SoundGirls has joined forces with music streaming giant Spotify to launch the EQL Directory – an international database for women working in audio and music production.

The EQL Directory is a nonprofit, international database of professionals designed to create more opportunities for women working in the music and pro audio industries. It’s currently estimated that less than five per cent of all audio professionals are women.

"[We] face the myth that there are not very many women or non-conforming people working in audio, and because of this people don’t even bother to look,” said Karrie Keyes, co-founder of SoundGirls and Pearl Jam’s long-time sound engineer. “The EQL Directory proves that this is not true.”

TRAKGIRL, a producer who has worked with artists including Jhené Aiko and Luke James, added: “This is a great tool to create more opportunities for women. We have to continue the work and create more inclusion and diversity in male-dominated spaces; we have a lot of work to do, but this is an awesome start.”

“SoundGirls already had this global directory of women in audio and production, and we came together to help them make it more beautiful, more useful, and more visible within the industry,” explained Kerry Steib, Spotify’s director of social impact. “We know that increasing equity for women in these fields is a complex problem to solve. We have to work with great partners across the industry and come together to create solutions.”

Visitors to the EQL Directory can find resources from initiatives and organisations like the Audio Engineering Society, Beatz By Girlz, Equalizer Project, female:pressure, Gender Amplified, Girls Make Beats, Instituto Criar, Secret Genius, shesaid.so, SoundGirls in Mexico, The 7% Series, Upfront Producer Network, Yorkshire Sound Women Network, and the Women’s Audio Mission.