Im being a woman also has way more narrative projection than a man, in my opinion. Traditionally, women are figures of life, fertility, creation, nature, wisdom... They have a powerful symbolic transcendence behind them that fits the ruler and potential founder of the Government as a whole plus her room full of nature (almost like Gaia, who was married to Uranus and mothered the titans in a similar way Ymir created the giants).
I literally have a hard time imagining an adult male as Im. Either a woman or (interesting too) a kid, but a male... It's like it doesn't fit Oda's style and the symbolic reminiscences around the character.