“The Price of Being Her”: Afrobeats Queens Demand Equity, Respect & Fair Pay for Women In Music

At Entertainment Week Africa (EWA) 2025 in Lagos, the panel titled “The Price of Being Her: Power, Pay & the Cost of Visibility in Music” brought together some of the most powerful women shaping today’s soundscape — Teni, Tiwa Savage, Sasha P, Waje, Yemi Alade and Qing Madi to confront the biases and barriers embedded in the female experience of the music industry.

Teni challenged the pervasive notion that women are “second citizens” in music, insisting instead that they are the architects and nurturers of the very industry they perform in, refusing to let women be cast as secondary. She went further to demand increased booking fees for female artists, and urged event organizers, promoters, and industry stakeholders to re-evaluate the fees they pay female talent,  as it is a necessary step toward gender parity.

Tiwa Savage’s opening remark at the event, delivered in a poetic, introspective cadence, grounded the conversation in lived truth. She highlighted how women’s artistry is too often overshadowed by scandal, their consistency ignored, and their contributions minimized. Her message was a mirror held up to an industry that celebrates the product but rarely acknowledges the cost of producing it.

Also speaking, Sasha P added depth and authority to the conversation with her trademark clarity. She encouraged women to stay true to themselves, saying, “Be yourself, don’t let anybody write your manuscript.” She also emphasized that empowerment isn’t only external, it starts with women taking action for themselves: “As much as we complain about what is not being done, we owe ourselves the obligation to start doing what’s not being done.”  When the discussion turned to worth, she delivered one of the panel’s most powerful truths: “In order for someone to invest in you, they have to see the value in you.”

Waje distilled the struggle to its purest form when she declared, “Every female in every industry needs the opportunity to breathe!” Her words reached far beyond entertainment, speaking to the universal fight for space — the space to exist, to innovate, and to excel without endlessly pushing against invisible barriers. She expanded on this by reminding women of the power of unity, noting that “Collaboration is not just in the music, it’s about supporting each other in all we do.”

Taken together, these voices painted a vivid picture of what it means to be a woman in music today: the brilliance, the pressure, the resilience, and the relentless demand to be valued on equal terms. “The cost of being her” is not just emotional or creative, it is financial, structural, and deeply personal.

And so their call becomes clear; Pay women fairly, Book them boldly, Respect their contributions, Grant them space and Believe in their value.

This wasn’t just a panel, it was a declaration. A collective stance. A promise that the women who shape the heartbeat of African music will no longer accept less than what they deserve. Their voices were firm, unified, and unshakeable, and the industry would do well to listen.