Social media has reacted with dismay to the announcement of the 2018 line-up for Lollapalooza Festival, with no female musicians appearing on the bill until the fourth line of the poster.

The Chicago music festival announced its annual line-up on Wednesday (March 21st), revealing that Arctic Monkeys, Jack White, The Weeknd and Bruno Mars would be the headliners for the four-day event in the city’s Grant Park in August.

However, many onlookers were quick to point out that none of the first three lines of artists announced on the poster were female, with it taking until the fourth line until the likes of Chvrches, St. Vincent and Dua Lipa to be cited, with former Fifth Harmony star Camila Cabello appearing on the fifth line.

The WeekndThe Weeknd is one of the Lollapalooza 2018 headliners

Quickly, some users took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the festival’s organisers, with one imploring them to “hire more women and minorities and LGBTQIA+ people to do your booking.”

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“You couldn't find ANY women for the first three rows? This is pitiful. I hope the male headliners speak up,” another user wrote, imploring Lollapalooza’s male stars to act for greater diversity.

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The lack of female artists has been a pressing issue for the festival business over the last few months, ever since the big-ticket festivals starting announcing their 2018 line-ups back in January. Bonnaroo, Firefly and Coachella have come under fire for not having enough gender diversity in their line-ups.

Back in February, a number of festivals around the world pledged to bring gender parity to their bills by 2022. The initiative has been led by British talent firm PRS Foundation, which has founded a program called Keychange with the aim of “empowering women to transform the future of the music industry.”

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