Kathryn Leroux moved to Sweden from the US about twelve years ago and has been standing up here for a decade. In March, she posted a video in social media where she is raging that so many clubs, especially in Stockholm, often have full-man stand up nights.
– There is a kind of backlash going on. It feels like, or it’s not a feeling, I clearly look at the bookings that women are excluded, she says.
More men than women
At Northern Brunn, Sweden’s most well-known stand-up club, 78 percent will perform men during cultural news measurement period from April 14 to May 31 this year.
At RAW, which has performances in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg, 22 male comedians joke a total of 41 times during the same period, while 9 women occur 10 times.
– I understood that you would address it, but it is not representative. If you go back in time, we have had evenings with only female comedians, says Mårten Andersson, founder of Raw Comedy.
He thinks Leroux’s criticism is deeply unfair, because he says no to significantly more men than women who want to perform.
– There are much fewer female comedians who are professionals, he says.
But it doesn’t buy Kathryn Leroux.
– There are lots of female comedians, there is no reason to have one, or none, women per evening. It’s ridiculous, she says.
“Didn’t change anything”
In 2022, the industry produced a “code of conduct” on how to behave before, during and after a gig. The document was a response to what, above all, many women considered to be an unhealthy and uncertain backstag culture, which was noticed during the metoo movement.
Kathryn Leroux thinks the document led to a good discussion, but nothing has really changed, she says.
-We asked the clubs to sign the Code of Conduct document. But what we see now, with the bookings and how the clubs behave, is that it did not change anything.
The cultural news has contacted Norra Brunn, who do not want to be interviewed.