Where has this woman been for the last decade?

 "Di Laccio is also the founder and curator of the charitable foundation Donne - Women in Music, which makes a positive change and to readdress the gender inequality within the music industry."

The soprano Gabriella Di Laccio was interviewed by Ben Boulos on BBC News' business programme this morning. She gave the impression that she alone was fighting the gender inequality in music, disregarding the strides which have been made just in the last decade. UK has a female Master of the King's Music for the first time in our history. At least two British orchestras, including BBC's National Orchestra of Wales, have women as principal conductors. It is surprising that Boulos did not tax Di Laccio on this.

All right, it is not nearly enough, but I remember the days when the only woman in a London orchestra would be the lady harpist. Things were slightly better outside the capital, but the fact that I remember seeing a young woman in the ranks of the Royal Liverpool wind-players shows how rare they were even as late as the 1960s.

Things have changed on the composing front, too. We have not done as well historically as France - Farrenc, Viardot, Boulanger, Jaell, Tailleferre and especially Chaminade come immediately to mind - but we have been catching up, culminating in Judith Weir's appointment. A few years back, I had a competition with a Facebook friend as to how many British women composers we could name and if I recall correctly the total was over thirty - and that was before Isobel Waller-Bridge came to the fore.

Now we need a woman conducting the Last Night of the Proms who is not Marin Alsop.