I coach a lot of different runners.
In my experience the vast majority of women that come to me for Marathon training (yes, there are some major exceptions) need to have a fire lit under them.
What I mean by that is that they are there for the experience, the scenery, the crowd, etc. They just want to qualify to get there. They (yes, again there are a few exceptions) usually don't care about what place they end up in and often forget that it's a race.
If you are a woman of average ability but train like one of the fellas than you can go a LONG way in Marathon running.
This is why the depth at the sub - elite level is lacking for women. It's in their nature to be less competitive on average compared to the men.
Again, there are exceptions to this. I have trained a few woman runners that break this mold and put the others to shame. Some would drown themselves if they knew that when they were revived they would be faster.