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hm, very intriguing question, over. i haven't thought about it lately, although i remember many discussions during my university litterature courses about the dominance of "dead white men" in the standard reading lists (which we tried to remedy of course).
just trying to think back (totally unscientific...) i think i read about 50 / 50 men and women authors. but i agree with you that good (plausible) characterisation is important, so i don't enjoy authors who write women characters who seem unconvincing (as women). then again, i often feel an affinity to men characters as well, depending on the book, and they also must be well-written. but, some of my favorite male characters have been written by women. perhaps they (intentionally or not) are written with a feminine aspect which appeals to me. i'm thinking particularly of Fred Vargas' books (she's a woman writing mysteries) ; she writes really fascinating, well-defined, complex characters, many of them male, but all of them very well drawn i think.
anyway, i know that i don't pay attention to the gender of the author when i choose a book. and sometimes it can be misleading ; for instance, Fred Vargas is writing under what looks like a man's name, but in fact it's a nickname for the french (women's) name "Frédérique".
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