CHARLOTTE Brimner is often the only woman in the room at songwriting sessions and in studios. In the lead-up to next Sunday’s International Women’s Day, the 22-year-old wants to change that.

Brimner, aka Dundee-based pop star Be Charlotte, who last year signed to Columbia/Sony Records, plans to use her platform for good by curating Scotland’s first ever all-female songwriting camp, due to kick off in her home city tomorrow.

Coming after a slew of Scottish festival line-up announcements dominated by men, the camp is timely. Just last week, SWG3 and DF Concerts announced the first Galvanise Fest – a concert series featuring seven headline acts. Not one was a woman.

“There are lots of incredibly talented women making music in Scotland,” Brimner points out. “And that goes across all genres from pop to rock to jazz and folk.”

READ MORE: Because We Are Girls follows sisters' eight-year path to justice

She began writing music while at school, and left with the intention of pursuing a full-time career in the industry. Since then, the multi-instrumentalist has spent her time touring the world, releasing critically acclaimed singles and performing at major festivals.

Brimner has also toured Scots schools in an effort to get more girls involved in music. “It’s imperative that we do what we can to empower girls and young women to not only make music but also get involved in working in other aspects of the music industry,” she says.

“The statistics across the UK are very sad but I want to use the platform I have, locally and internationally, to be part of the change.”

Brimner’s two-day songwriting camp will see 10 female songwriters from Scotland and further afield, all chosen by her, head to the stunning setting of Dundee’s Botanic Gardens to create collaboratively.

Musician Zoe Graham, fresh from her Scottish Alternative Music Awards win, was one of the women to be chosen to take part in the camp, which will see the women split into groups of three to write before a gig showcasing the new music is held at Dundee’s Assai Records on Tuesday.

When Graham was growing up, she wanted to play guitar – but there were few female role models to look to for inspiration.

Music, she says, is traditionally seen as a “men’s sport”. “I mean type ‘band’ into Google images,” she instructs me. “You’ll find hundreds of stock images of blokes with guitars and leather jackets on.”

Graham, also 22, explains the chance to work with other women in a songwriting setting will be a first for her. “Throughout the last year and a half I have had tons of writing sessions,” she recalls. “In this time, I have written with one other female. The majority of sessions I have had have been with dudes.”

“I think it’s really important for female musicians to connect with other female musicians,” she says. “I’m really excited to see what a full female team creates.”

READ MORE: Scottish campaign aims to remove period stigma for young women

Meanwhile for Brimner, one statistic pushed her to focus on songwriting’s role in music’s gender divide. PRS for Music is the UK-wide body that artists sign up to in order to have royalties collected on their behalf.

“In 2018, only 17% of registered PRS members were women,” Brimner explains. “This is a key indicator that there is a need to encourage more women to write music professionally.

“Since I heard that, I’ve tried to come up with ways to encourage more women to get involved in music.”

Equality will be a key theme at the camp, with the groups encouraged to take inspiration from Be Charlotte’s Rumours Don’t Work music video, which explores women’s experiences through different decades.

After her research for the video demonstrated how women in music have become more visible, the project has given her an opportunity to reflect. With that taken into account, she says, this is an “exciting” time to be making music.

“I think people are more aware that there are fewer women on the stage than there should be and we would like to continue to work towards making talented women more visible,” she explains.

Graham agrees, adding: “I really do believe that these walls are slowly coming down. There’s still a long way to go, but with the access to the internet that a lot of young people have and more acts like Phoebe Bridgers, Marika Hackman and HAIM, the representation is out there.

“We just need to keep telling young girls that they can do anything, and just because all the boys are doing it is no reason to be scared!”

Fans can apply for free tickets to see Be Charlotte perform songs from the camp at Assai Records on Tuesday night at www.iambecharlotte.com