Sikisa wishes an all-female event wasn't still necessary

This month I’m performing at the Women In ​Comedy Festival in Manchester, which has been running for over a decade and is still the UK’s only festival dedicated to showcasing female and non-binary comics. 

That’s both brilliant and a little depressing. Brilliant because it’s a festival that gives us a space to shine, and depressing because we still need a special festival in 2025 to prove that, yes, women are funny. Imagine if there was a ‘Men in Comedy Festival’? Oh wait, that’s just every other night in the country.

The line-up this year is fantastic: Helen Bauer, Ola Labib, Hannah Platt, Alice India, Erika Ehler, and myself, among many others. There’s everything from shows about immigration law (mine) to dictators, autism parenting, and even whimsical sewer princesses. It’s proof that women aren’t just talking about ‘being women’ on stage – we’re covering politics, identity, family, wrestling, and whatever else makes us all laugh.

But are things actually changing? Yes… and no. On the one hand, you can’t swing a tote bag without hitting a funny woman with a podcast, a Fringe run, or a TV panel appearance. Social media has also helped women bypass the old gatekeepers. If TV bosses think you won’t draw an audience, you can just hop on TikTok, build a million followers, and then sell out arenas. Try ignoring that, commissioners (no shade, I’m still available for jobs).

On the other hand, walk into a weekend club night and you’ll often still find an all-male bill. Or, if you’re lucky, one woman sandwiched between three blokes called Mike. Lucy Beaumont wasn’t wrong when she said many clubs are basically ‘male comedy clubs that tolerate women’. And don’t get me started on panel shows. There are still some producers who treat women like limited-edition Pokémon – you’re allowed one per episode if you’re lucky.

And then there’s the audience bias. I still get people saying: ‘I don’t usually find women funny, but you were good.' Which is like telling a chef, ‘I don’t usually like food, but this lasagne was acceptable.’ Thanks, I guess?

The Women in ​Comedy Festival feels necessary because it levels the playing field, even just for ten days. It’s not about being separate—it’s about being visible. About proving, over and over, that there’s no such thing as 'women’s comedy’. There’s just comedy.

Some of it’s brilliant, some of it’s terrible, sometimes it’s clever, some of it’s bizarre, some of it’s unforgettable and some of it definitely shouldn’t have made it out of the pub.

So, are things changing? Slowly. Progress in comedy is like dating – sometimes exciting, often disappointing, and usually two steps forward, one drunk text back. But I’ll take slow change over no change. And until the day an all-female line-up feels as unremarkable as an all-male one, I’ll happily keep showing up, mic in hand, reminding everyone that women don’t just deserve a place in comedy – we are comedy.

• Sikisa’s show, Serving Justice is on at The Fitzgerald on Saturday October 11. Here is the full Women in Comedy Festival website.

Published: 3 Oct 2025