All-divas Rock Hall induction in 2022? Would be nice but not likely

With each passing year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gets more ridiculous.
This year’s 17 nominees illustrate some of the problems with the institution. The hall casts a wide net in terms of what music qualifies for induction. But it remains stingy about the number of artists it lets in each year.
It usually lets in five to seven artists a year, but thankfully it added 12 groups and individual artists in 2021. Hopefully it will add more than usual this year to reduce its sizable backlog of worthy artists.
For the past three years, I’ve been pushing for Pat Benatar to get inducted. She was nominated two years ago, snubbed last year, and is on the ballot again this year. But the nomination committee is pitting her against five other celebrated female artists: Kate Bush, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick, and the Annie Lennox-fronted Eurythmics.
While I’d love to see an all-divas induction class and ceremony. I don’t see that happening. It’s more likely voters will split their votes among those artists.
This year’s Rock Hall ballot has a bunch of rockers, but it is diluted with artists from the country, adult contemporary, Afrobeat and rap genres.
Even country singer and American treasure Dolly Parton was surprised by her nomination. “I’ve never thought of myself as being rock and roll in any sense of the word,” she told Billboard.
I don’t have a problem specifically with broadening the Rock Hall tent to include all types of music that had a “profound impact on the sound of youth culture.” But the hall needs to induct more acts than the usual half dozen. The list of Rock Hall snubs is embarrassingly long.
In addition to the six female artists mentioned above, other nominees this year include Beck, Devo, Duran Duran, Eminem, Judas Priest, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Lionel Richie, and A Tribe Called Quest.
Inductees will be announced in May.

Related reading:

Rock Hall: How about a little bit of ladies first? (Populism; Feb. 11, 2022)

The Worst Snubs in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame History (So Far) (Vulture; Feb. 2, 2022)

Curious choices among Rock HOF inductees. Dolly Parton, Dionne Warwick? What about Styx and Foreigner? (Niagara Gazette; Feb. 10, 2022)

Pleasantly Disappointed: The 2022 Ballot (Rock Hall Monitors; Feb. 6, 2022)

Here Are the Country Artists in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Billboard; Feb. 2, 2022)