Gendered writer, gendered writing?

I'm musing again on this idea of gender in SF.  All the noise right now is about counting the number of women authors in SFF, and looking at how many are getting reviewed.  But I think there's another issue we should be addressing alongside the gender of the author, and that's the gendering of the story.

I think this matters just as much.  I can't take to ladette mercenaries who kill and have sex with everyone in sight.  I've ranted about them before, but it's a particular pet peeve of mine, along with the assassin as heroine.  I can't identify with either.  They have no connection with the life I lead - or want to lead.

I like to think my writing can be a source of inspiration for women, that they can look at my work and think "Oh, women can be artists with an interstellar reputation, or the best starship coder, or head up a whole planet's security operation".  I've got all of these in my novels, and in some cases I do think they carry out their roles in a different way because they are female.

In my re-write of Auroradawn that I'm now half-way through I'm adding a lot of story for Baak.  He's  training for a security qualification, and the head of the academy where he's doing his training is a woman.  He's just had to admit his less than perfect past to her.  She was sympathetic to him in a way many of the male managers I've worked for over the years wouldn't be, but she was also realistic.  She knows that she will have to argue his case with the Trustees for qualification.

That's the sort of gendered writing I like to see.  Not women doing things because that's what women do, but because they have more empathy with a character and tackle problems a different way.  Most of these women are in powerful positions and have a great deal of influence.  It's not that they can't handle power, it's more that they're fully aware of the consequences of using it.  Using power is less of an ego thing for them, and more a case of 'what's best for this situation'.  

I think its a mistake for us to want to erase all traces of gender from our books.  Women do think differently from men, our brains are physically wired in different ways.  We need to celebrate the differences and make them our source of strength rather than apologising for them and downplaying them.  The universe needs our empathy and ability to see the bigger picture.