Photo borrowed from Aftonbladet.se
She talks about sexual harassments in the business when she was younger and also how she was told that her career would go to "hell" if she ever got children.
Here´s what she writes about the children thing (freely translated by me):
Early she got to hear from directors and conductors that her career would go down the drain if she got a family;
- If I wasn´t single I was not worth anything. When I met my husband and we expected our child I lost my job. They called and said they had found another person.
What hit her the hardest though weren´t the sexual harassments:
- When they told me to not get any children, was what hurt the most. My children are the best I´ve got, Malena says.
If you want to read the whole article, you find it here:
12 comments:
i remember her, lovely voice.
Really is sad and disturbing to see such behaviour, particularly knowing it still happens and quite frequently in some areas and professions. Really angers me to see this sort of crap happening, hopefully more can be done to combat this sort of issue.
Since this is tied in with the issue of sexism, I hope you don't mind sharing your opinion on this issue with me :)
Not long ago here (Australia), a presenter for one of the national news station stated that he believes that breast feeding mothers should have to cover up when feeding their child, and it sparked a controversy, and has raised the debate again about whether or not it is appropriate for mothers to breast feed their children in public, which is absolutely legal here, but there have been cases, as was what prompted the controversial comment where a woman was asked to go to a public toilet to feed her baby despite it being perfectly legal to do so in public without having to cover up.
I'm not very familiar with Swedish culture, nor the laws regarding this, but I do assume you're better than we are here, Australia has a lot more red necks that one would like to admit, and racism, sexism and homophobia are also much more rampant than one would like to admit.
I hope you can answer my question for me, and I hope you have a lovely day ;)
xo
This is bullshit. Many famous artists had children and just went on their career successfully. But of course those who are really "irreplaceable" and bring millions, they wouldn't ever fire them - I think of Madonna, Britney Spears and many others.
But that doesn't mean these artists are worth more than "smaller" artists, it just means that the record companies know what they'll lose if they fire them. It's all about money, and they think that children are a big problem and will cause loss of money. They just don't want it to happen if the artist suddenly wants to stop their career to raise their family, and this is unfair, because it's a situation that mums can handle - I think of you, Sharon den Adel and many many others, who don't necessarily hire thousands of nannies and still got to spend time with your kids.
It is sex-based discrimination because some still believe that mums should stay at home and never work, never have a career.
I hope you have a great day, you and the little ones ;)
Hi Anette,
That is sad. But the same in Germany too.
A woman must also today still choose family or work.
My heaviest it had to find out for themselves. Because she had a child she was always put under pressure.
She wanted to make a few hours so they could be home in the afternoon. But then they would have earned less.
At the same time there was another woman who was allowed comical way less work and got the same money. Although she was not a trained office personnel.
That was my sister somehow funny. Go the end of your employment, they had to work overtime, because the other women were too slow or faulty written reports. But these ladies were on time call it a day and my sister would then rewrite the reports.
And the end of the song, she had a burn out.
And the worst part was that no one had thanked her for her work. But only grumble is that it was supposed to be faster.
They also had the feeling that you could do with her because she is a single mother.°~°
Have a nice Day,
Nalon
I love her Eurovision song! And btw, the looks little bit my old scoutleader :DD
Have a nice day. dear angel!
This happens to women in the artistic fields as well. Before I had a family I was more respected by male colleagues and people called me "dedicated". After I started a family, I was told that I would probably never be successful because I was just a housewife with a hobby.
My conclusion is that this outdated way of thinking is very stupid.
How horrible! Isn´t there enough proof that mothers can sing and act as well?
Hell. Why are human so stupid...
Hi, Anette!
Right words! And very kind. I also think that nobody can't do everything alone, 'cause this man will "brake" soon.I don't know what I can do without my grandmum and mum=)
With Love,
Tanya=)
Is this an indirect comment? Anyway, I think that it's not fair to women either. I'm single currently and work my butt off, but I still want children in the future. Hopefully that won't deter me from working. I love my job, too. I hope I can manage both in the future.
Hi Anette!
Hmm...I got your message and I'm really sorry...I dunno what to say anymore. Everything else would be in vain.
About Malena Ernman. She is AMAZING. But unfortunately she is not as famous as she deserves!She's an excellent singer! This kind of a mezzosoprano who can hit the coloraturas of a light soprano-perfect technique. She's one of the vocal monuments alive. I'm a mezzosoprano myself and am still studying, hope to come close to her level one day :-) You know...I was wondering... Maybe it's too much to ask, but...have you got any idea if she gives private lessons or does she do masterclasses?
And something else - have you ever thought to start teaching singing?
Good night and sweet dreams!
Hello Anette,
there is a (former?) pop and soul singer from Germany by the artist name of Sarah Connor. I'm not even a fan of her, but as you post this, I remember an interview that sort of shocked me.
She said that not only did the record company want her to kick her boyfriend at the time (now ex-husband, I'm talking about long ago), but when she got pregnant for the first time, they tried to force her to have an abortion!
That part really sticked in my mind, I found that so terrible. People can say what they want about her reality shows and whatnot (I don't like them either), but it's a darn good thing she fought for her children.
Greetings!
Petra
Hello!
I do agree with you its quite an unfair and disrespectful situation. People in this business must know any woman has legit desire to be a mother and raise kids! Its just natural! However, since you got pregnant during a big tour (many shows were already settled at that time) and you were the main vocalist, do you think you could manage to finish the tour? Do you think it would be a risk to your health and to your baby?
Cheers from a huge fan!
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