I’ve battled racism and misogyny in British broadcasting for years. As a Black woman, it’s exhausting | Gemma Cairney

The creative industries in this country are boys' clubs. Conversations about meaningful change are long overdue

• Gemma Cairney is an author and broadcaster who has presented on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music

Sometimes a conversation on a vital topic can be the hardest one to have. The publication of the Misogyny in Music report by the women and equalities committee has opened such an important conversation. Based on evidence from women across the industry - including academics, festival representatives, record-label executives and artists - it concluded that the music industry is a boys' club" in which women, especially Black women, face endemic discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment. For me, its findings hit home.

The report was published within days of the closure of two independent production companies that were owned and run by Black women: Boom Shakalaka, which I founded in 2015, and Broccoli Productions, founded by Renay Richardson. Do these closures, as some have suggested, signify deep problems within the creative industries, stemming from misogyny and misogynoir (prejudice against Black women), and a wider lack of fairness?