In Women’s History Month, where are Glastonbury’s female headliners?

Not a single one. And safe to say, I’m livid.

Last year, I went to the festival for the first time – and I’ve never felt more free. More accepted. 

For the first time, in perhaps my life, I wasn’t harassed, catcalled or leered at for being a woman.

It’s difficult to describe, but Glastonbury really is a magical place, and there’s nowhere on earth quite like it. For five days, everyone is equal – they’re one big family.

If anything, by not prioritising women this year, Glastonbury has become another grim mirror image of the industry itself

Though the festival fell on the same weekend Roe V Wade was overturned in the US last year, musicians – both male and female – shouted their battlecries to fight for women’s rights. My sense of fear and distress for those who can fall pregnant in America was replaced with hope. 

But this year, it gives me no pleasure in admitting that I’m a ticket holder after this announcement.

To release the news that Arctic Monkeys, Elton John and Guns ‘N’ Roses were headlining this year’s festival – with the closest woman to the top of the bill being Lizzo – this month especially, is an insult to female musicians. And to think I was once excited to see this summer’s line-up, too.

Women’s History Month is important. The annual event, which is predominantly (and ironically) celebrated in America but has now been adopted by much of the world, highlights the contribution of women to both historical events, and in today’s society – including in music.

So, in March of all months, where are Glastonbury’s female headliners? Co-organiser, Emily Eavis, passed the buck – claiming it was ‘a pipeline problem’.

‘We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed,’ Eavis told The Guardian. ‘This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.’

Except, I don’t see Glastonbury shouting for women. 

It’s boring, and nothing new. 

If anything, by not prioritising women this year, Glastonbury has become another grim mirror image of the industry itself. The blame lies with them, too. 

Emily Eavis literally runs and organises Glastonbury – perhaps the most popular, most renowned music festival in the world – surely, it’s up to her to shout the loudest? Showcase female talent in the music industry by giving them to hotspots that they rightly deserve?

Eavis agreed that Lizzo was more than deserving of a headline spot but that it had already been ‘promised’ to someone else: to a man. I understand the need to fulfill promises as a business, but I can’t help feeling like it reeks of a sense of privilege that I’m sure will ring true with many women.

It’s fantastic that 46% of the initial line-up’s 54 names are non-white, or feature non-white members – but its headliners are white men, and I expected better from a festival that apparently celebrates music, diversity and the arts.

Yes, a major headliner – reported to be Taylor Swift – dropped out, but replace it with another. Eavis apparently wrote handwritten letters, begging for Sir Elton John to play his last ever UK show at Glastonbury, and it will be legendary, but where was that same effort when it came to booking female musicians? It’s disappointing and devastating to see as a woman.

I admire how much Glastonbury invests in equality, I truly do, and more events should aspire to be like them – but this year’s line-up embodies all that is wrong with the industry, and it’s a damn shame for a festival that is meant to be about so much more than the music.

Iconic, inspiring women lead the music industry and there is a wealth of talent to choose from: Madonna, Wet Leg, Charli XCX, Florence + the Machine, Beyonce, Wolf Alice, Adele, Stevie Nicks, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, and Ariana Grande, to name but a few worthy headliners.

Yes, Billie Eilish headlined last year, as the Pyramid Stage’s youngest ever headliner, but it feels like Glastonbury has taken one step forward, and three steps back with this year’s pale, male and stale offering. 

In 2020, Eavis said that the festival’s future ‘had to be 50/50 (gender split).’ With three male headliners, and 52% of this year’s line-up being men, they’ve not achieved that.

Just last summer, a study revealed that only 13% of 2022’s UK festival headliners were women. I dread to think of this year’s percentage, and it gives me no pleasure to say that Glastonbury, which I expected so much more of, will have contributed to the undoubtedly dismal findings. 

Female artists have been short-changed, yet again – so much so, that I’m genuinely considering not going.

The next generation of female musicians need someone – something – to look up to, and I’m worried that, this summer, they’ll struggle to find it.