Singer Dua Lipa says it's hard 'to be taken seriously' as a female artist

LONDON: Singer Dua Lipa has opened up about the sexism that persists in music industry and said women artistes struggle to get recognition.

In an interview with British GQ for an upcoming issue, Dua said female artists have to work harder for success as compared to their male counterparts.

"For a female artist, it takes a lot more to be taken seriously if you're not sat down at a piano or with a guitar," she said.

"For a male artist, people instantly assume they write their own music, but for women, they assume it's all manufactured," she added.

Dua also talked about the importance of the #MeToo movement and said the behaviour to harass women has been long engrained in society.

"I'm lucky in that I haven't really had any sexual harassment in any way. But I think (#MeToo) is so important. You know, even from school, growing up with kiss chase or whatever, it's been ingrained in our heads that boys will be boys and its harmless fun and no big deal and to brush things off. Like catcalling."

"To some it might not seem a lot, but it affects your mood, people get embarrassed about the way they dress. For lots of females, be it actresses, singers, models, no matter what it is, it's not being able to have the right to dress and wear how and what you want and be taken seriously," she added.