Lady Gaga awarded Woman of the Year by Billboard; calls music industry 'boys club'

Singer Lady Gaga has called out the music industry for being a boys club. The performer, who was honoured with the Woman of the Year title at this year's Billboard Women in Music event, gave an emotional speech while accepting her award, reported People magazine.

"What I really want to say is that it is really hard sometimes for women in music. It's like a ... boys club that we just can't get in to," Gaga, 29, said. "I tried for so long, I just really wanted to be taken seriously as a musician for my intelligence more than my body ever in this business. You don't always feel like when you're working that people believe that you have musical background, that you understand what you're doing because you're a female." 

The singer has been nominated at the Grammys for her song “Til It Happens To You,” a song she co-wrote with Diane Warren for documentary The Hunting Ground. The documentary tackles the issue of sexual assault and rape on college campuses in the US.

Watch the song:

Also read: Why Lady Gaga kept quiet about her rape for 7 years