Taking a macro look at different musical eras in rock era history, it occurs to me that certain eras were dominated by male lead vocalists; other eras were dominated by female lead vocalists; certain other eras were fairly equal.  Anyone else notice this?

Anyone who follows my posts knows I hang out a lot on the 1970s board.  The 1970s (especially early-mid 70s) seems to be a male-dominated era.  If you look over the collection of hits from the era, you'll find a much higher percentage of hits had male lead singers than female.  Accident?  I don't know - but that's my observation.

Thoughts?

The closest thing to a female-dominated rock and roll era would be the mid-to-late 90s, when people like Alanis Morissette, Natalie Imbruglia, Jewel, Natalie Merchant, Melissa Etheridge, Lisa Loeb, Sheryl Crow, and so on were scoring a good chunk of the biggest chart hits. Even so, men have sadly pretty much always been the majority, although it was almost an even match during the era I just listed above.

I agree on the whole R&R era being male dominated in general.  Certain periods in time have been stronger for women lead vocalists, in particular the portion of the 90's you mention.

'61-'64 was a strong period for female vocal groups, as that was the "Girl Group" era.  It only lasted a few years, until the British Invasion (again, male dominated) took over.  I wouldn't call the period "female dominated" but it was a relatively strong period for female vocal groups.

In the early days, it was hard to imagine women falling outside the "box" they were put into until much later.  The group "Heart" was a trail blazer, as they didn't fit the prior mold for female R&R musicians.  The fact that they rocked out was quite uncommon when they hit the scene.  (Unfortunately, women who subsequently rocked out came few and far between, even given Heart's success - but that's another topic.)

I don't think there has ever truly been a male-dominated era in rock since the Late '70s. You can argue that male artists have generally been more successful in the "public eye", but that's not to undermine how popular and successful many female rock-musicians have been as well. Really, why does it matter anyway? It's not as if the gender ratio has ever been 100:0. Enjoy the music for what it is.