sheeran. This is not to take away from the males’ success in music this year, as I am a fan of all those who won.

However, if you look at the “Best pop solo performance” category, the nominees included Ed Sheeran, Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, and P!nk. The odds of the only male in this category winning, as talented as Ed Sheeran is, was slim. A twenty percent chance of a male winning vs. an eighty percent chance of a female winning, the odds were in the favor of the females, and they still did not come out on top.

The statistics and views on this year’s Grammy awards were already causing some frustration, until the Recording Academy President, Neil Portnow, spoke about them in an interview, sending the world into an uproar.

When asked about the male dominated Grammys, Portnow said, “It has to begin with…women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome.”

His comment received a lot of heat from some of those female nominees, other females in the business, males in the business and everyone else who had the liberty of hearing it. Six of the top women executives at major record labels and music publishers got together to write a joint letter about these issues addressed to the Recording Academy’s board of trustees.

The letter was blunt and said exactly what a lot of women out there wanted them to know. The letter stated that the organization was, “woefully out of touch with todays music, the music business, and even more significantly, society.”

They went on to say how Portnow’s words were emblematic of deeper problems and a much larger issue.

Portnow responded to this letter on Monday afternoon February 5, stating, “We appreciate the points raised in this letter and welcome the opportunity to work with these executives to address the issues of inclusion, representation, fairness and diversity in our community. As we establish the details around our recently announced task force, we will seek their input and guidance.”

Portnow has made many comments post Grammys, including a statement that the music world must “welcome, mentor, and empower” women, although not once in any comment was there ever an apology.

All Portnow’s comments and responses seem rather condescending. He is simply speaking to speak without any real feelings behind his words. Women have faced this type of oppression for decades and now will always be the time to put an end to it.

Criticism for Portnow and the Academy as a whole has continued to grow, to the point that the organization announced the creation of a new task force to review their work (as Portnow mentioned in his response) to conquer the barriers and biases that females endure in the music industry.

Similar issues occur daily in many larger organizations and smaller organizations, as well as in the course of everyday business. It is a problem that we all must fight for until we overcome it. The time is now.