I know the sort of format you mean: Billy Joel, Chicago, Journey, Elton John, Bob Seger, CCR, etc... When stations like that play a female artist, it's usually Bonnie Tyler, Bonnie Raitt, or a Motown or Atlantic soul performer.

No, they play the "hits" of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The music isn't bad for the most part, I mostly like the songs they play, except that they play Journey and Billy Joel at least 2x/day. Kind of Classic Rock Lite with some 60s Motown thrown in. It could be worse, no Celine thank gods.

You mean, you don't listen to that 24/7 Anne Murray internet station?  

You mean, you don't listen to that 24/7 Anne Murray internet station?  

You mean, you don't listen to that 24/7 Anne Murray internet station?  

 hippiechick wrote:
Maybe we should do something like they do in Canada...mandate that 40%(I think?!) of music over the airwaves be of Canadian female content?!
No, I don't think so either.

Unfortunately I am forced to listen to it at work.

Oh. Okay. I didn't think that most here have anything to do with terrestrial radio...after all, we have RP!

Have you finished writing that sci-fi novel where aliens transform Eddie Vedder into a woman, with hilarious results?

I wasn't talking about here, I was talking about terrestrial radio.

Great initiative... The generalisms make sense on average ;) Uh, which top 100? I think more recently female artists have been somewhat discovered/promoted in various categories... incl. Bjork, Amos, PJ Harvey for some, but also Elastica, Stereolab and many others (see also RP's lib female songwriters). Even in pop people like Madonna etc. have their share... and all the way back to the great ladies of Jazz that have been around... In bands men still seem to be in the majority... And what to make of Abba?

Huh. I come to RP 9 years ago and discover: Vienna Teng
Grey Eyes Glancing
Jem
PJ Harvey
Beth Orton
Lucinda Williams
Michelle Shocked
Poe
KT tunstall
...and that's just from 30 seconds of thought. Oh look!...Imogene Heap right now! Hardly any other women get played?! Hell, I come here to hear them!!!

And how about Tori Amos? I have seen a few regular posters post "Ugh! Enough female singers!"

Aside from the Pretenders, hardly any other women get played, although it has improved just slightly.

And women's music gets qualified as "pop" not rock, like women can't rock hard enough to qualify. 

I wouldn't want to bore the forum, but if pressed I could write a doctoral style thesis on the horrors of Billy Corgan's voice. Oh and I can't stand Margo Timmons voice either, one's a dude, one's a chick I really don't care. I like some voices and don't like others, the type of reproductive organs the singer possesses is of no concern to me.

I wouldn't want to bore the forum, but if pressed I could write a doctoral style thesis on the horrors of Billy Corgan's voice. Oh and I can't stand Margo Timmons voice either, one's a dude, one's a chick I really don't care. I like some voices and don't like others, the type of reproductive organs the singer possesses is of no concern to me.

The Cowboy Junkies comment doesn't mention Margo Timmins, or gender; it seems more about the band (or possibly, all Canadian musicians) and is almost worth ignoring since it is rife with typographical errors, but I understand your point about gender biases and I have seen it here and elsewhere.  I do remember someone posting in some thread on how they didn't like female vocals, but I've even seen and heard similar comments made by women, or at least expressing preference for male vocals.  It's possible, that these days, women are probably better-represented in the music world than they were in the past, but still, primarily as performers, not as management or label-owning people.  I think some of the attitude is still left over from a patriarchal culture, which has been, more-or-less, prevalent throughout the world - not that that makes it acceptable.
If you want to read an abundance of hateful commentary for male singers, check the comments for just about any song by The Talking Heads, The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, or The Smiths.

I don't want to try and weigh in on the rest of this topic, and haven't even read the majority of the posts. I only want to address this one issue that Deni brings up, and it's an important one to me. I'm about to stick my head into the lion's mouth, and I offer fair warning to all comers: rational and reasoned disagreements are always welcome with me; vitriol and insults will be summarily ignored. 

I am thoroughly annoyed by how little women are represented in the music world and moreso, how the listening public react to them. Look at our own song comment boards...