Redheadshadz,
Not a single female author made your list. Did any come close?
StevieB, male bias is a problem that a lot of us had when compiling our lists. I listed over 70 writers, 5 of which happened to be female, for a dismal ratio. According to my feminist friend Hellas' rule, women writers should amount to at least 10% for 'all literary periods since the past' lists, and 20% for 20th. Century and later lists of favorites, as a minimum.
With Hellas' rule in mind I went through the top 50 lists of other members and found out the following ratios sorted in order of enlightenment (with the favorited female writers included). Personally I don't think that this is done out of prejudice, it's just a matter of taste when it comes to the gender differences when writing re: subject matter, focus, etc.; not to mention the fact that the lists we ourselves rely on to pick the books we will read under-represent women writers (I'll use the Planeta Ideal Library lists as an example in a later post).
Uemarasan: 24 out of 53 authors listed, very impressive! (Agatha Christie, Angela Carter, Assia Djebar, Bessie Head, Christina Stead, Clarice Lispector, Edith Wharton, Eileen Chang, Emily Bronte, Forugh Farrokhzad, Fumiko Enchi, Hannah Arendt, Janet Frame, Marguerite Yourcenar, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Mirabai, Moto Hagio, Murasaki Shikibu, Nicole Brenez, Sei Shonagon, Simone Weil, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison). I look forward to reading Bessie Head, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Forugh Farrokhzad and Cao Yu, writers that I only learned about thanks to Uemarasan's list. I also wish I had the same courage as Uemarasan to list my favorite Manga (Asterix, Chanoc and Rumiko Takahashi's Lum/Ranma and Hideo Azuma's Journal d'une disparition/depression) just like Uemarasan listed Herge, Masamune Shiro, Moto Hagio and the kamisama of manga: Osamu Tezuka.
outragedoptimist: 6 out of 21 (Charlotte Bronte, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, Tony Morrison, Banana Yoshimoto, George Elliot).
waalkwriter: 12 out of 43 authors listed (Gabriella Mistral, Virginia Woolf, Ursula Le Guin, Susan Cooper, J.K. Rowling, Diana Wynne Jones, Katherine Paterson, Lois Lowry, Mary Shelley, Selma Lagerlof, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton). A lot of youthful choices, but overall a solid list with good books and no male bias at all.
sybarite: 10 out of 42: (Isabelle Allende, Dominique Aury, Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood, Beryl Bainbridge, Angela Carter, Elizabeth Gaskell, Vita Sackville, Alice Walker). I look forward to reading the delightful cat thriller by Akif Pirincci listed by sybarite.
mirabell: 12 out of 51 (Edith Wharton, Iris Murdoch, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Harper Lee, Christa Wolf, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Doris Lessing, Jean Rhys, Irmtraud Morgner, Margaret Atwood, Tova Reich)
Dreamqueen: 10 out of 47 (Allison Fell, Erdrich, Austen, Eliot, A. Bronte, C. Bronte, Marie-Claire Blais, Madeleine L'Engle, Barbara Gowdy).
beelzebubbles: 10 out of 49 authors listed (Gertrude Stein, A.S. Byatt, Judith Michaels, Jayne Ann Krentz, Colette, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine du Plessix Grey, Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, ).
lionel: 11 out of 55: (Virgina Woolf, Ali Smith, Gertrude Stein, Jean Rhys, Sylvia Plath, Winifred Holtby, Harper Lee, Sarah Grand, Charlotte Perkins, Kate Chopin, Simone de Beauvoir).
Titania: 8 out of 43 (Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Elinor Wylie, Virginia Woolf, George Elliot, Simone de Beauvoir)
Eric: 10 out of 53 (Mare Kandre, Clarice Lispector, Elo Viiding, Elizabeth Bowen, Edith Wharton, Inger Edelfeldt, Katherine Mansfield, Elisabeth Eybers, Tove Jansson, Jane Austen). I look forward to reading poets Elo Viiding, Inger Edelfeldt and Elizabeth Eybers (Estonian, Swedish and Afrikaans) thanks to Eric's list.
errequatro: 7 out of 40 authors listed (Emily Bronte, Sylvia Plath, Sarah Kane -a very interesting choice-, Virginia Woolf, Kay Redfield Jamison, Doris Lessing, Edith Wharton).
Aillil: 7 out of 50 authors listed (Sylvia Plath, Mary Shelley, Alice Walker, Virginia Woolf, Betty Friedan, Charlotte Bronte, Harper Lee).
sevigne: 4 out of 26 (Eleanor Clark, George Eliot, Penelope Fitzgerald, Shirley Hazzard).
promtbr: 5 out of 38 (Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx)
obooki: 7 out of 50 (Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Harper Lee, Doris Lessing, George Eliot, Colette, Emily Bronte).
bogotabibliophile: 5, maybe 6 out of 48 (Mary Shelley, Jung Chang, The authoress of the Odissey -cf Samuel Butler-, Pearl Buck, Barbara Kingsolver, Isak Dinesen).
JTolle 5 out of 49 (Gillian Rose, Marguerite Duras, Virginia Woolf, Carson McCullers, Anne Carson).
Liam: 5 out of 50 (Christina Rossetti,Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Marina Tsvetaeva, A. S. Byatt).
chamberk: 5 out of 50 (Donna Tartt, Audrey Niffenegger, Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, Margaret Atwood).
nightwood: 5 out of 51 authors listed (Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Ingeborg Bachmann, Elfriede Jelinek, Djuna Barnes).
spooool: 3 out of about 30 (Marguerite Yourcenar, Jean Rhys, Iris Murdoch).
Heteronym: 4 out of 43 (Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Emily Bronte, Jill Thompson). I look forward to reading Lucio's Confession as suggested by Heteronym's list, and I admire Heteronym's decision to include comic book author Jill Thompson and genre writers Dennis Wheatley and James Ellroy.
saliot thomas: 4 out of 46 (Virginia Woolf, Highsmith, Barbara Cartland, Yourcenar).
eva, minus the stonian writers: 3 out of 33(Jane Austen, Astrid Lindgren, Muriel Spark).
dog_eared_pages: 4 out of 49 (Pearl S. Buck, Willa Cather, Merce Rodoreda, Christina Stead).
nnyhav: 4 out of 50 (Cynthia Ozick, Penelope Fitzgerald, Olga Grushin, George Eliot).
Refus de Sejour, 3 out of 43 (Anne Carson, Tove Jannson, Maxine Hong Kingston).
Svidrigailov: 2 out of 30 authors listed (Tove Jansson, Ursula Le Guin).
Cleanthess, 5 out of 80 authors listed (Kathy Acker, Ana Blandiana, Szymborska. Sophia de Mello Breyner, Adelia Prado).
waxwing: 3 out of 47 (Donna Tarrt, Willa Cather, George Eliot).
kpjayan: 3 out of 50 (Lilian Lee, Laura Esquivel, Clarice Lispector). I look forward to reading Osman Lins thanks to jayan's list.
omo: 2 out of 33 (Yourcenar, Sappho).
Rumpelstilzchen 2, maybe 3 out of 50 (Herta Mueller, the authoress of the Odyssey-cf Samuel Butler-, Ursula Le Guin).
Caodang: 1 out of 35 (Murasaki Shikibu).
sif: 1 out of 38 (Selma Lagerlof).
adaorardor: 1 out of 39 (Virginia Woolf)
guillaume Barkero: 1 out of 40 (Flannery O'Connor).
Daniel Del Real, 1 out of 44 (Virginia Woolf).
miercuri: none out of 15.
ferns_dad: none out of 12.
DB Cooper: none out of 17, maybe 23.
Redheadshadz: none out of 23 authors listed.
Ramblingsid: None out of 50.