I think women are still not taken seriously and are severely underestimated in music.

They've done a lot of legwork in shaping what music is.

This modern folk-pop and Indie style everyone is trying to do right now? Wouldn't exist without Kate Bush's major success but, the US sort of cockblocking her success taking over there makes them ignorant to realize the waves in music she has made.

Kate was really the first person to SUCCESSFULLY in the MAINSTREAM break from music formulas as largely as she did and include things like spoken word and high classical headvoices in POP mainstream?!? She was using literary references and pioneering usage of the farmlight CMI back when people were not using technology to further music and sound very widely. She is the reason for the Indie uprise and also arguably started the heavy synth use and exploration of the 80's.

and she isn't the only one.

Tina Turner shifted the expectations of how women were supposed to sound MASSIVELY. She did follow in the footsteps of men but her doing that in the 60's brought range into music expectations of what women could do. She broke the frilly mold. Because back then all successful female acts were in knee length or longer dresses singing about " OH my boy, he loves me I love him so " not ripping skirts off to show their legs and singing about dancing and where they came from.

and then Cher? Cher is the only majorly successful ALTO to ever happen and again PIONEERED USE of the vocoder. Without her doing that? Will.iam and T-Pain wouldn't have careers. She is also the only PERSON to have a major hit in 6 different decades. Not even The Beatles did that.

Women shape music just as much if not arguably more than men do.