"I really sympathized with a lot of the young musicians coming up who didn't necessarily have a feminist education. They might have been living it as a matter of inheritance, but they weren't necessarily schooled in feminism, and bucked against that label as something that could keep them back."

"I tried to address the fact that I understood the kind of queasiness that could come about as a result of that labeling... what I felt was both an understandably reticent take on that mantle, and sort of a knee-jerk conservatism."

In spite of the long-term superstardom of Madonna and Whitney Houston, Rock 'n' Roll does still appear to be an industry with a glass ceiling. The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's inductees are around 10 percent female.

Gillian Garr, a contributor to Trouble Girls , noted this early on in her book, She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock 'n' Roll .

"It reflects the perception that these people don't see the contributions women have made as important," says Garr, citing that influences like Big Mama Thornton haven't made it into the Hall yet. "It seems that a lot of times with women, they tend to place more of a value on whether or not they were successful, got good chart placings, and so on. That isn't as big of a consideration with others."