Granted there are bands out there that have a female member as eye candy more so than for musical reasons.
If you take musicians like Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Kim Deal of Pixies, they were an important part of the band both in sound and spirit regardless of their gender. In a different way, Alison Shaw of Cranes and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins were both the focal points of their respective bands because of their unique vocal capabilities and the ethereal feminine qualities they brought to their bands on a musical level. This had nothing to do with how they looked. In both cases the sound of the band would just not have worked with a male vocalist as their voices define their bands on a musical level.
You also have all-female or mostly female bands to take into consideration, such as The Slits, Sleater-Kinney, Throwing Muses and Tiger Trap for example, who are fantastic, highly influential bands in their own right regardless of their gender.
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