Alert: Stereotypes ahead!
I think the prominence of male singers over female singers has less to do with vocals than material selection. So many female singers, unfortunately, buy into the whole "sex sells" idea and spend more time on image than substance. Others (Chrissie Hynde comes to mind) spend their time railing against such myths, making the scope of their music somewhat limited.
There's also the possibility that fewer women actually join bands (does anyone have any statistics on this?), and so the pool of candidates is actually, proportionally, higher than it is for males.
I'll also postulate that most music buffs tend to be male (just an observation gleamed from record shop travels and concert reminiscences), and a predominately male audience is more likely to relate to a male singer.
Personally? I prefer idiosyncratic, rough vocals (my favorite singers: Bob Dylan, Johnny Rotten, Howard Devoto, Elvis Costello). "Pleasing" vocals, as a rule don't do much for me. That's why I love the Shangri-Las but don't care for, say, the Supremes or the Crystals, or even Debbie Harry. It seems that more female singers go for the "gentle" sound than male singers, who tend to be more aggressive and less willing to sound "nice." Still, all that said, Poly Styrene led one of the greatest punk bands and recorded one of the most powerful singles ever (Oh Bondage, Up Yours!).
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