Very interesting. Most of my favorite authors are women as well, and at this point I tend to favor women authors when deciding what to read because they have a much higher likelihood of being enjoyable for me.

If it's fair to make a generalization, with the caveat that of course this doesn't apply across the board, I think maybe women are better at writing characters, as you said. Men seem to favor writing settings and action. Imo, both are equally good at writing plot. If a reader has a preference for characters over settings and action, I think they'll gravitate toward books written by women, and vice versa.