It's Björk Tuesday, as our week of world exclusive interviews with the first lady of pop, rock, art and swan-frocks continues. Yesterday, Björk talked about feminism and motherhood, and later this week she'll be raving about touring, pop videos and how much she loves trumpets. Today she talks about what it's like to be a woman in pop, how bored she is of indie boys, and tells us about the ladies who inspire her.

"We have to fight against the boys!"

"I'm glad to make music these days, you know. But it's quite weird in the mainstream, because 95% of that music now is jangly boy guitar stuff. It's like when I was back in the Sugarcubes with those three big indie magazines. The only room in music to be a girl was to be someone that journalists fancied. It's been surprising to me how quickly the anarchy of the internet formed into these constellations of the same things on repeat. I mean there's lots of really good stuff, but those lads-beer-guitar bands – it's like 95% of what's covered. We have to fight against the boys!"

"A lot of women just fronted men-universes - they were just the berry on top"

"I don't think there's been any one person who's inspired me in. Maybe Olivier Messaien, the composer, because I've loved him all my life – at music school, doing music theory, I first heard him when I was 10 or 11. And obviously, people like Joni Mitchell were very inspirational when I was younger because they created music that wasn't men's music. You know, when I was young, a lot of women just fronted men-universes – they were just the berry on top. And Joni Mitchell, seeing people like her play on TV - they weren't anti-men, but the music they made was a woman's world. An universe. And it was just the fact that it was possible was inspirational for me. It wasn't like musically wanted to be like them or a singer, definitely not. I just thought that what they could create, this different place, was amazing."

"More people should take their babies on tour!"

"With the Sugarcubes, we had all kinds of offers to tour the world, when Sindri was very young. And of course I was bringing him with me. There wasn't a clause that said I could bring him, I just did. I was doing three or four shows a week in the evening when he was asleep anyway. If you put child to kindergarten, you've got to be away from them 40 hours a week, in any case, you know? I didn't have to do that, and people loved him, so I was lucky. More people should take their babies on tour! Maybe it's an Icelandic thing: we're from a country with lots of kids, so they come along with you. But maybe...saying that, I wish my mum I wish she had done more what she wanted to do when I was a little girl, because she was always running after us. I was the eldest of six – we were everywhere. But, you know, you can do the both, and I have always done the both, and my kids are really good."

"Thirty years ago, M.I.A. would've been an eccentric somewhere"

"I've noticed some women making music because of my own battles. I mean, I think M.I.A's amazing. She's really taking it on. She's very important. The fact that she got heard, actually – I think that's amazing. Thirty years ago, I'm not sure, maybe she'd be an eccentric somewhere. I mean, I remember when I was teenager that no one confessed they liked Kate Bush because she was so weird. She was always written about like 'Crazy Kate'. Insane! I don't think she's crazy at all, I think she seems like one of the most healthy people they are. Just because she knew what she wanted and she wasn't a rock thing, she was weird. But I really have hope that all that is changing today, you know, everyone's getting onto the right-brain hemisphere. Oh yeah, and more of them should listen to M.I.A.!"

For part 3 click here.