The iconic Glastonbury music festival in England will have its first ever women-only venue in 2016.
Rock fans have flocked to Pilton, Somerset, since 1970. Over 130,000 music lovers attended the event in 2015. This year, however, women will have a segregated “secret space” just for them from June 22 through June 26.
A group called “The Sisterhood” has organized the venue and claims it is “necessary in a world that is still run by and designed to benefit mainly men.”
“Sisterhood is Glastonbury’s first woman only venue! It is an intersectional, Queer, Trans and Disability inclusive space open to all who identify as women,” the group says on its Facebook page.
The group said in a statement released Monday that its “secret space” inside the festival’s Shangri La area must exist because of gender pay gaps, “cuts to domestic violence services” and the need for women to “connect, network, share their stories.”
Feedback on Twitter was not entirely positive.
“Glastonbury’s women only venue is perhaps the most brilliant bit of misguided thinking I’ve seen for awhile. Truly remarkable,” Basilio Nichols responded on Sunday.
“[I] am all for equality, but creating gender-specific areas is something they do Saudi Arabia,” added another, Mashable reported Monday.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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