Entertainment Minister Says More Women Needed In Entertainment Industry

Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange says Jamaica needs more female entertainers.

The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment has expressed concern over Jamaica’s limited female representation in the industry.

Grange’s concerns were voiced following the limited female representation at Rebel Salute Reggae festival.

“There are some young female artistes coming up who are extremely good but we need more,” Grange declared.

According to the politician, she has made it a point of duty to help seek out new female talents. She says her aim is to increase the percentage of women at major Reggae festivals.

“It is a mission that we going have to be on and it’s an important one; I made the decision to search for the artistes, work with them, help them develop and get exposure for the purpose of seeing the numbers change,” she told the Gleaner.

Grange, who formally managed Shabba Ranks, Bounty Killer, and Patra says the move cannot be limited to just Dancehall.

“It cannot be reduced to Dancehall only, but about all the genres that have over the years helped to produce Jamaica’s music. I am going to produce that,” she declared.

The minister also took the opportunity to lament the amount of female-empowering songs that are being produced. However, she feels this can be drastically improved if artistes are given opportunities to explore their talents.