DESPITE significant strides by women in reggae in the last 20 years, they are not given the respect they deserve.

That was the consensus at the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association’s (JaRIA) Reggae University forum, held at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre last Thursday.

According to Dionne Hardy, co-moderator of the event, this disparity affects even Tessanne Chin, winner of NBC’s talent contest, The Voice. She pointed out that despite her success, Chin’s songs are still given token airplay on Jamaican radio.

“When she was performing at the Shaggy show (in January) a lot of people still didn’t know her original songs, they were more familiar with the songs she did on The Voice,” Hardy quipped.

Tuff Gong’s studio manager, Lorna Wainwright, agreed. She acknowledged that the “bredrin get more help then than the sistren”.

At the same time, she said the “women not getting this or that syndrome” must be a thing of the past.

Women must be assertive if they want to make it in what is still a male-dominated business, Wainwright added. Another issue discussed is that in the dancehall arena, male artistes are more united than their female counterparts who are constantly at each other’s throats.

The most recent cat fight took place at Sting on Boxing Day between Lady Saw and Macka Diamond.

“Men knock fist an’ encourage, women fight and backbite,” a woman exclaimed from the floor.

Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, the opposition Jamaica Labour Party’s spokesperson on entertainment and culture and singer Carlene Davis were also panellists. Yvonne Chang was co-moderator.