Paloma Faith has hit out at the way that women in power are portrayed in the British media, defending the embattled prime minister Theresa May and saying she’s unfairly mocked because of her gender.

Faith is an outspoken feminist, and was promoting a new campaign for global gender equality on Thursday (October 11th) on the eve of the International Day of the Girl. She took the opportunity to defend the Tory PM from criticism of her rather rigid dance moves to the sound of Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’ at last week’s party conference.

“Why shouldn’t Theresa May dance? I felt bad for her. I’m worried about her policies but I’m not worried about her dancing,” the singer told BBC News.

Paloma FaithPaloma Faith spoke out on gender inequality

“She is criticised all the time because she’s female,” 37 year old Faith added. “I’m not aligned to her party. I’m not for Brexit. But I do think the way the media reports on her, that she has a harder time than a male prime minister. I remember when Tony Blair came out as loving music and being in a rock band. Everyone said it was cool and great.”

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In a separate interview on the same day with Sky News, Faith also spoke out about the difficulties that women still face in a predominantly men-orientated music industry. Particularly, she cited a recent Billboard survey that just 17% of the most powerful individuals in music are women.

“I've managed to navigate my way through the music industry that's predominantly male and never taken my clothes off to do it,” the mother of one says.

“There's lots of situations in these industries where that kind of thing comes on your doorstep. I've never had that happen because I walk into every meeting that I go into - and usually it's a room full of men - and I speak first and I speak last. That's just the person I am. I've never felt like I had to… it sort of riles me up if I ever feel… If I'm made to feel as if I need to apologise or play a certain role.”

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