More than a dozen female music executives have issued an open letter calling for the resignation of Neil Portnow as the Recording Academy president and CEO. They say that the comment Portnow made on Sunday about women needing to “step up” to get more recognition at the Grammys was “wrong and insulting and, at its core, oblivious to the vast body of work created by and with women.”

“Your most recent remarks do not constitute recognition of women’s achievements, but rather a call for men to take action to ‘welcome’ women,” the women wrote. “We do not await your welcome into the fraternity. We do not have to sing louder, jump higher or be nicer to prove ourselves.”

The letter was signed by industry veterans and leaders, such as music attorney Rosemary Carroll, Warner/Chappell publishing vice president Katie Vinten, Pharrell Williams’ manager Caron Veazey and John Legend’s manager Ty Stiklorius. Label executives were, surprisingly, missing from the effort.

Portnow tried backpedaling from his initial comments earlier this week, after facing a wave of backlash from artists like Pink and Charli XCX. He released a statement that didn’t explicitly apologize for what he said, but acknowledged that he’d used clumsy language to address the gender gap.

“Regrettably, I used two words, “step up,” that, when taken out of context, do not convey my beliefs and the point I was trying to make,” he said.

He also announced yesterday that the Recording Academy would put together an independent task force, designed to review biases and barriers that keep women from advancing in the industry. The initiative seemed to be an attempt to show that Portnow was truly committed to understanding and affecting change in music.

But his efforts may be too late—and not nearly enough to address a widespread problem that many women say he’s only made worse.

In their statement, the female executives outline several statistics from a recent study that the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism conducted to examine gender disparities in the music industry. Some of the most salient points include the fact that last year, 83.2 percent pop artists were male, while 16 percent were women. Additionally, only nine percent of the 899 artists nominated for Grammys over the last six years have been female.

“Your comments are another slap in the face to women, whether intended or not; whether taken out of context, or not,” the letter reads. “Needless to say, if you are not part of the solution, then you must accept that YOU are part of the problem. Time’s up, Neil.”

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