I'm just gonna link this here since it's relevant
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial
(and by relevant I mean I'm basically just paraphrasing the article)
I think one of the biggest problems is that us consumers, for whatever reason, are still not accustomed to the idea of having women as prominent characters in games.
Basically every time a woman appears in a game it becomes a huge deal for whatever reason. Have a female character in an active, badass role and it's "HUGE STEP TOWARDS EQUAL RIGHTS," have a female character in a more passive role and it's "TOTALLY SEXIST."
And at the same time no one gives a s*** about the roles that male characters play because they're just there.
Basically the problem I think, or at least a big part of the problem, is with society as a whole's perception of a "person." A man is considered a "person," and their sex is more or less ignored, but a woman is always "A WOMAN" and their sex is an IMPORTANT CHARACTER TRAIT. Women are never treated as just another person, they are always singled out for no reason other than that they are female. Everything they do or that happens to them becomes a reflection on the entire female populace, and no one ever stops to consider that maybe, just maybe, these actions and events have nothing whatsoever to do with the characters sex.
We need to realize that women are people too and stop making a big deal about it. Then maybe things can start to change.