Male vs. Female piano playing?

[cuberdrift]

I've always been curious as to whether there is a general trend that can be determined as to regarding the difference between how a male pianist plays, and how a female pianist plays.

Is there any difference in technique? In style of interpretation, etc.? If so, how? (and as a side note, why is it that there seems many more famous male pianists than female pianists?)

Men and women think differently in many ways...

[schwartzer]

I find this question very interesting.

I personally believe it doesn't depend on gender, but on the person themself. I cannot attribute any specific characteristics to either gender. There are thousands of styles.

But for some reason, male pianists seem to make more success.

[faulty_damper]

There may be a difference but it has more to do with the hormone testosterone than gender.  Testosterone has been linked with musical aptitude and males are generally more imbued with this hormone than females are during fetal development.  It has been found that the smaller the index:ring finger ratio, the more musically talented the musician.  That is, if the index finger is noticeably shorter than the ring finger, s/he will be more likely to be talented in music.

Average male 2D:4D = 0.947
Average female 2D:4D = 0.965

A survey of elite orchestra members finds that most of the musicians have much shorter than average index:ring finger ratios.  And if you view YT videos of women pianists both past and present, you'll notice this same pattern.

Why would testosterone improve musical performance?  It may be due to the development of certain areas of the brain during fetal development, it may have to do with aggression, or some other factors.  A female pianist friend of mine has a high 2D:4D ratio and she isn't aggressive enough (I don't mean banging) to play the piano well enough.  Whereas all the other female pianists in school had much lower ratios and were more aggressive and determined to get it just right, very similar to a lot of the male pianists.