Well, considering out of all my friends, family, acquaintances, and such, online or otherwise, I don't know a single human being who even so much as knows of prog rock's existence except for myself and my girlfriend, and she only knows because I told her about it, it's a difficult question to answer. I mean, folks around here sometimes like the big names (KC, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd), and my friends tend to enjoy popular prog metal (Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Queensryche, etc.), but neither group does so because of the prog status. Mostly if a friend likes a prog metal band, he does so because I introduced it to him. I honestly hate the music tastes of all my friends. It's not that I think mine is better, but mine is certainly more diverse.
I definitely think that prog rock (and artsy fartsy music in general) is more related toward the male mentality. Sure, prog/art rock had a few very notable females, like Annie Haslan or Kate Bush, but take the leading forces behind the genre: Fripp, the entire bands of Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Rush, Jethro Tull, VDGG, Gentle Giant, Camel, etc. etc. They were male-fronted, male-written songs and bands. In 1971 most guys had a choice between Aqualung and Carole King's Tapestry. Which do you think most adolescent males would rather listen to? Locomotive Breath or So Far Away?
Music and the arts in general are very much male-oriented. What are most female writers noted for? Vampire love stories or well-to-do british women looking for a husband. Anne Rice blah blah blah. Where's the female 1984, the female Brave New World? It's not that women are less artistic (but in my experience, most women seem more interested in painting/photography than any other art, but that's nothing more than an assessment of my locale, not a generalization), it's not that women are less artistic. They just spent so long being dominated by men in nearly every way that they didn't have a chance to grow into it. So really, if women would rather hear Justin Bieber over Jethro Tull, it's men's fault for being so damn vile. That, and most girls don't care about space operas and WWII battles and such. I don't either, but hey!
My point is that of course prog is man-oriented and male-dominated. Now that I've said that, let me go ahead and say that starting from the 1930's and up, from Billie Holiday to Joan Baez and Carole King and Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins and Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin and all that, some women have made some flabbergastingly brilliant music to my ears.