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Note that as I'm a guy I completely understand if I get booted from this thread immediately. Anyway...

Did Tolkien consider more female characters, then shy away as he just couldn't 'see' them? As mentioned, in LotR we have a strong queen in Galadriel, the romantic interest princess in Arwen, the tomboy in Eowyn, the 'auntie' in Ioreth, etc. Did Tolkien consider increasing the involvement of his females characters, but then struggle depicting what the day-to-day interactions with the male ones would look like, and seeing where his prose faultered, back away? What would it be like to be accompanied by Arwen from Rivendell all the way to the Black Gate, if I were Aragorn? Then as Aragorn, how would I react differently but realistically?

Have made attempts (poor) at writing throughout my own life, and, like many others, using 'what I know' as the basis, I can see how my own depictions of female characters has changed/would change from the time that I was a goofy teen to young adult to married man to father of four, three of which are daughters. And considering this, did Tolkien get locked into an early storyline which could only be altered so much which changing the whole story, at least in his mind?

And lastly, I think that the writings in the Sil are more 'mythological,' and so may have provided the distance that Tolkien required to create more and stronger female characters.

I'll shut up now.