When I bought the SNES around 1988-9. My wife and I would play for hours. Super Maro Bros. was our best togather, taking turns. She also played Adams Family and FF2 all the way through, and Top Gear 1. But after a whyle she droped off playing as I played all the more. When asked why I never relly got a good ansure. She would watch me and cheer me on when I went through the Tomb raider series. I tryed to get her to play but she said "It's too hard I can't do all those moves".
One thing I have observed, when I hit a hard part in a game I'll spend hrs searching for the secret, or leveling up for the boss, vary repetive stuff. My wife gets boared fast with that, this may be true of other female types as well.