From this interview:

Maria Delgado: [to PA]: When Bad Education came out, you spoke about women inspiring you to write comedy and men to write tragedy. Do you still think that’s the case?Pedro Almodóvar: Yes, I’m conscious of that. I don’t know why - maybe that should be a question from a psychiatrist. But it’s true that when I write about women, I can use more humour than if I write about the male universe. Perhaps it’s because that’s the gender I belong to, perhaps I’m more interested to show the darkest places of myself, and I don’t joke about it. But it’s true. So after Bad Education, I wanted to go back to the female universe that I feel much more comfortable in.

Pedro Almodóvar: Absolutely. I know what Lorca said more than 60 years ago, and it’s still true. Maybe it’s the culture, maybe it’s the cliché of Latino machismo, but the Mediterranean male character is more dull than the female character. Women are more surprising and they have fewer prejudices. Perhaps it’s because they were condemned to be silent for centuries, so they create inside them a much richer world. In many cases, that is true - you can find good actresses of every age in Spain, but not actors.

It seems that Almodovar’s films about women are more popular, whereas the gloomier films about men are regarded as worthy and impressive etc, but just not as much fun. I can see why. As to which are most important/ good- that seems a whole other issue.