THE “SEX” X- FACTOR?

With series 8 of the X-Factor drawing to a close, fans will be eager to find out who this year’s winner will be. Statistically, the winner is likely to be male. Of 7 previous winners, 5 were male so chances are that it will be this time round too. However, despite the audience’s penchant for male X-Factor winners, record companies seem to prefer females.

The international success of both Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke is in stark contrast to the relatively paltry singing careers of their male counterparts. Does this highlight a sex discrimination issue in the record industry? Are record labels reluctant to sign up and invest in males? Steve Brookstein (series 1), Leon Jackson (series 4) and Joe McElderry (series 5) have all been dropped from their record labels, leading to speculation that male artists are simply not attracting the same level of investment. There is currently speculation that Matt Cardle, last years winner, will follow suit later this year.

Of course, if X-Factor winners were employees they would be protected by employment legislation which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender. A policy of investing less in males, together with having a workforce that is indicative of a recruitment bias towards females would lead to the risk of a very expensive sex discrimination claim.

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