On June 22, Olivia Rodrigo broke the internet when she announced an all-female festival called Daisy Chain Fields. The one-day event—with performers including Chappell Roan, Doechii, KATSEYE, and Olivia herself, among many others—will champion women’s music, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to charities dedicated to “advancing and advocating for women and girls.”

Fans praised the move, flooding Olivia’s Instagram with comments such as “this is badass” and “most insane line up...truly incredible.” And while there was so much excitement and anticipation surrounding the festival, the other overwhelming feeling was one of surprise.

In the last few years, women have been dominating the music industry. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour grossed more than $2 billion in ticket sales (the biggest tour to do so), Charli xcx’s BRAT album was a cultural phenomenon you couldn’t escape, and the charts are ruled by pop girlies like Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter, and Beyoncé. Given female artists’ success and role in shaping culture, Olivia’s Daisy Chain Fields should feel the norm, and yet female performers are still a rarity on a festival lineup, never mind as the headliners.

In 2025, a report found women made up only 21.6 percent of headliners for nine major music festivals, and while there’s been some movement to readdress this balance (Primavera’s 2025 lineup was headlined by all women, for instance), there’s still a big gender imbalance when it comes to performers booking the big slots. But why? In 2023, Sky spoke to Eve Horne, producer, singer-songwriter, and founder of Peak Music UK, who claimed there was “too much risk” when it came to booking female musicians for the main slots.

It feeds into a wider picture of where the music industry currently stands with its double standards for female vs. male performers. Take Coachella festival in April earlier this year. While Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber both performed headline sets, Justin Bieber was praised for his laid-back performance, where he simply turned up in jeans and a hoodie and played his hits via YouTube links. Meanwhile, Sabrina had costume changes, set alterations, celebrity guests, and quite simply was doing the most.

Even when a female musician manages to book the head slot, it’s not enough to just simply turn up as her male counterparts do: She must excel in her performance, too. It’s something female musicians are feeling across the board, with Chloe Qisha tellingCosmopolitan UK about the double standard female performers must adhere to.

“The bar for pop girlies is unusually high. Especially with the virality of TikTok and how big someone can become overnight these days, there’s no grace for growth. People expect Addison Rae to come out of the gate singing like Beyoncé, but then also dancing like Tate McRae and then also giving 20 years’ worth of experience all packed into one,” she explained. “But then, I feel like a pop boy can go on stage with the same T-shirt and denim jeans they’ve been wearing all tour and just rock out with a guitar and we’re like, ‘Yes, King, give me more.’”

There’s a gradual movement behind the scenes by some in the music industry to change this for fans and artists. Later this year, new Scottish festival Summer’s End Angus (August 14 to 16) will feature an all-female lineup, and in Portugal, the North Wave Festival (July 25) will also feature only women artists and DJs. And Lily Allen, Raye, and Charli xcx are headlining some mainstream festivals this summer—but the dial still hasn’t shifted enough to reflect where the music industry actually is right now.

Daisy Chain Fields shouldn’t feel as groundbreaking as it does. All these artists should be the top billing of the summer’s biggest festivals. And yet if it takes the festival selling out when tickets go on sale tomorrow to make the music industry sit up and pay attention to the power of female musicians and their fans, then Olivia’s work is done.